Thought Exercise on Short Term Missions

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Learning Humility on a Mission Trip

Author

Keywords

Scripture

2 Samuel 7:18-19, Isaiah 66:2 , Matthew 23:11-12, Philippians 2:3-4 , Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 51:17

The priest Henri Nouwen learned humility on a mission trip to South America. He went expecting to pass on his wisdom to the poor and unenlightened. During his six-month stay, Nouwen concluded that a d...

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What is a Missional Church?

Author

Ed Stetzer

Keywords

The Missional Church

its simplest form, the term “missional” is the noun “missionary” modified to be an adjective. Missional churches do what missionaries do, regardless of the context. They can parachute-drop into a vill...

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What it Means to Be Sent into the World

Author

John R. W. Stott

Keywords

Scripture

John 17:18, John 20:21, Acts 1:1-11, Acts 8:26-39, Acts 9:36-42, Acts 10:34-35, Acts 17:16-34, Acts 20:31-35

[Jesus] sends us into the world as he was sent into the world (John 17:18; 20:21). We have to penetrate other people’s worlds, as he penetrated ours: the world of their thinking (as we struggle to und...

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Gathering & Scattering

Author

John R. W. Stott

Keywords

The Missional Church

I sometimes wonder (although I exaggerate in order to make my point) if it would not be very healthy for church members to meet only on Sundays (for worship, fellowship and teaching) and not at all mi...

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When the Mission is Clear

Author

Hugh Halter

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 14:28-30, Matthew 16:24, 2 Timothy 2:3, Philippians 3:8, John 12:24, Hebrews 11:38, Acts 20:24

A documentary about Ernest Shackleton’s early twentieth-century exposition to the South Pole shows the classified ad Shackleton put in a London newspaper: Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wa...

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The Shock-Value of Attending American MegaChurches for Third-World Missionary Kids

Author

Neil Cole

Keywords

Scripture

1 Samuel 16:7, Amos 5:21-24 , Isaiah 1:11-17, John 4:21-24, Matthew 18:20, Psalm 95:6-7

A missionary family who has started organic churches in some of the most dangerous fields in the world once returned to the states for furlough. On the first Sunday back, they visited a large Baptist ...

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The Payoff

Author

Philip Graham Ryken

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Matthew 26:26-28, Acts 2:42, Acts 20:7, John 6:35

If we are honest with ourselves, for many of us who celebrate the sacraments on a regular basis, at times we take them for granted. We lose sight of their nature to inspire and remind us of our covena...

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Saving Souls Without Discipling?

Author

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:28, James 2:15-17, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 58:6-7, Micah 6:8, Colossians 1:19-20, Matthew 28:19-20

I had just finished presenting much of the material in this chapter [on the role of the Church helping the poor] to an audience in Africa. A very tall and muscular African man in the audience approach...

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Suffering & the Primary Objective

Author

John Piper

Keywords

Suffering

In the United States and most other highly developed and industrialized nations that have been exporters of Christ’s gospel, it is generally accepted that the avoidance of suffering is a respected pri...

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A Missional Hermeneutic

Author

Craig Van Gelder

Keywords

James Brownson describes what he calls a “missional hermeneutic” as observed throughout the New Testament: I call the model I am developing a missional hermeneutic because it springs from a basic obs...

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How To Practice the Presence of God with a Full Schedule

Author

Alan Fadling

Keywords

In his excellent book, An Unhurried Life, Alan Fadling shares the powerful story of the missionary Frank Laubach: Frank Laubach, a missionary to the Philippines known for his Letters by a Modern Myst...

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Loving Others

Author

Scot McKnight

Keywords

Missions

Scripture

1 Chronicles 2:

Let me tell you the story of a great missionary named Frank C. Laubach (1884–1970). He grew up in the farming community of Benton, PA, and served as a Congregationalist missionary in the Philippines. ...

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Goodwill or God’s Will?

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

God's Will

Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:4-7, Isaiah 6:8, Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 2:10, Proverbs 3:5-6, Jeremiah 29:11

A lesson often learned the hard way in each of our spiritual journeys is mistaking goodwill for vocation. Sometimes we feel deeply about an experience we have, whether it be on a mission trip or even ...

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BE SHORT

Author

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:19, Ecclesiastes 5:2, Proverbs 10:19, Proverbs 17:27, Ecclesiastes 3:7, Proverbs 15:23

The Puritan preacher Cotton Mather, hard at work over the business of ministry, prayer, and writing, wrote over his study door in large letters, “BE SHORT.” Today, he might well have written "MAK...

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Following Jesus Requires Real Commitment

Author

Bradley Long

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 3:5-8, Matthew 22:37, Romans 12:1-2, Luke 14:26-27, Deuteronomy 6:5, Luke 16:13, Mark 12:30, John 14:15, Matthew 16:24-26, Luke 9:59-62, Matthew 6:24, Hebrews 11:13-16, Hebrews 10:38-39, Matthew 6:33-34, Matthew 10:37-39

What are you willing to do for love? An instructor for the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course shared with a class the major hang-up he had to get over before asking his wife to ma...

