Are we playing it too safe?

Francis Chan recently resigned from his megachurch to possibly do some overseas missions work or some innercity ministry in Los Angeles.  Here is a clip where he talks about playing it safe.  We use some of Chan's videos and his Crazy Love book in our missionary training school curriculum.  I hope you are challenged by this video to take some big risks.

Are you afraid of Muslims?

Check out this video clip to learn about the modern day Samaritans (very similar to us but definitely considered our enemies), and see if you might be able to view them as God does:

Is "the task" almost finished?

I've been posting blogs concerning Finishing the Task (FTT) which is an effort by some of the major missions organizations to see church planting work started among the least reached people groups of the world. When they started promoting groups that were unengaged by missionaries or Christian work, there were 639 people groups with more than 100,000 in population numbering over 535 million people total. I want to show you their most updated statistics as of Dec 1.

The FTT website states that now, of the original 639 unreached, unengaged people groups:
* 30 remain unengaged. No one is trying to reach them. (144 on June 1 and 95 on Sept 1)
* 196 are adopted but not engaged. (146 on June 1 and 169 on Sept 1)
* 371 are engaged with church planting. (308 on June 1 and 334 on Sept 1)
* 346 have known believers. (299 on June 1 and 339 on Sept 1)
* 159 have at least one known church. (69 on June 1 and 155 on Sept 1)

Keep praying and seeing how you or your church can get involved!

What is the meaning of ethnocentric?

Jesus was constantly trying to overcome prejudice. He was trying to help his group of twelve disciples realize that this world was not all about them (as individuals or as a group). The Jews had started thinking of themselves as God's favorites and possibly even his instruments of wrath as they awaited a Messiah to help them overthrow the Roman empire so that they could rule the world. Jesus talked about a different kind of kingdom where people loved their enemies, where there was no Jew or Gentile, where everyone was invited to the banquet, and where the peacemakers were blessed. He was trying to provide a completely different paradigm and worldview by which to live. Have we learned anything from his teachings?

Jesus, the "friend of sinners", enjoyed hanging out with people of many different ethnicities, social status, etc. He was trying to get his followers prepared for when he would tell them to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. We are going to have to get past an us/them mentality if we are going to see this kingdom established that Jesus envisioned because it includes people from every people, tribe, class, education level, socio-economic status, and people group. What do you think needs to happen to see a whole kingdom of people from every nation on earth loving God and loving others?

What does the number 150 have to do with missions?

Seth Godin recently wrote a post about Dunbar's number being the law. The "theory" is that a human can only handle 150 meaningful relationships. Obviously, you can have a lot more acquaintances than that as many of us have several hundred friends on facebook. But the truth is that we can't physically, psychologically, or emotionally handle more than 150 significant friendships. Now, this causes a problem for the missionary because it is such a relational line of work and we need real friends to accomplish our task and not just twitter followers.

Think about how many personal friendships someone on the mission field needs to keep up with:
1) Supporters: The book Friend Raising basically teaches us that raising support is a relational activity. We're not just asking for money, we're looking for partners that can be a significant part of the work and that means intentional relationships with people back home including our family, home church, financial supporters, prayer partners, etc.
2) Co-workers: Most missionaries have a network of people in their organization (both home and field staff) and peers from other agencies that they stay in touch with. In order to have a strong team, it's essential to spend a significant amount of time building trust, praying, talking strategy, etc.
3) The Church: Christians must be plugged into some local body of believers. The church is to be a community of people living life together while focused on Christ rather than a one day per week event which takes time and being intentional. Many church planters also spend significant time discipling and raising up the national leaders. Truly investing in people's lives takes time and a church truly living out community takes effort.
4) The lost: Most Christians end up having only Christian friends because their 150 quota gets filled very quickly with church activities (small groups, awanas, softball team, choir, etc.) leaving little room for significant relationships with non-believers. Missionaries should have a room in their network for several folks that don't know Christ.

These are just some very broad strokes and I'm sure that there are many other categories as well. How can missionaries manage their time and relationships better to see all peoples on earth reached with the Gospel of Christ? Is it even possible for a missionary to juggle the many relationships that are required for successful ministry? Any ideas on simplifying

What does worship have to do with missions?

John Piper writes in Let the Nations be glad that worship is both the fuel and goal of missions. What does that mean? Well, worship fuels missions because missions is essentially bringing God ultimate glory by seeing all tribes, tongues, people, and nations worshiping Him. If you remember the famous passage in Isaiah 6 where he says "Here I am, send me", the context is God in heaven being worshiped by angels. So, as we worship more we have more of a burden for those that don't know God or as Louie Giglio states, "as we get lost in wonder, we can't help but wonder about the lost". So, as we worship (attribute worth to) God, we realize that he really does deserve all praise which in turn makes us desire to proclaim his fame to the 1.7 billion people who have never heard His name.

The fact that worship is also the goal is missions is very intriguing. I love missions! I enjoy talking about strategy, networking, partnerships, contextualization, cross-cultural communication, etc. However, missions is a rather temporal thing in comparison to worship and Jesus Christ who is eternal. Once we go to heaven, evangelism, discipleship, church planting, ministry, missions, etc. will be a thing of the past. So, let's fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Let's run the race in such a way as to get the prize (Christ). Let's do ministry with joy and excellence, but with the understanding that it is really small in comparison to God. Worship is the fuel and the goal of missions!

Sign up for your local Perspectives class

We have found that one of the most powerful missions mobilization tools is the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course. They are offered online and all over the U.S. A number of our missionary training school students have shared during their testimonies that the Perspectives class was instrumental in whetting their appetite for getting involved with long-term missions. I highly encourage everyone to take this course or to host one if it is not offered in your area. The course can also be used for college credit. Let us know if you have any other highly effective tools for getting people involved in praying, giving, going, and mobilizing others to get involved with the unreached people groups of the earth.