International Missions

Whether you are a parent of teens who are thinking about going on a short term missions trip, or you have been on ten trips to four continents, and want to further explore God’s heart for the nations, here are some practical steps to gain a larger world view and understand your place in God’s plans.

The purpose of this material is twofold:

• to get people informed about missions, but primarily
• to give them some resources to help them become involved and personally invested in the Great Commission.

Missions is not a special calling for a few people. It is rather a call to the church everywhere, to go into the world everywhere. Our goal is to inform, educate, inspire and empower people to join God at work, around the corner and around the world. “Missions exists in the world because worship doesn’t. Missions is temporary; Worship is forever.” Fellowship church is driven by our values. Missions is not a duty to check off, but an outflowing of God in us, and His invitation to join Him by making disciples of all people groups,

“…as we go about our business, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.”

Contents

Taking the Next Step in Missions — Basic, Practical Steps.

• Get the Small Group Bible study by Bruce Camp, Discovering Our Place in His Plans, and either go through it yourself, as a family, or small group. [five reproducible lesson plans for overhead or handouts. Fantastic! About $8. Next Step Resources [800- 444-2665] www.efca.com click on Next Step Resources link.
• Subcribe to the free missions magazine Frontiers by US Center for World Mission. It deals with every issue from contextualizing the Gospel, to supporting national missionaries, to unreached people groups, MK’s and current shifts and trends in missions around the world.
• Sign up for the monthly Prayer for the Nations at Fellowship Church (or organize a monthly Prayer for the Nations at your church) The conference room is reserved the first hour, the fourth Sunday of every month. Coffee. Come prepared to do warfare and be encouraged as we intercede for the nations, and the people on the front lines.
• Get a copy of Operation World, [also available in Youth Edition, 2 volumes] which gives every people group on every continent, and all the stats including population, dominant religion, current evangelization status, if they have Bibles in the language, and church planting work. A missions classic and an essential tool for effective prayer. The latest edition comes on a CD rom.
• Support a missionary regularly in another culture. Christ taught that where your treasure is there your heart is also. It is amazing how much more your heart is primed for the world when you make the choice to invest in missions. More than anything else, the ways we use money and time are indicators of what we think is truly important.
• Sign up for the course Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. USCWM, a twelve week course for credit or certificate, which covers the historical, cultural and Biblical perspective on missions and the expansion of the world Christian movement. Offered each year at Cedar Springs Pres. Church, Knoxville. For other dates and locations go to www.uscwm.org
• Do a personal Bible Study or Topical word study on Missions, Gospel, Evangelism, Great Commission, and discover the scarlet thread that runs from Genesis 12 to Revelation, discover that the imperative command in the Great Commissions is not “GO”, and learn why the cleansing of the Temple is thegreatest teaching of Christ on missions and his heart for the world. Start a running list of great missions passages in the flyleaf of your Bible.
• Sign up for a short term missions trip. Begin by learning about the place you are going. Check out the spiritual climate of the country. What percentage are evangelical believers. What is the primary religion? What is the literacy rate of the people? What type of government do they have?
• Check out www.skype.com and meet people from the country and talk free, or engage in a chat with someone from that country, and ask them to tell you about their hobbies, and culture. Take the attitude of a listener and a learner. [See Top 30 Missions Resources Websites.] www.peoplegroups.org and many others to get you started.

We would love to hear from you.

Loren, Christina and Clay Ozanne

Szczecin, Poland.

loren.ozanne@efca.org

christina.ozanne@efca.org