Gospel.com Blog

Christ commanded Christians to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations. It’s an inspiring thought, but have you ever thought about the sheer numbers involved in bringing the Gospel to the entire world’s population? Is the Great Commission an impossible task?

In a short but interesting essay over at Uplook Ministries, Jabe Nicholson crunches the numbers and concludes that the Great Commission isn’t as unrealistic an undertaking as you might think. (And of course, regardless of how the numbers work out, it’s worth remembering that when God is involved, words like “impossible” have a way of losing their punch.)

Yesterday we linked to a broad list of missions organizations here at Gospel.com. Today we’ll take a closer look at a ministry that’s going about missions work in a unique way: Fellowship International Mission.

FIM is out to bring the Gospel to every corner of the world, and with missionaries at work all over the globe, they’re obviously serious about that calling. The FIM family prides itself in flexibility (responding quickly to mission opportunities with a minimum of red tape and bureaucracy) and accountability (they model their missionary work after the example set by the Christian church in the New Testament).

Their website has plenty of information about their ongoing missions projects and how you can get involved. But for a more personal look at the ministry, you might also check the FIM Director’s Blog, where FIM’s General Director Steve Wilt and his staff blog about the issues and opportunities facing FIM and mission organizations in general. And if you use Facebook, FIM has a presence there as well—stop over and see the official Fellowship International Missions Facebook page.

(If you’re interested in missions blogging, the only other missions director we know of who blogs is Brian Weschler of Village Missions, who blogs about his ministry’s work with rural churches across America. That’s another ministry worth looking into, especially if you have a heart for rural missions.)

As you can tell from the highlighted feature on the Gospel.com homepage, we’re focusing on the topic of missions this week. A great deal of the ministries in the Gospel.com community are missions-oriented, although the scope of their mission work varies. At Thanksgiving last year we highlighted several ministries with a focus on missions and service; if you’re new to our blog, take a moment to read through that list and see if any of those ministries are doing work that matches your interests and calling. Over the next few days, we’ll be featuring more of them here.

When we featured those ministries late last year, we heard from several of them that while they always welcome holiday-season volunteers, it is actually the period after the holidays that many of them are most in need of volunteers and support. The warm-and-fuzzy feelings that accompanied Thanksgiving and Christmas might be fading by now, but the missions field is open all year long—so give some thought as to whether you’re being called to missions work sometime in 2008!

And while we’re making a note of previous posts: does your church have a missions champion? Arab World Ministries held a roundtable discussion about different ways to keep missions on your congregation’s collective mind.

When was the last time your church asked the question: How does our web site look to non-Christians?

If it’s been a while, you might want to check out a new tool from Internet Evangelism Day that provides churches with a free 15-page evaluation report on their church’s web site design. Users self-assess their web site by answering 55 simple questions. A report is then generated with practical suggestions for improvement, and is immediately displayed online, ready to print or save.

Take the web site design quiz.

A church site which has been prioritized for non-Christian visitors can be remarkably effective in reaching the community. “Week in, week out, more visitors turn up at our church on a Sunday because of the web site, than anything else,” writes one growing church in London UK.

This Evaluation Tool is just one of a range of pages at Internet Evangelism Day that help Christians learn to use the Web to reach the world. Internet Evangelism Day also encourages churches and Christian groups to hold a web awareness focus day on or near 27 April 2008, to explore this huge potential.

Their site offers free downloads (PowerPoint, video clips, drama scripts and handouts) so that churches can create a custom program of any length from two minutes to an hour.

Very few cross-cultural missions use the Web for direct outreach, rather than as a publicity tool to reach supporters. Yet with the ’second billion’ web users coming online soon–almost all of them in the 10/40 Window–it is vital for missions to understand this potential.

“I am glad to commend Internet Evangelism Day,” says Dr. John Stott.

Colossians 4:5-6:

5 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive[a] so that you will have the right response for everyone. (NLT)

Mission Network News reports on the movie, The Godman, being shown in India that’s having a tremendous impact:

Already they’ve received more than a half million letters from people who have responded to the movie. Hoskins says that response is a direct result of pre-trained national believers…”So far, we’ve had over 3,405,000 people that have watched the movie, and we’ve had literally hundreds of thousands of people who have accepted Christ.” Those numbers represent only those who watched in Christians’ homes.
…
Hoskins says we don’t want to see “spiritual abortion” take place. That means “you give birth to something and you don’t feed that new child. And so what we’re needing to do is plant the Word of God and ensure that Scripture engagement takes place.”

