Series: Missions: People and Program

November 17, 2016

Christian Standard

The Jesus House

By Jackina Stark After years of guerilla warfare, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians) gained complete power over Cambodia in April 1975 to begin Year Zero and form a Communist peasant farming society. Foreigners were expelled, all national and international communications were cut off, health care was eliminated, and the inhabitants of Cambodian cities were evacuated on foot by gunpoint””2 million in Phnom Penh alone. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, monks, former soldiers and their wives and children””all the educated, religious, and wealthy””were executed. Those allowed to live were forced to labor in the fields 18 hours a day, typically

April 3, 2016

Christian Standard

We”re Making Great Strides in Missions

By Justin Horey “If you have no churches, and you have no Scripture, you have no hope.” With those sobering words, Greg Pruett explains why he has made Bible translation his life”s work””to bring hope to those who have none. Pruett, president of Pioneer Bible Translators, says there are still about 1,775 languages worldwide without a written copy of the Bible. Pioneer Bible is one of many organizations committed to reducing that number to zero by translating the Bible into every language on Earth. Pioneer Bible”s passion for cross-cultural evangelism is shared by several missions organizations with roots in the

March 17, 2016

Christian Standard

How Team Expansion Missionaries Define Success

By Doug Lucas We”ve tried and learned from a variety of approaches, each with a different definition of success. Here”s where we”ve been and how we”re seeing God bless the approach we”re taking now. When we were starting Team Expansion in 1978, we organized several brainstorming conferences that included some of the nation”s top thinkers and leaders in missions and other fields. At these events, we would ask questions like, “What should Team Expansion try to be? What should be its main goal? In fact, what IS Team Expansion?” It took a while to hone the vision (about 37 years,

November 13, 2015

Christian Standard

A Ministry of Hope

By Name Withheld In Indonesia, life can be short. In just two weeks we heard about at least five deaths in our neighborhood or among our neighbors” friends and families. Each death is important to the Indonesians. In most of the villages, if someone dies, the whole village shuts down to mourn. The day someone dies, the death is announced over the loudspeaker from the mosque in the kampung (neighborhood). The men in the community immediately begin building a wooden box for burial, and then they set up plastic chairs and a large tarp so people can come be with

November 9, 2015

Christian Standard

My Third Culture Kids

By Erin Moore I”ve been reading about “third culture kids” lately. The term refers to children who are from one culture but are living in a completely different one. It”s not a topic I”ve researched in depth, but lately it has greater meaning for me as my kids are getting a little older.  I was reading some essays by an American woman who grew up in Pakistan. She recalls her earliest memories as a child of about 4. I looked at my own third culture kids in awe. I realize as the mother of these three children, I can understand

October 1, 2015

Christian Standard

Pray for My Muslim Neighbors . . . and Yours

By Name Withheld When I was getting ready to leave my home church, I shared openly with a group of women about some of the unique struggles Islamic women face. I asked these ladies to consider covering me in prayer as I entered into the world of Muslim women. One woman came up to me after the service and told me her husband once said Muslims were the one people group he felt he could never love or accept. She asked me to join her in praying that the Lord would soften (and humble) his heart. Christianity Today recently published

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 19, 2014

Christian Standard

Journeying Together

By Jennifer Johnson I”m really excited about the 2015 International Conference on Missions. One reason is the president, Jim Tune, asked me to speak. My first sermon was to 1,800 Indian teenagers in a building that could seat 600, the second was for a group of jaded New Yorkers, and now my third will be to a convention hall of a few thousand. I like to focus on easy audiences. But I”m especially looking forward to the convention after talking to Tim Cole at the Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship and learning more about both the church planting emphasis at next year”s

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 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 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

October 6, 2014

Christian Standard

Can a Polygamous Man Be an Elder in the Church?

By Doug Priest Dan Crum and Joe Cluff, along with their families, have served for many years as missionaries among the Maasai people of Kenya. They were interviewed by CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor Doug Priest.   When did each of you arrive in Kenya and what has been your ministry through the years. DAN CRUM: We arrived in Kenya in 1988, and lived in rural Maasailand for 10 years in the ministry of evangelism, church planting, and leadership training. The next three years were focused on producing written materials in the Maasai language, followed by seven years as team leader.

August 8, 2014

Christian Standard

From College-Bound to “˜I GO Bound”

By T.R. Robertson “Behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city” (Acts 20:22, 23, King James Version). Corey Courtwright is a country boy at heart. He grew up with a love of fishing and farming, like most of his fellow college of agriculture students. Now he makes his living constructing integrated fish farming systems and training people from all over the world how to use aquaculture and agriculture technology to develop sustainable farms. It”s the sort of education-to-career path most parents

May 12, 2014

Christian Standard

The Megachurch Missions Minister

By Chris DeWelt “With great power comes great responsibility” (Voltaire, not Spiderman) The megachurch missions minister occupies a new and unique role. In their article, “U.S. Megachurches and New Patterns of Global Mission,”1 researchers Robert J. Priest, Douglas Wilson, and Adelle Johnson make several important observations. One is that the American megachurch missions pastor is a gatekeeper who watches over a very significant portion of the megachurch budget. Their survey found the average annual foreign missions budget in the megachurch was $690,000. Outside of general payroll and facility needs, the missions budget of the typical megachurch easily eclipses all other

May 11, 2014

Christian Standard

Megachurches and Missions

By Chris DeWelt Suspicious of missions? Uninterested in missionaries? Disengaged from foreign fields? Not the megachurches I interviewed for my doctoral thesis and this report. Actually, I found just the opposite. The American megachurch is interested in missions! The advent of the megachurch is a phenomenon unique in church history. The fact that the megachurch is here is hardly a news item, but the growth and influence of megachurches is a significant part of our current story.1 Just 53 years ago there were only 16 Protestant megachurches2 in America. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research lists about 1,500 megachurches.3 Currently,

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