Go! to the Missions Conference

Especially in the globalized world of 2010, short-term mission trips can have a profound effect both on those who go on the trip and those who are on the receiving end of the outreach.

But those who go on mission trips need to be culturally sensitive about where they are going, open to establishing and maintaining relationships, and realistic about what they will be able to accomplish.

These are some of the points that David Livermore will likely make as the keynote speaker at "Next! Global Outreach for a New Generation," set for Saturday, Oct. 30, at Ivanrest Christian Reformed Church in Grandville, Mich.

The GO Conference is a one-day conference for anyone interested in missions: World Missions Advocates, World Relief Champions, local church leaders including pastors, elders, and deacons, mission committee or outreach committee members, and anyone interested in global outreach.

People can still attend the Christian Reformed World Missions-sponsored conference, but are asked to confirm by calling or emailing CRWM. Contact information, as well as information about the next conference, is available here.

Cofounder of Intersect, a ministry that provides leadership training and consulting to emerging leaders in ministries around the world, Livermore says churches and church groups need to be very intentional about what types of ministry they undertake, both at home and abroad.

"Don't go running overseas to do something you aren't already doing in your own neighborhood," writes Livermore in his book Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence.

"If you want to fight for justice in the brothels of Cambodia, start by being an agent of change in your home and at work. If you want to share Jesus with children in a Romanian orphanage, don’t neglect the children playing at the park around the corner from your house."

Livermore is also executive director of the Global Learning Center at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. At Saturday’s one-day conference, he and others will give congregations critical information to help them as they answer the Lord’s call to engage in global outreach.

The conference will also give practical information on various aspects of global missions, including workshops from CRWM, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Christian Reformed Home Missions, Back to God Ministries, and other mission organizations.

In one of the sessions, participants will learn about a formal, evidence-based approach to cultural intelligence, geared to help them become more adaptable to whatever cultural contexts they encounter, whether overseas or at home.

Other workshops will be on business as a ministry, turning a short-term mission trip into a long-term relationship, and a list of ideas of the types of short-term missions a group may want to consider.

There will also be short, informal information sessions on practical ways to engage in outreach and ministry with youth.

Additionally, the conference has a goal of inspiring and helping to provide new energy for cross-cultural missions in a church. It will offer ideas on how to maximize short-term missions programs, and assistance in setting priorities for missions funding requests.

The conference will also give participants tips on how to think about and approach short-term mission projects overseas.

"We need to see the subtle but profound connections between where we eat, where we stay, and how we interact and how we fulfill our mission tasks," writes Livermore. "Soak in the culture and set the tone for others traveling with you . . . Persevere through difficult interactions . . . and seek to understand what’s really going on beneath the surface of what you see." Click for more information on David Livermore and on the Global Learning Center.

The next Global Outreach conference will be Nov. 20, 2011, at Immanuel Christian Reformed Church in Langley, British Columbia. The keynote speaker will be Steve Van Zanen, CRWM’s Director of Missions Education and Engagement.