Missions Miscellany

In the last week, I've come across some interesting web sites that relate to missions. They're not really connected in any way; they don't directly relate to missions in Sub-Saharan Africa; they're a mixed bag -- but I thought they might be stimulating and might give someone some ideas. The format below is my comments first, then information about the site or blog, then the links:

Not an advertisement, but several years ago we were looking for flights to Kenya for our children for Christmas. When we and some other travel agents had looked, we could only find seats at something like $3,000.00 each. The folks at Ministry Travel were able to secure seats for us for about $1300.00 each. I was impressed. I just found out that they do a blog designed to help those who are taking short term mission trips. These three posts, especially the third one, seemed especially helpful:

MINISTRY TRAVEL - Our mission is to provide the best service and prices to our missionary and ministry clients.

• The Mission Team Leader's Field Notebook
• Recruiting and Organizing Translators for Mission Projects
• Speaking Through Translators During Mission Trips

Loosen your tie and your belt, lean back in your office chair (or your recliner), and suspend your critical judgement -- humour ahead -- prepare to laugh. Jon Acuff writes religious satire and there's very little that's out-of-bounds for him. Jon wants to get us to examine what we do and sometimes what we believe so that we can get back to true Christianity. This post made me wonder what people really think about all the stuff that we, as long term missionaries, gift them with.

STUFF CHRISTIANS LIKE - Stuff Christians Like is a blog about the funny things we Christians do. And what they just might reveal about our faith...Does the stuff we like, ever get in the way of the God we love? Satire in the tradition of The Wittenburg Door

• Mission Trip Souvenirs (or the sandals that prove you've been to Africa)

What a great way to state this concept: The Church is God's mission strategy. That's why the organization under which I work has such a strong focus on church planting. In this interview conducted by Ed Stetzer (Research, Lifeway Christian Resources), Steve Timmis presents an interesting possibility for church planting in a post-Christian society -- intentionally planting a group of believers in the midst of communities of non-believers to live out church among them. What would happen if, for instance, a group of Christian Kenyan families were to decide to resettle in the Kibera slum?

RESURGENCE - a reformed, complementarian, missional movement that trains missional leaders to serve the Church to transform cultures for Christ. What should Americans learn from the post-Christian culture of western Europe? In this short interview, Steve Timmis talks about how the church is God's mission strategy and why Americans should learn from Europe.

• We Are God's Mission Strategy

The last post is a blog about the potential for technology to separate us from the people we're called and sent to serve. While this is written from the perspective of short term mission teams, I think the danger is at least as great for long term personnel. It's easy to spend so much time on the computer (writing, planning, surfing, Skyping, Tweeting, Facebooking, etc.) that we don't ever disconnect from our home culture and bond with our adopted culture -- we're here but not really.

A VOICE IN ASIA'S HIGHLANDS - Brother Eugene apparently works with Adventures in Missions, though I couldn't find an "About" page or profile on his blog.

• Technology's Negative Impact on Missions

Enough miscellaneous postings for today.

• Which of these seems most relevant to your work in Sub-Saharan Africa? Why?

For the Kingdom,
Bob A