Mission & Evangelism

Mission & Evangelism equips Christians and churches to share the gospel and make disciples locally and globally. Explore Bible-based articles on evangelism, outreach, disciple-making, missions strategy, church planting partnerships, and engaging your community with compassion and clarity. You’ll find practical guidance for building a missional culture, telling the story of Jesus well, and reaching people across cultures and generations. Whether you’re serving in your neighborhood, supporting missionaries, or leading a church on mission, these resources help you live sent and invite others to follow Christ.

November 20, 2014

Christian Standard

Of Oz and Opportunities

By T.R. Robertson An unexpected career path has opened many doors for this minister to a church and community “down under.” Rob Branham frequently begins his day by playing a game of Jenga with a middle school student. The boy”s teachers were having difficulties dealing with his behavior. He was arriving at school angry nearly every morning because of a troubled home life. So now he stops by the school chaplain”s office for a “pit stop” and a friendly game to help him calm down before classes begin. When Branham began his college journey at his hometown Central Christian College

November 18, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

A Challenge for the Stay-at-Homes

By Mark A. Taylor Success stories about cross-cultural evangelism may make us want to reach unreached people in faraway places. We read articles like those posted at our site this month and decide to give more to missions, attend the International Conference on Missions, or answer our church”s call to take a short-term missions trip. Any of these responses might be good, better for sure than those of a few who may quickly skim these posts and move on because (a) they”re bored by stories about church work overseas, or (b) they”re ashamed because they feel they should be a

November 17, 2014

Christian Standard

Now They Are Receiving

By Craig and Shirley Woolsey After graduating from Ozark Christian College, we worked for almost three decades in the capital city of Santiago, Chile. When we left the United States, the oldest of our five children was just entering his teens, so we moved into a middle-class neighborhood in Santiago and looked for Chilean schools where some English was spoken.  We found a school, but of greater importance, we realized few of our neighbors had any connection to a church. The higher classes in Chile might have been called an “unreached people group” in the 1970s! Craig began making contacts,

November 15, 2014

Christian Standard

How Are We Doing with Missions?

We asked five missions leaders in the Christian churches to answer several key questions about missions progress, obstacles, and opportunities: Reggie Hundley is executive director of Missions Services Association, Knoxville, Tennessee. Doug Lucas is president of Team Expansion, Louisville, Kentucky. Doug Priest is executive director of Christian Missionary Fellowship, Indianapolis, Indiana. Greg Pruett is president of Pioneer Bible Translators, Dallas, Texas. Tony Twist is president of TCM International Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana.  What are the most hopeful signs regarding international, cross-cultural evangelism you see in our movement today? Greg Pruett: Many are valuing working among the unreached peoples of the world,

November 14, 2014

Christian Standard

Church on Mission: Church at the Mission

By Jennifer Johnson “I”ve done church planting, I”ve done megachurch, and I”ve done microchurch,” says Blake Ryan. “I think this is the only thing God could call me to that would fulfill my heart in ministry.” “This” is Church at the Mission Corona, a new congregation that launched in January at the Corona/Norco (CA) Rescue Mission. Ryan serves as lead pastor of the church and director of the mission as well as managing principal at PlainJoe Studios, a design and media company also based in Corona. “We were part of Church at the Mission”s first location in Tustin, CA, and

November 10, 2014

Christian Standard

Missions Ministries that Work: Tower Hill Christian Church

By Derrick Ritchie When Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” we believe this calling is for not only individual Christians, but the church as well. I confess this is a challenge, because our church will give more than $85,000 to missions this year. There are always things I would love to do with this money inside the walls of our church. Really, I have a long list in my head! But I believe God will bless our local ministry in relation to our generosity to missions and missionaries around the world as we advance his

November 9, 2014

Christian Standard

Missions Ministries that Work: Bright Christian Church

By Jeff Stone Bright, Indiana, is a rural bedroom community located near Cincinnati, Ohio. It has no traffic light or post office, but thankfully, it does have a Skyline Chili. Located in this sleepy town is the Bright Christian Church, a congregation of 1,000 people that has been meeting for 119 years and is continuing to impact the world locally and globally. Bright has always been a faithful mission-supporting church, but over the past several years we”ve stepped up our personal involvement in global missions. Food bagging events with Lifeline Christian Mission created intergenerational participation. In 2009 eight of our

November 8, 2014

Christian Standard

Missions Ministries that Work: Academy Christian Church

By Carol Norris From its beginning in 1973, Academy Christian Church”s leaders and members have emphasized missions. The program”s successes are due, in part, to the formal, documented policies and systems set up to help with decision- making and the ongoing operations of the mission team. These mission policies include a purpose statement, financial and selection policies, and responsibilities of the missionary, the church, and the team. There are also questionnaires for missionaries and organizations that request support; their responses are evaluated against set criteria. Mission support is an integral part of ACC. We believe missionary work is vital to

November 7, 2014

Christian Standard

Missions Ministries that Work: First Christian Church

By Jim Book At First Christian Church, we support missions directly connected with churches of Christ and Christian churches that also value the Restoration Movement plea. The money designated for missions is allocated in three specific areas of ministry. One portion goes directly to Timothys sent from this church who are still directly connected to this church family. We are blessed to have Timothys in South Sudan and Japan, as well as a team preparing to minister in Jordan. A second portion goes to missions directly involved in church planting, discipleship making, and local church leadership training. The third portion

