Missions on Point

It's no surprise that there is opposition to the Gospel and Gospel messengers. Jesus said it would be so. Paul said it would be so. History teaches us that it is so. How then do we prepare ourselves for the challenges of resistant culture in our world? Ignore?, Deflect?, Neglect?, Disobey?, Hit and run? None of these weak, selfish, sinful responses will do! Listen to this episode. Pray. Ask what G...

It seems simple. Yet, the simple process of planting a church can be distorted or muddied by modern pragmatism and the pressures of fadish methodologies. The end goal is a biblical, healthy, indigenous local church. It takes time, prayer, sweat-equity, relational skills, and no small amount of administrative and logistical attention.  We start with biblical models and build goals and priorities wh...

Wildly diverse and unbiblical definitions of "local church" continue to infiltrate contemporary trends and field practices. We MUST start with and expect a solid, biblical definition of a local church in order to plant solid, healthy churches.  The implications are HUGE. Wrong goals produce wrong results. Fuzzy targets yield a lot of misses. Inappropriate altruism only helps people feel good about...

One of the most dramatic streams of trends in missions over the past decade and the present is the methodologies represented by DMM ("Disciple Making Movements"), CPM ("Church Planting Movements"), T4T ("Training for Teachers"), DBS ("Discovery Bible Studies"), and others. The statistics are mind-boggling! While we can learn some essential things about the power of God's word, presently plainly, s...

Literally billions of people around the world, especially in the remaining people groups unreached with the Gospel, are strictly oral learners or oral communicators. Though various kinds of media may be used, often technology limitations require that a person go and teach the Gospel to them orally. Recent emphasis on this means and refinements of methods have improved and helped to spread the Gosp...

Contextualization is a key concept in the communication of the Gospel and its application in the field. It has been often exaggerated in application to the point of heresy. Understanding and communicating in an understandable way within a language and culture is essential. However, losing the moorings of key doctrinal anchors will result in a highjacked version of healthy contextualization. Don't...

Churches and "investors" are getting inundated by proposals and requests from those wanting to start a business overseas under the banner of "Business As Missions." Just like any business proposal, the hearer needs discernment and should ask hard questions. Among those questions for missions must be questions from a Christian missions perspective: who? what? where? why? when? and how? are all legi...

Business As Missions (BAM) is not only a large issue in missions today, it is an inescapable necessity. Many countries do not allow religious workers. So, Christians must have a legitimate business reason to obtain a long-term residence visa. Missionaries today must be prepared, in these contexts, to either take a job contract or create a business of their own. There are lots of sticky issues rela...

We highly recommend having a written partnership agreement with your missionary's missions sending agency. But it's more than just the paper. Making a good partnership work requires time, effort, relationship, and prayer. This episode explains some of the challenges and tips for making an effective partnership agreement that really works to the advantage of all involved and to the ministry on the...

No one talks about this! We should talk about this. Your church, your people, the family members of your missionaries, and the missionaries themselves need to have right and realistic expectations about their accountability, focus, and communication while on the field. It should not be a surprise to anyone that the missionary has a lot of pressure and change to cope with on the field. They also ha...

Even before your missionary departs for the field, it's good for you and for them to have realistic expectations for a healthy, pastoral accountability field visit.  This episode will help prepare for the wholistic scope of interests for the sending or supporting church field visit.

So, your missionary is fully prepared and qualified. Now what!  Celebrate! Give God glory publicly! Invite friends and family and all those supporting your missionary. Send him/her/them well. Also, be aware that de-commissioning is no light matter. Learn how to navigate those reefs and help your missionary, if necessary, understand the gravity and significance of leaving the field. Help them re-ac...

Though it is a challenging topic, it must be discussed with your prospective missionary. It's a good thing for every Christian to think about! Missionaries, though they say they are willing to sacrifice and to suffer for Christ on the mission field, have a very hard time putting into practice the humility and servant spirit required to life in another culture. We all fight against giving up our pe...

It's not all classroom work! Missionary candidates need to embrace and be self-motivated to do some research on their target group before they leave for the field. They need to lay a foundation of practical understanding of the Bible, theology, culture, history, language, and more! You can facilitate and encourage them to dig deep. Lastly, the field or vision trip to the target area is a significa...

Let's take the mystery out of a training sequence for your candidate. This episode gives an overview of a 40-week curriculum which includes most of the content and experiences you will want to build in to your own curriculum. You won't be able to do all of it in-house; plan on outsourcing or bringing experts in to fill out the course. The capstone is a field visit that exposes your candidate/s to...

Starting the training and development process, we encourage assigning a mentor, or a series of mentors, to the missionary candidate. Begin with an inventory of personal spiritual disciples, discussing in-depth and candidly the major areas of life in which they may need attention, help, counsel, and qualification. The purpose is not to disqualify them. Rather, the intention is to identify areas and...

Every missionary candidate has a similar sequence of steps in preparation that must be taken to get from HERE, at home, to THERE, on their target field. Every church should know those steps and walk that pathway with them, guiding them along the way. This little book, available on Propempo.com and Amazon, is a great little primer of practical priorities, counsel, and resources to help all those in...

Let's demystify the "missionary call." This thing involves both a subjective inner compulsion but also requires the external validation of the local church. How do you go about evaluating it? Take your time. Get to know your candidate well. Remove the most common and obvious barriers to missionary qualification. Walk with them through the preparation process. In the end, it should be apparent to t...

The most important biblical qualification for a missionary is character. The scope of character includes integrity and reputation. Biblical qualifications for church leadership apply to missionaries, as well! It takes time and conscious effort to observe, mentor, examine and evaluate a missionary candidate's character. Don't take short-cuts! These qualifications are great goals for any mature Chri...

Very significant to your missionary training process will be defining some basic concepts which will serve you well. Not only does this work in developing new missionary candidates, but it frees your church leaders to be more discriminating, in a good way, and more focused in all the missions ministries your church supports. Learn how to distinguish priorities in relationship to the church, access...

Discovering a new missionary candidate from your church should be as glorious as finding a new diamond. That diamond may still be "in the rough." But, it is the joy and privilege of the church to cut and polish that diamond specifically for cross-cultural service to the King of Kings. How do you inculcate a local church culture that produces awareness of missions and develops people willing to giv...

Church-based missionary training is both exciting and scary! Yet, it's nothing to be afraid of. If a church wants to send its own, it should be willing to invest in training them to be as fully prepared as it takes to give them every expectation of being long-term, effective missionaries on their appointed field. You can do this! Stick with us as we walk through Introduction: benefits, basic conce...

OK. Our missionary is ready to be sent out to the field. We're done, right? NOOOO! This is where the true sending church steps up to ongoing responsibility and ownership of the missionary, their ministry, and the goals for which they were sent. It is still a team sport! There is plenty to do in full-orbed support, partnership in several levels, and a heightened sense of shepherding care for them "...

Somehow churches freeze when a young person comes back from college or some spiritual experience and announces that they are going to be a missionary. Sometimes they are absolutely confident that they are going to do a particular ministry in a particular place with a particular goal. AND, they expect their church to foot the bill! Wait a minute! The missionary's direction and guidance are a functi...

So many missionaries dash to the field without a loving check to assure they have the training and qualifications for effective long-term service. They come home dashed to pieces in avoidable attrition. We are passionate about training churches and their candidates to build the right mindset, skills, and expectations to survive and thrive in cross-cultural ministry. Get your church and mission lea...