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.

June 20, 2010

Christian Standard

Lessons We”ve Learned from Eating with Sinners

By Brandon Smith The ministry I serve, the Christian Campus House at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, does not necessarily operate under what I would call a “written budget.” This mostly is because we rarely have money with which to budget. And while I am only half joking, my serious half supposes one of the biggest line items, if we did have a written budget, would be “food.” College students like to eat. A lot. And we like to feed them. We place such an emphasis on food in our ministry, not because we are gluttons, but because something

June 20, 2010

Christian Standard

Some of My Best Friends Are Lost

By Arron Chambers This is an excerpt from the book “Eats With Sinners” by Arron Chambers. To some, Lost is a highly addictive TV show about the survivors of a plane wreck who find themselves on a deserted island””in the middle of the ocean””where nothing makes sense and they are not alone. Lost might be a zone where single socks, class rings, your favorite hat, sunglasses, my brother”s car keys, the Watergate tapes, and my six-toed cat (Sasquatch) dwell while waiting to be found . . . or not. Lost is how I feel listening to my daughter as she tries to

May 30, 2010

Christian Standard

From the Campus to the World

By Greg Swinney Short-term mission trips are part of the meat and potatoes of campus ministry. In the past 20 years these trips have grown by leaps and bounds to become massive global efforts. During summer months, winter break, and spring break, university students travel the planet to offer all they have for the glory of the Lord. They work in orphanages, inner-city churches, medical clinics, children”s homes, and in countless Third World regions. Hundreds will go this year. Thousands of dollars will be spent. And lives will be transformed for eternity. This article intersperses how campus ministries make short-term

May 23, 2010

Christian Standard

The Night the Rocks Cried Out

By Tracie Stanley On January 7, I traveled to Grand Goâve, Haiti, for a 10-day mission trip with Lifeline Christian Mission. The trip”s objective was to serve through hosting a day for the ladies from Lifeline”s churches, distributing Christmas gifts to children sponsored by the ministry, working in the infant nutrition program, and distributing shoes to Haitian children. By midweek we learned the Lord had a different objective in mind for this trip. My first glimpses of Haitian life were as we flew into Port-au-Prince””houses made of cement block and scraps of metal were stacked on each other and against

May 23, 2010

Christian Standard

After the Earthquake in Haiti

By Reggie Hundley By now all of us know the facts of the story. On January 12, 2010, a destructive earthquake rocked the nation of Haiti. The magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred 16 miles west of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, and at a depth of approximately eight miles. The United States Geological Survey reported at least 33 aftershocks in the hours following the event. But these details do little to describe the trauma suffered by the people of Haiti. According to the International Red Cross, an estimated 3 million people were affected by the earthquake and aftershocks. Ninety percent of

April 8, 2010

Christian Standard

Interview with Christopher LaPel

By Brad Dupray The killing fields of Cambodia saw hundreds of thousands perish due to disease, starvation, and execution. Christopher LaPel lost his family but found salvation in Christ through the terrible ordeal. He has returned to his native land many times to encourage and train local Christians, and through his work, more than 200 churches have been started. Christopher is senior pastor of the Golden West Christian Church in Los Angeles, California, where he has served for 20 years. Golden West conducts worship services in five languages each Sunday. He is a graduate of Hope International University and has

April 4, 2010

Christian Standard

When God Prompts

By George Ross As I write this, the television news is saturated with graphic updates of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. It is mid-January, and first reports estimate about 200,000 people will die as a result of the disaster. The surrounding world looks on and aches with and for those Haitian families who lost loved ones. I know the church will come through and help bring assistance to one of the poorest countries on earth. We, as God”s people, have proven again and again we can step up in tragedies like this and Hurricane Katrina. My focus in this article

