Resources for Missionary Care

Mrs. Dalley's book is the kind of reading you can't put off until later. After she retired, she was called by God into the mission field, and her writing puts you in the field with her. You share her tears, her joys, her faith, and the laughter. Alene traveled the world, but not to the usual comfortable tourist locations the countries had to offer. She ventured into the lives of the common people where she might share the love of Jesus and provide hope where there was despair. She shared their simple lives, often sleeping in her bag on the ground or a cot, and giving up the comforts we take for granted. She was confronted by obstacles which only prayer could overcome. If you've ever considered serving God in a similar manner, this is the book for you.

Alene Dalley writes, "There are many different types of mission trips. There are also many different kinds of accomodations. For those of you who are not as adventurous or like the comforts of home, there are mission trips for you, too. The stories in this book are true experiences on the mission field. I pray that you will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed living them."

This book presents a sound and practical view of the missionary world. Dr. Price leads the reader through each step, from the first urgings we feel as God begins to speak to us, to understanding God's call on our lives, and finally the essentials of getting to the field. In this process, Dr. Price insists on maintaining a healthy relationship with the home church and its leadership. This book will strengthen you, as well as deepen and challenge you as you prepare for missionary service.

This book is the autobiography of Ruth Cordell, the daughter of Reverend Le Roy and Mrs. Grace Lightfoot, missionaries to India for thirteen years between 1920 and 1951. It describes, in humorous and realistic detail, the exciting and unusual experiences of Ruth’s life as a missionary’s daughter in India. Although born in the United States in 1918, she had the unique experience of growing up and going to school in primitive India in the early 1920’s. She returned to the United States to attend College in Michigan and taught school for a short time before marrying and having children. Afterwards, she returned to teaching and retired in 1980. After retiring, she and her husband enjoyed traveling in Europe, Mexico, and the USA. After his death in 1966, she continued to travel extensively and in 1997 revisited India. She now lives in Michigan where she is active in local affairs at the golden age of 90 years.

"Single adults are a mission field, but it can be equally true that single adults have a mission", writes Bill Flanagan. All of the minister leaders in this book balance mission field with mission. This reference and training guide replaces the two books, Single Adult Ministry, the Next Step and Single Ministry Handbook.

In reviewing the first edition of Transforming Culture Roger Dixon wrote, "Every once in awhile, a book appears which has the potential to change one's life and work. Transforming Culture is one of those books." Now Sherwood Lingenfelter offers an updated version of this important manual for cross-cultural workers.

Lingenfelter sets out a model for understanding the workings of a society and then applies this model to conflicts missionaries and nationals often face over economic and social issues, such as property, labor and productivity, generosity and exchange, and authority in the family and community. Utilizing a plethora of case studies and personal anecdotes, he identifies the root of the conflicts and contradictory assumptions that make it difficult for missionaries and nationals to work together, and guides readers to solutions for transforming culture.

The author explains that the cross-cultural worker--evangelist, church planter, teacher, nurse, community developer, linguist, literacy worker, translator--will discover the social roots of interpersonal conflict endemic to living and working with people of different cultural and social heritages. When we carefully examine ourselves, we shall be forced to admit that, more often than not, we conform theology to practice; we perceive the kingdom of God on earth in our own cultural terms.

The author has made the second edition more accessible than the first by clarifying concepts, adding case studies, and reducing the book's length.

This new edition of a bestselling textbook (over 185,000 copies sold) draws on key biblical texts to demonstrate that worship is the ultimate goal of the church and that proper worship fuels missionary outreach. John Piper offers a biblical defense of God's supremacy in all things, providing readers with a sound theological foundation for missions. He examines whether Jesus is the only way to salvation and issues a passionate plea for God-centeredness in the missionary enterprise, seeking to define the scope of the task and the means for reaching "all nations." The third edition has been revised and expanded throughout and includes new material on the prosperity gospel. The book is essential reading for those involved in or preparing for missions work. It also offers enlightenment for college and seminary students, pastors, youth workers, campus ministers, and all who want to connect their labors to God's global purposes.