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Inviting Jesus to Tea

Author

Bradley Long

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 10:14-15, John 17:20-21, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:16-20

A Frontier Fellowship mobilizer once met a Chinese monk while leading a vision trip. Through a translator she said to him, “We are all followers of Jesus. Do you know Jesus?” The friendly monk replie...

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A Missionary's Influence

Author

Rick Ezell

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:5-7, Romans 8:29, Matthew 5:16, Colossians 3:12-14, John 13:15

R.W. DeHann wrote of a missionary who, shortly after arriving on the field, was speaking for the first time to a group of villagers. He was trying to present the gospel to them. He began by describing...

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Learning to Be Free

Author

Rachel Clark

International Justice Mission is a global ministry that works to end human trafficking and slavery. An important part of their mission is working with those who have been rescued from slavery to re-en...

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Packing a Coffin with Your Belongings

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Imagine being so committed to going to the mission field that you bought a one-way ticket to your destination and packed your worldly goods in a coffin, knowing you’d never come home. That is what A. ...

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Are You Afraid You'll Get Caught?

Author

Bradley Long

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 1:16, John 15:19-20, Matthew 5:10-12, Mark 10:29-30, Revelation 2:10-11, Matthew 10:16-18, 1 Peter 4:12-14, Romans 8:35, 2 Corinthians 12:10

An American pastor once asked an Indonesian missionary who works among Indonesians but with a different people group from his own, “Are you afraid you’ll get caught?” Christian mission work in Indones...

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Released or Sent?

Author

Sam Metcalf

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 16:6-10, Acts 15:1-35, Acts 13:14, Acts 9:1-19, Acts 13:4

”Paul and his band were “released,” not sent. Let’s get the exegesis right. First, the operative agent here is the Holy Spirit, not the local church or any other human entity. Second, what those aroun...

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Missional Ministry: Crossing to the Other Side of the Street

Author

Leonard Sweet

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 18:1-8 , 2 Kings 4:1-7, Micah 6:8, Luke 10:25-37, Mark 10:45, Psalm 82:3-4

Leonard Sweet shares an interesting story in the introduction to Neil Cole’s book, Organic Church , about a parish pastor who lived in a Scottish village near Edinburgh called Davidson’s Mains. ...

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What Church Growth Ought to Look Like

Author

Paul D. Borden

Keywords

In smaller congregations any growth is usually highly prized, but wise pastors realize that not all growth is good growth. Also, missional pastors know that the best growth is conversion growth. A hea...

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The Path Isn't Easy

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:3-5, 1 Peter 4:12-13, Galatians 6:9, Colossians 1:24, 2 Corinthians 11:23-27, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 20:22-24, 1 Timothy 6:12, Hebrews 10:36, Luke 14:27, Matthew 16:24-26

Once, when the famous missionary, Dr. David Livingstone, was in Africa, he wrote home to England requesting more workers. In reply, he received this message: We would like to send more workers to y...

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Sitting Down in the Dust

Author

Leonard Sweet

Keywords

Few stories are more deserving of documentaries and a movie than the story of Mama Heidi. After missionary Heidi Baker and her husband earned their PhDs, God told Heidi, “Sit in the dust.” She had no ...

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Your First Assignment: Do Nothing

Author

J. D. Greear

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 24:49

I’ve always thought that Jesus gave a very odd first step to completing the Great Commission, basically telling them, “Do nothing until the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Luke 24:49, my paraphrase). Wit...

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“I Know Why You’re Here”

Author

Kevin Blue

Keywords

One summer, Johnny was ministering among the poor on a six-week urban project with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Los Angeles. Part of his assignment was to spend time in a convalescent home in ...

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A Jubilee Church

Author

Kent Annan

Keywords

Scripture

Leviticus 25:10-12, Isaiah 58:6-7, Acts 2:44-45, Micah 6:8, Luke 4:18-19, Matthew 25:35-40, Acts 4:32-35, Romans 12:9-21, 1 John 3:17-18, 2 Corinthians 8:1-4

From the outside Calvary Church in Holland, Michigan, looks like a typical large church that many Americans attend. The church developed the typical way: it started small and then began to grow. As th...

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Called to Faithfulness

Author

Trevor Hudson

Keywords

Many years ago, I watched a documentary on the remarkable ministry of Mother Teresa among the poverty-stricken people of Calcutta. At one stage there was a moving exchange between her and the commenta...

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How Tithing Could Change the World

Author

Ron Sider

Keywords

In Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don't Give Away More Money, the authors point out that if Americans who professed to be "strong" or "very strong" Christians tit...

thought exercise on Short-Term Missions

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