February 28, 2010

Christian Standard

Egyptians Churches Move Toward New Testament Principles

By Karen Wingate Dozens of churches now celebrate a weekly observance of the Lord”s Supper. Many churches are adding baptisteries to their buildings, and ministers are baptizing church members. Congregations with a denominational background are selecting elders to provide local leadership. It sounds like a page from the early history of the American Restoration Movement when Alexander Campbell, Barton Stone, and Walter Scott became convicted of the need to restore the church to the New Testament pattern. In reality, these events describe dozens of churches in Egypt moving closer to the New Testament model of church life. Much of this

February 14, 2010

Christian Standard

A List of Mission Agencies Serving in Haiti

By Georgia Sharpe and Reggie Hundley This is a list of contacts for missionary agencies serving in Haiti, as well as (further down) a list of four groups from the Christian churches/churches of Christ working closely with individuals and missionaries in Haiti to provide relief for earthquake victims and their families. This list is provided to CHRISTIAN STANDARD and its readers by Georgia Sharpe and Reggie Hundley of Mission Services (www.missionservices.org). 1. Ambassadors of Christ in Haiti, Carl & Carole Vorst, 11146 Morrow Drive, St. Ann, MO 63074; Gilbert Jules 2. Central Haiti Christian Mission, Carolyn Yeggy, 278 Ihle Drive,

January 27, 2010

Christian Standard

Interview with Dick Alexander

By Brad Dupray As a youth minister in Southern California, Dick Alexander led regular missions trips to nearby Mexico. Those first ventures into the mission field put a desire in his heart to see cross-cultural ministry take place on a broader scale, which has carried forward into his 25 years as senior minister with LifeSpring Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He leads by example, helping facilitate numerous overseas partnerships. Dick has deep roots in the Restoration Movement, having grown up at First Christian Church, Canton, Ohio, where he was baptized by P.H. Welshimer. He is a graduate of Cincinnati Christian

December 6, 2009

Christian Standard

Reaching Unbelievers: How Effective Is Your Church?

  by Kent R. Hunter It was Tuesday morning and that meant the weekly ministry review at Starbucks. Jonathan and Jason are ministers with small churches south of Portland, Oregon. Today”s topic drifted toward Pathway, the megachurch in town. The conversation was similar to thousands occurring among ministers. Megachurches offer more programs, better worship music, slicker printed pieces, and specialty staff. People in our society seem to shop for everything, including church. The membership of small congregations””such as the two these men serve””is declining, while megachurches make headlines. Jason and Jonathan enjoyed their coffee, but had a bittersweet attitude about

December 2, 2009

Christian Standard

An Issue to Discuss, a Resource to Consider

By Mark A. Taylor We like to think every issue of Christian Standard is a winner, of course, but we believe this week”s content is especially useful. Church staffs, elders, evangelism committees, or anyone interested in reaching the lost will find help here. Read Kent Hunter”s strategies for evangelism and decide which of them is most urgent for your church to adopt. Look at the experience of Marcus Bigelow and Paul Williams and agree on the implications for your congregation and for your personal approach to non-Christians. Consider David Bycroft”s experience and approaches and how you could use them where

November 29, 2009

Christian Standard

INTO AFRICA: Ray and Effie Giles

  by Kathy Harless “We left a church in Ethiopia.” Ray Giles wrote in tears in late 1977, yet a quiet victory filled his heart. His family and other Christian Missionary Fellowship missionaries had been hastily evacuated in the spring with the advent of a strong Marxist government.  For nine years before that, Ray and Effie Giles worked alongside teammates in evangelizing, educating, and planting churches among the unreached Oromo and Gumuz peoples. Ray”s greatest concern was whether they had prepared the new and maturing Christians for the persecution that lay ahead. Yet, a church was being forged in Ethiopia

November 29, 2009

Christian Standard

INTO AFRICA: Dennis and Lucy Pruett

  by Joe Bliffen Over the past 51 years Dennis D. Pruett, MD, has been known as Chiremba (doctor) to the Africans who live in the bush country of Zimbabwe. In 1958, at age 34, Dr. Pruett, his wife, Lucy, and their four children traveled to what was then Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, Africa. Arriving in Cape Town, South Africa, the Pruett family, along with nurses Betty Iddings and Helen Doyle and secretary Betty Morgan, were met by the Max Ward Randall family, missionaries to South Africa. After a couple of days, they began the long and arduous journey from