A generation of students preparing for intercultural mission work has relied on the classic text Life and Work on the Mission Field by J. Herbert Kane, a guide to the practicalities of missionary life. Encountering Missionary Life and Work, a new volume in the award-winning Encountering Mission series, seeks to build on Kane's work and provide practical guidance for a new generation of twenty-first-century missionaries. The authors are well qualified to write such a manual, each having served on the mission field for more than twenty years and each having taught missions at the seminary level.

The author's anthropological insights are meant to sensitize missionaries to non-Western cultures, to provide the tools for understanding cultural differences, and to increase the cultural relevance of the proclamation of the Good News.

Practical Guide to the Sensitive Task of Raising Money for Your Church or Ministry. One of the most difficult tasks facing any church leader is the issue of raising funds. It's not that we don't realize that tithing and giving are biblical issues: God's Word is full of strong statements about the stewardship of money. But how does a pastor convey God's heart for stewardship? Literally, what's the best way to raise the money your church needs to survive? Obviously, God is the one who builds the church--He is the ultimate provider. But what's the best process of shepherding the funds He has for your church? This step-by-step guide will give you tools you need to raise funds in your church--scripturally and successfully--without compromising biblical integrity. After all, it's God's church and His money--but our responsibility to manage it.

In this breakthrough manual, William Dillon helps you get beyond developing a donor list to sharing a vision and drawing others into a vital ministry team. It's a highly practical guide that provides the well-honed tools you need to finance the ministry to which God has called you.

Tens of thousands of Christians go on short-term mission trips around the world each year. Those believers are a blessing to the churches where they worship and serve and to the people in the cultures they visit who are served, saved and strengthened through their loving efforts. Those who go on short-term mission trips are often changed by the experience, committing themselves to the financial support of a mission effort or making a commitment to become missionaries themselves. May God bless everyone involved in short-term missions.

This book is designed to provide short-term missionaries with insight into: 1) a biblical theology of mission, 2) a biblical but contextualized message, 3) a basic understanding of the role of culture in cross-cultural missions, and 4) some basic guidelines for short-term mission that will help make the experience more pleasant and fruitful for everyone involved.

Highlight the service and dedication of various staff members (paid and volunteer) by putting the spotlight on this often-underappreciated cast—the men and women on your church staff. Make it your mission to celebrate their award-winning role in your church body and help them feel valued. This experience is planned as a churchwide fellowship. However, read the Adaptations at the end for other ideas of how to use the experience. October is Minister Appreciation Month, so you may want to plan this event in October. If that does not work, plan it for late February, the usual time of the Academy Awards. To simplify this event, plan it as a dessert fellowship after an already scheduled event or worship service.

Whether you are experienced at fundraising or just starting out, this book will help answer your questions and put you on the biblical path for recruiting and maintaining donor support.

Whether you are experienced at fundraising or just starting out, Funding Your Ministry will help answer your questions and put you on the biblical path for recruiting and maintaining donor support.

Missionaries are like soldiers on the frontlines of a battle. use these Scripture-based prayers to help you intercede more specifically and effectively for the missionaries you know.

Use this badge to recognize children who pray for missionary kids. Leaders can create their own requirements for earning this badge. Or, use one of these ideas: • Give this badge to children who write or email an MK featured in GA World or Children in Action Leader. • Award this badge to children who pray for a specific MK each day for a week. • Ask your state WMU office for the name of North American missionary kids in your state. Do something special for these MKs. Award badges to children who participate.

Avoiding and overcome unhealthy dependency in the Christian movement. The book contains a description of the dependency syndrome, its historical development and how to overcome it. Though unhealthy dependency is widespread, it does not need to be considered an incurable illness.

Learn about churches that were once victims of unhealthy dependency but learned themselves how to overcome it, along with many practical illustrations and suggestions for those in Christian service who face the challenge of avoiding or overcoming unhealthy dependency. Other items include medical mission institutions, short-term missions, and, most significantly, long-term missionary service. Several chapters are a basic introduction to cross-cultural issues for missionaries and church leaders. Author Glenn Schwartz welcomes interaction with those who want to seriously deal with the mentality of dependency in the Christian movement. 373-pg paperback.

