July 23, 2024
EQUIP Britain International: A New Approach to Missionary Training
EQUIP Britain International launched in 2017 as an immersive, hands-on missionary training program in Birmingham, England
Articles for tag: Christian Missionary Fellowship International
March 6, 2024
News Briefs for March 6
ICOM offers an entire church/college family registration option. Plus, housing information is now available for the Nov. 14-16 conference in Lexington, Ky. . . . Plus briefs from Waypoint Church Planters, CMF, The Pressing On Conference (April 9-11), KCU, and more . . .
February 26, 2024
Missions: For God or With God?
"My first real attempt at contributing to the advancement of God’s kingdom in the wider world failed," James Thompson writes. But eventually, through the influence of campus ministries in Georgia, Thompson now serves with CMF's Globalscope campus ministry in Thailand. "Different environments present different challenges" . . .
September 1, 2021
Medical Ministry Brings Change
Ludmilla and June sat in a makeshift examination room in a small Ukrainian Baptist church where a team of medical missionaries had set up a clinic. June helped the elderly woman pull her arm from her sleeve as she listened to her story of the cancer treatment and its effects on her body. Ludmilla also had a broken shoulder and a wound at the base of her neck that the surgeon would not operate on since it might involve cancer. The oncologist did not want to treat her because she had an open wound. Ludmilla was left to manage her
June 14, 2020
A Ministry Born in Kentucky and Chile
By Laura McKillip Wood Ignacio left the Catholic church long before he began studying at a university in Santiago, Chile. Although he was a self-proclaimed agnostic, a friend from his neighborhood invited him to El Oasis, a student group designed to provide students with a Christian community to call “home” during their college years. Ignacio loved music and discovered that an alum of his university led the band at El Oasis. Before long, Ignacio was a regular, hanging out with the other music lovers who attended. His interest in the band grew, and he asked to join it. The staff
July 22, 2019
A Partnership of Hope
By Laura McKillip Wood The sun beat down on the American visitors as they made their way through dirt streets and stepped over the open sewers that lined them. Tin and wooden shanties crowded together. Whole families with five to ten members lived in one room. The smells of smoldering cooking fires, garbage, and sewage permeated the air in the slums of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. Just the week before, a 14-year-old boy, loved by many in the community, faced the guns of a corrupt police force. Shot multiple times, the boy died immediately. The visitors knew nothing
June 19, 2019
Jarvis to Direct Ministry Resource Center at Emmanuel (Plus News Briefs)
Compiled by Chris Moon and Jim Nieman Beth Jarvis has been named director of the newly created Ministry Resource Center at Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan. The seminary last year received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to start a Ministry Resource Center to help place and mentor Emmanuel’s ministry students in local churches. Jarvis is an ordained Christian church minister with years of nonprofit experience. She most recently served as care team coordinator with Christian Missionary Fellowship International in Indianapolis, coordinating pastoral care for 220 missionaries in 25 countries. “We’re delighted to have someone with Jarvis’s depth
May 19, 2018
Headlines: June 2018
By Chris Moon Fire Destroys MOHI School but Not Hope in Its Mission Missions of Hope International suffered a blow to its efforts to spread the gospel in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, when one of its school buildings burned to the ground in February. The building in the Bondeni community housed 18 classrooms that served 694 students. Desks and textbooks were lost in the blaze. MOHI is a partner of Indianapolis-based Christian Missionary Fellowship International, which immediately began fund-raising to replace what was lost. The estimated loss was $300,000. “We thank God there were no injuries,” said Mary Kamau, executive
July 21, 2017
Headlines: August 2017
Baptisms Surge at Kentucky Church Thanks to Jail Ministry A Kentucky church is using a jail ministry to add hundreds of lives to God”s kingdom each year. Jessamine Christian Church baptized 227 people during 2016″”a number that is notable because the church averages 525 in weekly worship attendance. That”s an average of 43 baptisms per 100 people in attendance. Only a handful of churches in Christian Standard“s annual church statistics issue””which was compiled by Kent Fillinger and published in May””reached a baptism ratio of 10 per 100 in attendance. Wally Rendel, senior minister of the church in Nicholasville, a city
April 1, 2017
Why Are You So Afraid?
By Aaron and Diane Lincoln Traveling between cultures leads to some interesting moments. “Paper or plastic?” a grocery checker asked us one furlough. We looked at each other quizzically. “We’re paying with cash.” Now it was the checker who looked confused. “Paper bags or plastic bags?” was of course the question, but not one we hear in England. When a stranger (or friend) casually references a line of dialogue from a commercial or TV show, we can be left clueless. And it seems every time we return on furlough, bank card machines have changed. Lots of small differences, that have
Immigration: What You Can Do
By Kevin Lines American communities today contain more migrants than ever before. The ends of the earth have come to us! You and your church can reach out to the immigrants living close to you. Within our fellowship of churches, multiple organizations have joined together to form the RISE (Refugee and International Student Engagement) Project. If you are interested in starting a ministry to refugees or international students through your church, the RISE Project website (www.theriseproject.com) has great resources and training materials. Your church can even apply for a grant to help start a new ministry! Volunteer If you”re not
Immigration: What Does the Bible Say?