November 29, 2009

Christian Standard

INTO AFRICA: Bob and Phyllis Mills

  by Bill Weber Had Bob and Phyllis Mills not enrolled at Lincoln Bible Institute1 in the 1940s, their incredible 47-year adventure in Africa would never have happened.2 Phyllis grew up as a missionary kid on the Tibetan border of China.3 Bob was a farm boy from southern Illinois. Phyllis”s cross-cultural childhood with her family and Bob”s traveling the world as a sailor in the Navy ignited in each of them a commitment to foreign mission service. This was a match made in Heaven. The Millses met, fell in love, married in 1950, raised four daughters, and spent their lifetime of ministry

November 29, 2009

Christian Standard

Fifty Years of Missiology: 1960″“2010

  by Doug Priest While missions began in biblical times, the academic discipline of missiology goes back only to the early 1800s. The definition of missiology we learned in college in the 1970s was, “the scientific study of missions.” I recall my missionary father cringing upon hearing this definition, fearing that others would assume the spiritual component in mission was being left out.  In seminary I learned a more technical definition: “The academic discipline or science which researches, records, and applies data relating to the biblical origin, the history, the anthropological principles and techniques and the theological basis of Christian

November 29, 2009

Christian Standard

Best Mission Practices in the 21st Century

  by Robert Reese “¢ As Americans, we must view non-Western Christians as our equals. The attitude of looking down on people because they are not as “developed” as we are comes from the period of Christendom when the West ruled the world. In the early church, the apostle Paul did not look down on people of other nationalities, but saw them as new creatures in Christ and heirs to all God”s promises (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:19). This allowed him to accept such people as coworkers. “¢ The rank and file of global Christians must be equipped to share

November 29, 2009

Christian Standard

The Burning Need

  by Greg Pruett From my house I could see the column of flame and cinders rising like a superheated tornado threatening to devour the whole village of grass huts. Two homes already blazed white-hot””competing with the intensity of the West African sun as the whole community stood helplessly wailing in distress. Men desperately dismantled nearby structures to contain the inferno and keep the rest of the village from burning. I gaped at the sight of my terrified friends weeping, but my mind kept wandering over to the tanks of water I had been storing up at my house less

September 20, 2009

Christian Standard

Full Circle

  by Jennifer Taylor Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, contributes significant time and money to missons. From Mozambique and Afghanistan to New York City and New Orleans, Southland wants to change the world by sharing Jesus with people in need. But Southland also wants to transform its own city, and launched the “Circles of Influence” program in 2007 to begin more intentional service closer to home. The program encompasses several major initiatives: supporting students and teachers in area school districts, partnering with local agencies, and developing clinics to offer free health care to individuals without insurance. School System Hundreds

August 16, 2009

Christian Standard

The Perfect Recipe

  by Ben Simms What happens when you mix hungry kids in need with churches hungry to serve? A perfect recipe for an incredible project. Dozens of churches across the United States have teamed with Lifeline Christian Mission”s Kids Helping Kids ministry in partnership with Kids Against Hunger, to bag tons of food for hungry kids in Haiti.  While not as tasty as Grandma”s turkey dinner, the food packed at each bagging event is certainly more than rice and water. The Kids Against Hunger mix is a specially formulated, fast-cooking, rice-based combination of vitamins, soy, dehydrated vegetables, and other nutrients

Help Keep Christian Standard Free & Accessible with a Tax Deductible Donation

We can do more together!

Every gift makes a difference!

No, thank you.
100% secure transactions - receipts provided.
Does Your Church Want to Support Christian Standard?

Would your church consider including support for Christian Standard in its annual missions budget? Your support would help us not only continue the 160-year legacy of this unifying ministry, but also expand the free resources, cooperative opportunities, and practical guidance we provide to strengthen churches in the U.S. and around the world.

We can do more together!

Every gift makes a difference!

No, thank you.
100% secure transactions - receipts provided.
Secret Link