This book examines the keys to missionary retention. How can we ensure that missionaries are enabled to serve for as long as God calls them to serve and to serve effectively? Fifty-eight case studies and twenty-nine issue-based chapters form the core of the book, including recruitment, call, leadership, finance, ministry, and education/training.

Worth Keeping is the product of years of work by the Mission Commission task force called ReMAP II, charged with the job of carrying out the attrition follow-up research of Too Valuable to Lose: Examining the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition. The book presents the outcome of that twenty nation study, led by a team of international researchers and global cadre of associates.

Worth Keeping is an absolute must read for agencies and church leaders, and member care providers. It asks your questions — for your use and follow through. Applying the information gleaned through the study may significantly change the way you recruit, train, and retain the missionary force of the future.

What is keeping you from becoming involved in the Great Commission? Fears such as loss of friends, loss of money, disapproval of parents, and inadequate experience surfaced as common hurdles? Missionaries, from many organizations and from around the world who have experienced these same fears, share their personal stores of how God overcame and met their needs in ways they could have never expected.

We must rethink the interplay of dollars dependency and what it means to 'do the right thing' with our money as we pursue twenty-first century missions. This book answers the questions whether Westerners ought "To Give or Not to Give?" in support of global evangelism and encourages maximun generousity as the path most reflective of God's heart on the matter.

A comprehensive handbook for all POMs (Parents of Missionaries), based on co-author Cheryl Savageau’s research, and co-author Diane Stortz’s POM experience — coupled with the experiences and stories others shared with the authors.

The book has four main sections: 1. Can I Tell You How I Feel? — Honestly dealing with four key life issues (handling grief, relating to adult children, facing an empty nest, and dealing with complex emotions) allows POMs to adjust and thrive. 2. Hello, Good-Bye, Hello, Good-bye — POMs can meet the challenges of preparation, send-off, understanding life on the field, and reconnecting at furlough time. 3. Staying Connected — Practical, inspirational insights for creating and keeping strong family bonds across the miles, including connecting with grandchildren, using technology to stay in touch, traveling to the field to visit, and celebrating holidays. 4. From Surviving to Thriving — The POM journey can lead to good places if we are willing to find help for ourselves and offer help to others.

Parents of Missionaries lets parents know they aren’t alone in their thoughts and feelings and provides practical suggestions for dealing with them. A wonderful gift for missionaries to give to their parents, especially missionaries leaving for the first time. Agencies may also want to give it to parents of new missionaries (order 10 or more copies and save more than 22% off list price!). 304-pg paperback.

Outstanding ideas and resources that can help stimulate missions involvement in your church! This exceedingly helpful booklet is for everyone in your church — mission committee members, families, individuals, Sunday school teachers, homeschoolers — everyone who is committed to seeing the Great Commission of Matthew 28:20 fulfilled.

Missions education should be permanently integrated into the life of every individual in your church, from toddler to retiree. You want to inform people of all ages about world missions and motivate them to become involved. This is the publication that can help you do so! 86-pg booklet packaged in report cover.

Building a healthy missions program takes time. Each church is unique. The missions program for your church people will not necessarily look like the program for another congregation. The ideas, projects, and helps provided in this publication are tools to help you strengthen your current program, or to initiate a new plan for your congregation. Keep your program fresh — keep what works but try new ideas, too.

Applying the great insight from this publication can help you keep missions visible in your church. That visibility will in turn stimulate a vision of what God is doing in the world and motivate a response.

When everything we’re going through--pain, loss, tragedy, grief--suggests that God can’t help us or doesn’t care, it seems unwise to place our confidence in Him. But nothing could be farther from the truth.

This discussion guide to Trusting God by Navigator author Jerry Bridges features discussion questions that study what the Bible has to say about God's sovereignty, His mercy, and His love.

For team members, this companion manual to the “STEM Sending Partner Training Manual” contains 135 well-designed pages and content, ready for 3-ring binder. This outstanding 8-session curriculum guides team members in successful pre-field preparation, on-field ministry, and post-field reentry.

