MayStuf4 05-11-177

Stuff IV - Yet More Stuff you need to know about

Doing Missions in Your Church – A Handbook of Lists

 

David Mays

ACMC, 2005, 87 pp.,

Stuff IV - Yet More Stuff you need to know about Doing Mission in Your Church is the fourth volume of an encyclopedia of all the things you wanted to know about doing missions but didn't know where to find. It is a compilation of one-page concepts, lists, outlines, forms, samples, and resources covering everything from Becoming a World Christian to Missions Web Sites. 

 

More than 5000 of the first two volumes and nearly 1400 of the first three volumes have been distributed.  Missions leaders and missions pastors have called it the best resource available to missions committees.

 

“Stuff” is available only on CD in Word.  You can purchase all four volumes with cumulative index ($26) or just the fourth volume ($12).  Send a check (in U.S. funds) to ACMC, Box 221, Brownsburg, IN 46112.  Request the Stuff CD and include your postal address.

 

 

“Worship is honoring God.  We can think about how a child honors his parents. He honors his parents not just when he says good things to them or about them. It is possible for him to both and yet dishonor them with his life.  He truly honors them when he incorporates into his life the best ideals, values, goals, and purposes of their lives. Similarly we worship God when we align our lives with his purposes and desires.  We worship him when we live as He desires and for what He desires, his glory in all the earth, His desire to be worshipped by all peoples.” (6)

 

Purpose belongs to the whole organization.  If the Great Commission is the main thing the church is to do, then it belongs to every person in the church.  And it is the unifying, direction-giving focus of every ministry and every ministry leader in the church.  (6)

 

The Great Commission tells the people who have the gospel to disciple the groups or tribes that don’t, those who are foreigners to them.  The Great Commission does not specifically command us to make disciples of people in our own culture.  It assumes we will do that. Its primary thrust is to go and disciple all the other peoples, the other ethnic groups, the ones that do not have the Gospel. (7)

 

The Great Commandment (love your neighbor) does not replace the Great Commission (disciple all nations) as the church’s mission.  The mission of the Church is to disciple all the nations.  This happens as churches send disciples into all nations, disciples who love God and love their neighbors, teaching them to love God and love their neighbors. (8)

 

The term “missions” is losing its meaning of global or cross-cultural outreach.  Missions has no boundaries.  This matters because considering all good works to be “missions” is partially responsible for the declining vigor of world missions in the local church and hindering progress toward the least reached areas of the world. (9)

 

The worship leader has perhaps the best regular, ongoing opportunity to build the congregation’s heart for the world because worship is a major focus of the church and worship acknowledges the character, attributes, and purposes of God. (17)

 

 

Following is the Contents for volume 4.

Foundations

  1. God’s Unchanging Purpose: A Biblical Thread
  2. The Great Commission and the Purpose of the Church
  3. The Heart of the Great Commission
  4. The Great Commission and the Great Commandment
  5. Missions Boundaries
  6. Definitions of a World Christian

Leadership

  1. Finding a Pastor Who Will Lead in Missions
  2. Getting Started as a Missions Pastor
  3. Missions Assessment Profile
  4. Preparing Your Church for Cross-Cultural Missions
  5. Steps to a Great Commission-Centered Church
  6. Strategy Survey for Church Staff
  7. Worship Leader Roles in Missions

Management

  1. Budgeting Grids for Missions Resource Distribution
  2. Church Missions Health History Questionnaire
  3. Congregational Missions Survey - Involvement
  4. Congregational Missions Survey - Understanding
  5. Financial Models of Giving for Missions
  6. Church Position on Martyrdom and Missions
  7. Format for a Half-Day Missions Retreat
  8. Missions Ministry Values
  9. Missions Retreat Evaluation
  10. Preparing the World Missions Budget

Communication 

  1. Cultural Simulation Games
  2. Integrating Missions into Every Church Ministry
  3. Missionary Phone Interview for a Church Service
  4. Missions Education via Missionary Biographies 
  5. Missions Conference Activities
  6. Missions Conference Activities (continued)
  7. Raise the Profile of Missions in Your Church
  8. Ways People are Influenced for Missions

Prayer

  1. A Personal Missions Prayer Pattern
  2. Help Your Congregation Pray for Missionaries
  3. Prayer Placards for Banquet Tables
  4. Why and How to Pray for Missions

Congregational Involvement

  1. Becoming a World Christian – A Personal Response
  2. Children’s Missionary Preparation Steps
  3. Next Steps
  4. Debriefing Outline for Short Term Teams
  5. Short Term Follow Through
  6. Short Term Follow Up Questionnaire
  7. Short Term Leader Debriefing
  8. Short Term Parental Permission Form
  9. Short Term Re-Entry Worksheet
  10. Short Term Release of Liability (Adult)
  11. Short Term Release of Liability (Child)
  12. Steps to a Missions Career  - Personal Assessment
  13. Support Team Leader Job Description
  14. Trip Evaluation Form – For Students
  15. Guidelines for Your Post-Trip Presentation
  16. Mission Trip Reflection Questions – Set #1
  17. Mission Trip Reflection Questions - Set #2

Missionaries

  1. Accountability Guidelines for Missionaries
  2. Personal Accountability Questions
  3. Debriefing Guidelines for Returning Missionaries
  4. Five Levels of Missionary Care
  5. Help Your Missionaries Raise Support
  6. Help Your Missionary Thrive – Going and Returning
  7. Help Your Missionary Thrive – On the Field
  8. Maintaining Spiritual Vitality on the Field
  9. Missionary Counseling – When to Refer
  10. Missionary Report Form
  11. Questions for Missionaries Raising Support
  12. Ten Commandments for Those in Missionary Preparation

Resources

  1. Books for Someone New to Missions
  2. Missions Bible Study Guides
  3. Missions Web and Email Periodicals
  4. Missions Web Sites Part 1
  5. Missions Web Sites Part 2
  6. New Missions Books
  7. Pastor’s List of Missions Resources
  8. Short Term Resources
  9. Web Sites for Children’s Missions Resources
  10. INDEX

84.   About the Author

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