Pastor Ken Vander Horst, Imlay City CRC
The Plugged-in series helps the congregation and me learn not only about the nature of God's mission in others countries, but also in ours. I'm grateful for a teaching tool that challenges us in North America, by prayer and education, to consider our partnership in world missions while applying a missionary vision to our own culture. I hope CRWM makes more of these videos!
Pastor Jacci Busch, McBain CRC
We enjoyed the video series "Plugged-in to Missions" during our Adult Education time during this summer at Madison Square Church. It was easy to prepare for the sessions and prompted good discussion around missional issues. I remember one session in particular from South America forced us to talk about how to do mission work when the lines of Christianity blur with pagan religions. It made us think not only about the challenges of mission work but also the challenges to reach across cultures here in the US. We also reflected quite a bit throughout the sessions on how we might be blinded in areas because of our own culture.
The videos were well done and thought provoking. The discussion questions and other activities were easy to use and helpful for getting us to engage the material on a heart level as well as an intellectual level. The application sections were particularly challenging as we attempt to live out our faith together.
Thanks so much World Missions for this excellent tool to help us become "World minded Christians."
John and Sarah Cuthbertson, Lakeside Community CRC
We used Plugged-in to Missions this past year with great success with our Sunday School class of 11th and 12th graders. Each 15-20 minute video showcases a successful CRWM field and then is followed by plenty of discussion questions. We found that we could have used each DVD for two weeks because the questions generated so much student discussion.
The questions tied the mission field in with current events and social justice issues. For instance, when we learned about several Fulani people in Mali, West Africa, who have become believers, we learned of their tremendous personal and social sacrifice to become a follower of Christ, instead of continuing in the prevalent Muslim tradition. As we worked through the discussion questions, we found our class evaluating our approach as Christians in America towards Muslims that they may encounter in school.
Items to help the students pray for that particular mission field are also included--enabling our students to "take missions home" and pray for that particular missionary and people group over the next week. Overall, the students enjoyed the series and I believe their eyes were opened, making missions much more personable to each of them.