According to Hoskins, it’s more critical in India than anywhere else because of Hinduism. “All gods are equal, and there are thousands of them. We don’t want Jesus just to be another god that you accept. We want Scripture engagement to take place for those children and their parents to understand that Jesus is the one, the only true Lord.” However, that takes time and good resources.

Watch a trailer over at Book of Hope International.

Stressed out with your family? Need a vacation? Your first thought might not be combine those two. But maybe a secluded week or weekend could revitalize those relationships. Maybe you just need to take a step back from the humdrum or the pell-mell to be with each other.

Perhaps they’re annoying or demanding. Perhaps they’re purposefully antagonistic. But that doesn’t change the fact that they are your family.

I’ll readily admit that I never jumped at the chance to go on family vacation. Upon reflection, however, I really appreciate the effort my parent’s put into them.

In the Gospel.com Community there are a variety of camping, retreat, and conference ministries with many activities and programs for your family. Or if you just need to get the kids out of your hair for a week, some of these ministries would be glad to not only take them, but teach them about God’s plan for their lives.

Check their web sites for more details and dates:

Grace Adventures

Hartland Christian Camp

Forest Glen Christian Camp

Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conference

Mount Hermon

Or search for a camp near you at:

Christian Camp and Conference Center Association

Each week, Past the Popcorn offers a thorough look at the latest round of films opening on big screens.

In what is ordinarily a pretty disappointing movie month, probably the most satisfying of this week’s releases is the fairly decent romantic comedy 27 Dresses. It’s “something of a formulaic chick flick,” says Michael Brunk, “but the smart writing and outstanding acting broaden its appeal and produce a film that’s a cut above the normal fare in this genre.” Still, he concedes the film is far from perfect while pointing out that, compared to some of the rude, crude entries in this genre last year,” it might be worth giving a shot.

(more…)

How can your help your children cope with a divorce? How should I confront bad behavior in my kids? What do I do if my spouse doesn’t share my Christian faith?

All difficult questions—but RBC Ministries’ Answers to Tough Questions takes a crack at answering them from a Biblical perspective. There’s a whole section devoted to questions about relationships, including marriage and parenting questions. The questions cover dozens of important issues that crop up in most families—in addition to the questions above, they touch on everyday family issues like family television viewing and the special challenges that stepfamilies face. You might not agree with every answer, but they’ll definitely get you thinking more Biblically about the relationships that define your family.

Does the idea of standing in front of an audience—or congregation—scare you to death? You’re not alone; public speaking ranks high on most people’s lists of scary situations. But if you’ve been called to speak in front of an audience (perhaps as a reader or worship leader at your church), a recent post at the Andy Unedited blog can help, with six practical tips to help you survive your public speaking experience. Great advice for anyone called unexpectedly to speak in front of others—and even the most eloquent pastor could probably stand to brush up on his sermon delivery skills every now and then.

Christian ministries working in Kenya can use your prayers this month—unrest in Kenya following disputed elections in late December have disrupted missions work and made life difficult for ministry workers. At least two Gospel.com community ministries have been affected:

• Navigators, an evangelistic ministry operating in Kenya and over 100 other countries worldwide. When the Kenyan crisis erupted late last month, several Navigators staff were forced to go into hiding and an international leadership meeting had to be postponed until the situation settled. From an update at their website:

  Navigator staff in Kenya are facing what has been described as the country’s “gravest crisis” following disputed elections held in late December. Violence has left 600 people dead. Another 250,000 have fled their homes. Some areas have been burned, including the homes of staff friends and relatives. One staff member said he has never been more alarmed by unrest in his country.

  In the week following the December 27, 2007, elections, some Navigator staff needed to go into hiding while others sought police protection to distribute food to the needy. Some took friends and family into their homes for safety—as many as 50 people in one home. One Navigator heard gunshots and wailing near his home for several nights. Another woman heard displaced people wandering outside her house late in the night.

  Although things have calmed a bit, the situation remains tense and Navigators is requesting prayer for their team members and everyone else affected by the crisis.

• InterVarsity, a large evangelistic ministry with a special focus on campus missions. InterVarsity has been running the Kenyan Global Project ministry for over two decades, but founds its ministry work disrupted when the crisis shut down the University of Nairobi campus. A report at Mission Network News discusses the crisis and its effects on InterVarsity’s work there.

So if you can spare a few minutes this week, remember to pray for a peaceful resolution to the situation in Kenya. These ministry workers, in addition to the countless Kenyans whose lives have been disrupted, need your prayer support.