Faith in God is so important…
“Faith in God is so important. Am I letting him direct my steps? Westerners (and I include myself here) are such driven people. We rely on statistics, we rely on technology, we rely on news and we rely on our experiences and gifts. But we are not always good at learning to wait on the will of God. I have learned and seen true faith in some of these leaders who are being persecuted and have nothing. They truly understand Paul when he writes, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8).“
– Paul Borthwick
from Western Christians in Global Mission: What’s the Role of the North American Church?
(Link to my blog of quotes from the book)
Mission Mobilizers gather in the MidWest
On October 9-10, 2013, Encompass hosted a 24 Hour Retreat for Mobilization/Mission Pastors in central Ohio. This gathering included leaders from five states. The retreat setting, campfire and all, created a flowing conversation ranging from short-term mission trips, to local church mission “successes” and even to how do churches create “pathways” to groom more cross-cultural workers.
The sharing of life, ministry, stories and principles invigorated everyone. At the conclusion, each leader was challenged to a four-step application process:
1) Think (spend some time working through all that was discussed)
2) Draw (put the current reality down on a piece of paper, and draw a future reality)
3) Communicate (figure out good ways to share mobilization with the church)
4) Experiment (try some innovative ideas to mobilize many into cross-cultural mission)
Here’s a list of some of the “recommended resources” that were shared over the 24 hours:
Maximum Impact Short-Term Missions
Credible Study on the Impact of Short-Term Missions
When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert
What Every Church Member Should Know about Poverty by Bill Ehlig & Ruby Payne
“Mission Pastor’s Profile” by David Mays
Bible Study from Acts for Supporting Churches- “Behind the Goers” by Mike Jentes
This is a picture of the white board that we had for the weekend…