November 7, 2014

Christian Standard

Missions Ministries that Work: Christ’s Church Mandarin

By Jill Thomas We have had great success in missions in the short time I”ve served as local and global outreach director with Christ”s Church, Mandarin Campus, in Jacksonville, Florida. One of our biggest successes in local missions has been in getting many more people involved. Between our neighborhood groups wanting to take on more local projects, and families in the church who want to start serving each month with their children, we”ve seen many new faces serving the community on a more consistent basis. We have also seen more life change because of our missions programs. Several adults and

November 7, 2014

Christian Standard

The Best Object Lesson

By Trevor Tolley A good teacher likes to use an object to help his or her students remember the lesson. A good teacher knows that a good object lesson engages a student”s senses. The more a student”s senses are engaged, the greater the likelihood the student will remember the lesson. Jesus understands this about us. And through the Lord”s Supper, Jesus demonstrates his mastery as a teacher. He cares enough to provide a physical reminder, an object lesson, of what he has done for us and what we believe. And what a reminder! Have you ever stopped to ponder the

November 6, 2014

Christian Standard

Missions Ministries that Work: Markle Church of Christ

By Jon Rice I believe Markle Church of Christ has sustained interest in missions for longer than I have been alive. This deeply rooted, mission-focused body of believers puts a lot of effort into providing missionary updates to our church and living out what we say is important. Mission commissioning and involvement is one of our five core values, for we believe “every member is called, by God, to actively engage in missions” (see Matthew 28:18-20). Faith promise is a key element to sustaining interest in missions. Faith promise is a personal commitment each person can make to God to

August 11, 2014

Christian Standard

Reaching Future World Leaders with the Gospel

By Phil Tatum It seems fitting that a mission ministry born on a college campus 65 years ago is now a leader in the field of international campus work, with ambitious plans for the future. Globalscope, a division of CMF International in Indianapolis, Indiana, began as a dream in the late 1990s when it was noticed that some of the best, brightest, and hardest-working REACH summer interns were coming from the Georgia Tech Christian Campus Fellowship (GTCCF). Naomi Kouns, a longtime CMF director, had the foresight to grasp the potential in this ministry, located in midtown Atlanta and headed by

July 29, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

Speaking the Truth, Showing the Truth

By Mark A. Taylor Today I”m remembering insights about faith-sharing in last month”s Beyond the Standard online interview. Plan to tune-in to this month”s discussion, “Ministry Today” with CHRISTIAN STANDARD columnist Eddie Lowen, this Thursday, July 31, 11 a.m. Eastern. My eye fell on a small tract, propped against the mirror on the shelf above the sink in the public restroom I was using. “Where Will You Spend Eternity?” the leaflet asked. And I remembered my own tract-distributing phase many decades ago. On one occasion, with fevered prayers, I had slipped a salvation tract into the magazine pocket behind the

July 25, 2014

Christian Standard

Persecution Preparation

By Ziden Nutt (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I”ve Ever Received.”) The date: October 24, 1952. The place: East Gary, Indiana. I was sitting in the front row, in the third chair from the right side. A very frail gentleman stood on the platform speaking. He had just spent 15 months in a Communist China prison, from March 22, 1951, to June 20, 1952. Among the torture methods used was a giant nutcracker, large enough to apply pressure to a human head. He said the only thing to help him keep his sanity was quoting Scripture over

July 19, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

A Conversation with Gene Appel

  Gene Appel says “The evangelistic temperature of a church drops faster than anything else.” He discusses how to solve this problem, including a strategy of reducing ministry programs where he preaches, Eastside Christian Church, Anaheim, California. Hear his interview with CHRISTIAN STANDARD Editor Mark Taylor here.

July 17, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

A Conversation with Rick Rusaw

  Rick Rusaw thinks about how the “externally focused” concept has matured to make a difference these days in whole communities. He describes the power of neighboring and tells how that’s being lived out where he preaches, LifeBridge Christian Church, Longmont, Colorado. Hear his interview with CHRISTIAN STANDARD editor Mark Taylor here.

July 10, 2014

Christian Standard

Course Correction

By Doug Lucas (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I’ve Ever Received.”) The best advice I ever received was from Professor Tom Gemeinhart at Kentucky Christian College (now KCU) in 1977. Over the course of the first nine weeks in his class, “Principles and Methods of Missions” (which I had to take as a requirement), we studied the Great Commission as found in five different books of the Bible. We analyzed the story of the watchman on the wall in Ezekiel. We looked at Jonah, Barnabas, and of course Paul. In fact, by the time we were done,

June 30, 2014

Christian Standard

On Fire for Mission in Africa

By Jennifer Johnson Dave Moore didn”t even want to visit Africa. Today he”s the founder and president of Africa Fire Mission. “When our church, LifeSpring Christian in Cincinnati, offered a mission trip to Kenya in 2012, my wife, Nancy, asked me to go with her,” says Moore, who at that time served as the fire chief of a wealthy suburb. “The trip would include working with Missions of Hope International (MOHI), part of Christian Missionary Fellowship“s ministry in the Mathare Valley. I wasn”t excited about it, but I went, and I realized how much the people there needed fire safety

June 19, 2014

Christian Standard

Finding a Point of Contact with Anyone

By John Castelein What does it mean that Jesus wants his disciples to be “in the world . . . not of the world” (John 17:13-19)? “In the world” involves more than merely being involved with the world or being aware of the culture. I believe it means being able to connect with people who have not committed to God”s kingdom. “Not of the world” means living out kingdom values and commitments that differ from those of worldly people. Unfortunately, as many Christians become more and more “not of the world,” they have less involvement and connection with people “in

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