General Missions Resources

Click on a title for more information about the resource or peruse the resources below.

>> The Devil that Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest
>> Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot - And Cold - Climate Cultures
>> Global Mission Handbook:  A Guide for Crosscultural Service
>> International Cuisine ... from the Ends of the Earth
>> Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power
>> A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story
>> Mentoring Matters
>> A Mind For Missions: 10 Ways to Build Your World Vision
>> Ministering Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Personal Relationships
>> The Mission Leadership Team:  Mobilizing Your Church to Touch the World
>> The Narrow Road: Stories of Those Who Walk This Road Together
>> A Spirituality of Fundraising

 

The Devil that Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest

* Aminatta Forna
* Grove Press, 2003
* 416 pages 



Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
Aminatta Forna writes about Sierra Leone’s descent into anarchy from the perspective of an articulate Sierra Leonean woman. Forna’s father held power in Sierra Leone’s government at the beginning of the descent and saw it coming. He risked his life—and eventually lost it—to reverse the decline. In her adult years, Forna returns to Sierra Leone as a journalist and retraces historical events and her father’s footsteps to find out what went wrong. Reading The Devil helps us see behind the graphic images of amputees and blood diamonds and drug-crazed teenage soldiers we usually associate with the 12-year civil war in Sierra Leone, to the politics, personalities and passions of those responsible for the carnage. The Devil is an easy but troubling read. It will help you understand the depth of pain and sorrow in the country, and the daunting complexity of forgiveness and rebuilding after such sorrow.

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Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot - And Cold - Climate Cultures

* Sarah A. Lanier
* McDougal Publishing Company, 2000
* 128 pages, paperback 



Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
Author Sarah Lanier explains how cultures around the world can fit into two basic categories, "hot" and "cold", and how these categories differ.  Whether you are a cross-cultural worker or simply live in a cross-cultural neighborhood, you'll find this book to be a valuable resource for understanding and relating to others from a different "climate".  Read about relationship versus task orientation, direct versus indirect communication, individualism versus group identity, inclusion versus privacy, different concepts of time and planning. 

This book is a must for anyone planning to live or minister cross-culturally.  It's also available in Spanish.

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Global Mission Handbook:  A Guide for Crosscultural Service

* Steve Hoke and Bill Taylor
* InterVarsity Press, 2009
* 303 pages 



Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
Vertan mission professionals Steve Hoke and Bill Taylor offer a practical guide for preparing for intercultural missions.  They provide resources for personal spiritual preparation as well as crosscultural skills and hands-on missionary training.  They outline the process for finding actual placement with a sending church, mission agency or organization, with key questions you should be asking along the way.  A must for anyone considering entering into missions as a career.

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International Cuisine ... from the Ends of the Earth

* by Christian Reformed World Missions
* CRWM ©2006
* Eighty-nine recipes, 95 pages
* Includes a menu planner, ideas for missions emphasis dinners, and stories from missionaries.


Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
"This unique cookbook includes international recipes provided by our missionaries in 21 different countries. Use the menu planner and mission emphasis suggestions to plan an ethnic dinner at your church. Or cook up some of the distinctive recipes for your family to enjoy. Makes a great gift for the food lovers in your life."

Wonderful for a Mission Emphasis event, an ethnic dinner, potluck, missionary presentation, or just to have something different for dinner. All of the ingredients should be readily available at your local supermarket or ethnic food store. Available in spiral-bound book and CD formats.

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Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power

* David Aikman
* Washington DC: Regnery, 2006
* 336 pages


Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
David Aikman is a Christian and a former Time magazine bureau chief in Beijing. This exciting book traces the history of Christianity in China and details the “Christianity fever,” occurring now in China. This process may transform China into a country made up of 30% Christians, who by their religious fervor and political influence could help China change the global balance of power. The book covers the house church movement, the TSPM (Three-Self Patriotic Movement) and other Christian activity. It gives you a glimpse of hope for a transformation of China.