By Kevin Lines There are more international migrants today than at any other time in history””more than 240 million. While two out of three international migrants live in Asia and Europe, the United States hosts 19 percent of international migrants, the most in the world. It should come as no surprise that our nation, founded by immigrants and often relying on waves of new immigrants as the labor force for our economic growth, would continue to host migrants. The United States is still seen by many in the world as a land of opportunity; a place where, no matter your
January 31, 2017
Welcome the Immigrant
By Mark A. Taylor Some Christians are ready to retreat from the barrage of controversy surrounding the first days of Donald Trump”s presidency. Some are so upset by his policies and pronouncements, they”ve just decided to turn off the news and stay away from Facebook. Others are congratulating him for keeping campaign promises, regardless of the style in which he does so. And many have taken to the streets to protest his policies. The news has reported waves of turmoil because of his executive order refusing entry to refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries. CHRISTIAN STANDARD is not a political magazine,
November 22, 2016
Good Smells, Great Lives
By Mark A. Taylor I got to the Lexington Center at 1:15 Saturday afternoon, a little before I”d promised to be there. We were planning a special 2:00 event in our International Conference on Missions booth, and the attendant had promised to be there at 1:30 to help us get ready. But as soon as I entered the exhibit hall, I knew she was already on the job. I could smell the popcorn popping. Soon the aroma was filling the whole, huge facility. And even before our announced start time, we relented and allowed the people lining up to grab
November 21, 2015
ICOM: A Conference with Eternal Value
By Rick Jett I used to feel sorry for the away team. When I ministered in Marion, Indiana, in the mid-1980s, the Marion Giants were the dominant high school basketball team in the state. They were state champions three years in a row. On game day, everyone in town wore purple and gold to support the home team. Nearly 7,000 fans would fill the high school athletic arena. The ceremony before each home game was designed to intimidate the away team. After everyone stood for the national anthem, the announcer would introduce the starting lineup for the visitors. The cheerleaders
May 11, 2014
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,
November 11, 2013
A Conversation with Doug Priest
Meet Our Contributing Editors: This month we talk with Doug Priest, executive director of Christian Missionary Fellowship International, about missions trends, short-term missions trips, and the worldwide multiplication of urban squatters. Interview by Jennifer Johnson How did you get started in missions? My parents went to Ethiopia as missionaries before I began high school. We first heard about it when I was a sixth-grader, and I said, “Oh boy, I get to be Tarzan!” My younger sister was very excited because she wanted a monkey. (She actually did have a pet baboon for a while.) I attended a very good boarding
November 13, 2012
For the Love of a Child
Child sponsorship programs are changing lives””in distant lands and right here in the United States. Discover the facts. Listen to the testimonies. And realize how this is happening. By Doug Priest “Our people sponsor nearly 400 children, and congregational giving continues to grow. In fact, the more we give to others outside our walls, the more our general fund has grown.” “”Steve Reeves, Connection Pointe Christian Church (Brownsburg, Indiana) Alice was conceived out of wedlock. She never knew her father. After the birth, her mother entrusted Alice to her grandmother and moved to another country. Alice lived in the Mathare
May 14, 2012
Obituaries from 2011
ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF OBITUARIES Connie Lynn Bolinger, 58, of Nashville, TN, died May 22, 2011, after an extended illness. She was born Feb. 12, 1953, in Gary, IN, the daughter of Elwood and Bonnie (Starks) Bolinger. She grew up in the First Christian Church of Hessville, Hammond, IN. A graduate of Morton High School in Hammond, she attended Indiana University and Saint Brieuc in Brittany, France. After moving to Nashville, TN, in 1990 she became staff assistant at First Christian Church, later Aspen Grove Christian Church, of Franklin, TN, a position she held for 21 years. She was a gifted
June 16, 2011
Our Finest Hour, Our Ongoing Challenge
By LeRoy Lawson My subject today is missions. Please don”t yawn. Sometimes preachers are made to feel a little defensive when promoting this essential part of a church”s life. Announce a “missions emphasis weekend” and watch the attendance plummet. Announce that giving has been falling behind and expenses have to be cut and you can count on a chorus of calls to slash missions giving. It”s a hard sell””this missions enterprise. That”s why I bring the subject up. Please don”t be cynical, either. You might object that I think this matter is so important only because I work for a
