Gospel.com Blog

Missionary stories are almost always encouraging. They’re the tales of men and women making intentional choices to challenge themselves, to stretch themselves and to honor God’s calling. Missionaries are a lot who often find life to be difficult, but often find it to be joyful. Few find themselves regretting their decisions.

I personally like reading missionary stories because they remind me that missionaries are real people who have real fears and real successes.

The Beigerts are missionaries with BCM International who were recently featured in the the Spring edition of BCM World. They’re a young couple who have been in Peru just a few short months but have hit the ground running.

Here’s an excerpt from their article, Not My Home:

Still, landing in Peru was again a shock, physically and mentally. We’d flown from Florida where it was 45 degrees Fahrenheit to arrive in Lima at almost midnight to about 80 degrees and humid. We’d left English speakers to be surrounded by thousands of people jabbering what seemed to be the world’s fastest language, Spanish. As we left the airport, I looked at my husband to see his eyes opened wide, looking more lost than I ever thought he could be. As we went to bed in our new home at 1:30 AM, we looked at each other, and said, “What in the world are we getting ourselves into?”

But now that the initial shock has worn off, we are so content to be here. Everyone here has accepted us and made us feel welcome. And we’re excited to begin our new ministry.

My favorite verses recently have been Hebrews 11:13-16 (NIV). The author is speaking of the heroes of faith who died without ever receiving in their lifetime the promises from God. They realized they were “aliens and strangers” here on earth. “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return” (vs.15). But they were longing for something better—a heavenly homeland. Verse 16 says, “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Read their whole BCM international account here. You can also keep up with the Biegerts over at their regularly updated blog.

Two items from GFA. The first is an update of the Orissa situation filmed on Sept. 15 at the Gospel For Asia site.

Secondly is an in depth write-up of the violence being perpetrated against Christians in India. Head over to the GFA site to read the whole article. Here’s a quick excerpt:

The latest report of violence came September 16 in Uttar Pradesh, a state in north central India, when four GFA missionaries were attacked while handing out tracts. Hindu extremists confronted the missionaries, grabbed their cell phones and used them to make threatening phone calls to the GFA state office. They vehemently told the men to “stop converting Hindus into Christianity” and mercilessly beat the missionaries.

A missionary school in Kerala was also attacked September 15, according to a report issued by the Evangelical Fellowship of India

Uttar Pradesh is home to about 190 million people. You can read more about the state on its wikipedia entry.

Please pray for Christian missionaries worldwide.

The latest issue of Lausanne World Pulse is online! The focus of this issue is the “Global South,” and the unique shape that missions and evangelism work has taken there. There are over a dozen articles to check out, but here are a few you might start with:

• A Theology of Evangelism in the Global South—how have local evangelists in Africa, Asia, and South America gone about the task of missions in the midst of exceedingly diverse cultures and often-turbulent social situations?
• A Mission Voice from Latin America—something amazing is happening in the Protestant church in Latin America, and it ought to get the global church thinking freshly about poverty, evangelism, and missionary work.
• The Paradigm is Changing—on the challenge and importance of Bible translation in the southern continents.
• Where is the Church in Europe Going?—is the Christian church in Europe alive and well? Here are three possible futures for evangelicalism in Europe.

As always, the LWP is a great source of information and insight into contemporary global missions, so if missions or the Global South in particular interest you, stop by and take a look!

Much of the culture and theology of modern Christianity has been shaped heavily by Western culture over the last centuries. That might seem quite natural to Western Christians—but does the “Westernization” of Christianity hinder efforts to share the Gospel message with non-Western cultures?

That’s the central question asked in the March issue of Lausanne World Pulse. The issue kicks off with an introduction to the topic, and continues with a thorough analysis of what “Westernization” means for Christianity, and why it’s so critically important that we break away from this trend.

There’s much more in the issue as well—articles cover topics ranging from cross-cultural missions in Africa to why “productivity” is not a good measure of mission work. The entire issue is available for free reading online, so if you’ve got an interest in current trends in missionary work, stop by and take a look!

What do you think of when you hear the word “missions”? Most Americans probably conjure up a mental image of intrepid evangelists traveling far overseas to distant lands, there to live and work with unfamiliar cultures.

While there’s some truth in that stereotype, a lot of missionary work actually goes on right amid unreached people groups right here in North America. Two ministries in the Gospel.com community, in fact, are dedicated to bringing the Gospel message to Native North Americans.

The first is Indian Life Ministries, which reaches out to Native North American (First Nations, Aboriginal, Indian, and other) people in the United States and Canada. Important to their style of outreach is contextualizing the Gospel message—telling the story of Jesus in a way that is understandable and culturally relevant to Native listeners. Indian Life publishes a bi-monthly newspaper addressing issues of interest to Native communities and the growing Church there. (For good examples of their storytelling ministry style, see their retellings of the Gospel story and the Wise Men story.) They also run a prison correspondence ministry; you can read about (and support) their projects at ILM website.

Another ministry that works with Native North Americans is Northern Canada Evangelical Mission (NCEM), an organization that aims to create disciples and establish churches within Canada’s indigenous communities. Among other things, NCEM runs the Tribal Trails television program (which you can watch online), a Bible training school, and summer camps for young people. If your heart is leading you to get involved, they also have summer missions opportunities during which you and a partner will live and work for five weeks in a reserve or Native community.

So if you feel prompted to get involved with missions but can’t travel overseas, there are plenty of missions opportunities in North America where your support, prayers, and participation would be welcome!