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A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story

* Michael Goheen
* Baker Academic, 2011
* 242 pages


Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
There is a growing body of literature about the missional church, but the word missional is often defined in competing ways, with few attempts to deeply ground it in Scripture. Michael Goheen, a CRC pastor and missiologist, unpacks the missional identity of the church by tracing the role God's people are called to play in the biblical story. The church's identity can be understood in the context of the whole biblical story--not just the New Testament, but the Old Testament as well.

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Mentoring Matters

* Rick Lewis
* Monarch Books, 2009
* 256 pages 



Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
 Rick Lewis bases his insightful guidelines for mentoring on the premise that “God is up to something good in every person’s life.” A mentor walks alongside another person to help them see how God is working in their life. Lewis provides the practical insights, biblical foundations, and encouraging support needed to make a difference in the lives of both the mentor and mentoree.

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A Mind For Missions: 10 Ways to Build Your World Vision

* by Paul Borthwick
* NavPress ©1990
* 167 pages
 


Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
"Discover 10 building blocks for sensitizing yourself or your group to the needs beyond our borders. From prayer and giving to currents and lifestyle choices, Borthwick leads to practical ways of sharpening your world vision right where you live."

This is an oldy, but a goody – a great starting point for anyone interested in missions or for a new church missions rep. The book begins with teaching on the biblical call to missions and describes how current events, travel, prayer, lifestyle choices and meeting mission workers can increase the passion for and understanding of missions.

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Ministering Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Personal Relationships

* by Sherwood G. Lingenfelter and Marvin K. Mayers
* Baker Academics  ©2003
* 128 pages
* Addresses the tension that arises in working across cultural lines and explores how to deal with conflict.

Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
"Examines the significance of the incarnation for effective cross-cultural ministry; demonstrating that Jesus needed to learn and understand the cultural he lived in before he undertook public ministry. Describes what basic values are, and unpacks the tension points in cross-cultural relationships ie. differences in perception of time, exercising judgment, handling crisis, goals, and self-worth."

An excellent resource for pastors/leaders involved with or desiring to start a church to community/church/ministry partnership. Gets to the deeper issues for those wanting to establish a healthy ministry relationship outside of their own culture, whether abroad or in the community.

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The Mission Leadership Team:  Mobilizing Your Church to Touch the World

* by David Mays
* The Mission Exchange ©2010
* 131 pages, paperback
* Concise, practical advice for helping a missions leadership team refocus and retool. 



Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
“There is much a team needs to know to make wise decisions and do good planning for mission. They need to know some things about missions, history, geography, mission methods, mission organizations, and a host of other things. And it is critically important to have a clear understanding of the mission priorities of Scripture. Mission teams need ongoing education, partly because most of us are woefully ignorant of the above, but also because the world is changing, the culture is changing, the church is changing, and mission is ever changing."

The Mission Leadership Team by David Mays provides an overview of the job of leading and managing mission in a local church in the context of current issues and trends. It offers practical suggestions, provides space to work in the book, supplemental helps, and an extensive list of current resources. Even though some information doesn’t translate fully into a denominational reality, it’s a good resource for Missions Committee chairs to have on hand.
 

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The Narrow Road: Stories of Those Who Walk This Road Together

* by Brother Andrew with John & Elizabeth Sherrill
* Fleming H. Revell (Division of Baker Book House) ©2001
* 336 pages
* A biography of Brother Andrew, aka "God's Smuggler", who transported Bibles into "closed" countries


Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
Directed toward a teen audience, Brother Andrew’s powerful story is interspersed with stories of and information about the persecuted church. The foreword is written by the contemporary Christian music group Jars of Clay and includes a CD of their song “This Road.” It will challenge all those who read it to put themselves in the place of Brother Andrew and persecuted believers. It will also challenge them to discover their place in God’s plan.

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A Spirituality of Fundraising

* by Henri J. M. Nouwen
* The Henri Nouwen Legacy Trust ©2010
* 64 pages


Where you can find it:

Why we recommend it:
The traditional stance about fundraising is challenged. Rather than begging, fundraising is ministry - a way to invite people into our mission. In this easy, quick read, the reader learns from an author known for his focus on spirituality, that fund-raising is actually about Kingdom building. It also helps people to grow spiritually as a result of that engagement with Kingdom building

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