A clean, highly-functional 3-ring notebook used on-field by all STEM Team Leaders to organize and lead STEM short-term teams.

203 exceedingly well-designed pages and content, ready for 3-ring binder. This outstanding 8-session curriculum trains STEM teams for successful pre-field preparation, on-field ministry, and post-field reentry. See the companion edition for team members, “STEM Team Member Training Manual” (sold separately).

Prayerwalking is simply praying in the very places we expect God to bring forth his answers. Prayerwalking is usually a low-profile affair: Friends or family stroll two-by-two through their own neighborhoods, schools, and work places, praying as they go. Once in a while the prayers can be demonstrative, but most prayerwalking is fairly quiet. It’s usually being on the scene without making one.

Without questions, this is “the” book on prayerwalking — especially for short-term and career missionaries. It’s written with a practical menu of proven ideas, blended with solid biblical material about on-site intercession. Stories and statements of more than a hundred prayerwalking Christians will ignite your imagination for your first steps, or help you enlist others to join you. 204-pg paperback.

This video tape contains a Biblical basis for God's part and plan in fundraising as well as practical help and ideas.

16-pages of 40+ fund raising ideas for yourself or your entire group. This full color pamphlet contains sample support letters, protocol for obtaining church support, and 7 "how to do it!" steps. Also included are 10 web addresses and 15 book/video resources to further stengthen your fund raising abilities.

Use this bookmark prayer card to pray over your pastors daily.

Everyone experiences pain in their lives. But how we handle it and what we do with it makes all the difference. In Don’t Waste the Pain, you'll see how two people dealing with life-threatening illnesses and the loss of a child found joy and peace in the midst of their suffering. Through intimate journal writings and personal reflections, you will learn that faith and spiritual growth can come out of brokenness, pain, and grief.

Special Theme Section: Soul Care for Spiritual Leaders

The fight for survival is real. You serve—or are preparing to serve—in the spiritually desolate areas of our world. The elements you face each day are intense. What can you do to prepare for the challenges? Dr. Robert Miller presents a preparedness strategy for surviving the wilderness of ministry that is helpful for the new and the experienced alike.

Developed by the Pioneers Member Development Team with pastor and author Dr. Robert Miller, the Spiritual Survival Handbook combines insight from cross-cultural church planters with contributions from theologians and thinkers in the area of spiritual formation and leadership. The handbook begins by exploring the world of identity and works outward to practical topics of spiritual warfare, relationships, leadership, and team-building.

Steve Richardson, president of Pioneers-USA, notes in the foreword, “I fully expect that the Spiritual Survival Handbook becomes one of a small number of key handbooks that will be used widely in Pioneers to guide and encourage our workers.” 111 pages, 2011.

An easy-to-read book filled with practical helps for the missions team. Tom Telford's baseball stories and analogies make missions come alive for the reader. This would be a great book to give every new member on your missions committee. By Tom Telford. Published by United World Mission. 171 pages.

It was the perfect irony. To lose God at a missions conference. What's worse, Matt Rogers will tell you, is that it all felt like fate. Years later, even after Matt's depression subsided, the feeling of being forgotten had not left him. So he knew he had to write it down.

Recounting his own experience with depression, Matt Rogers explores the question of how, in a world of suffering, we can call God good. This challenging question can manifest itself as a conspiracy of doubt, so that our emotions and our intellect come under attack. Without appealing to easy answers, Rogers offers understanding and a ray of hope for those who suffer from depression, encouraging them never to give up.

With the new realities of global interconnectedness comes a greater awareness of cultural diversity from place to place. Besides differences in food and fashion, we face significant contrasts of cultural orientation and patterns of thinking. As we travel across cultures, what should we expect? How do we deal with culture shock? And can we truly connect with those we meet?

Experienced cross-cultural specialist Duane Elmer provides a compass for navigating through different cultures. He shows us how to avoid pitfalls and cultural faux pas, as well as how to make the most of opportunities to build cross-cultural relationships. Filled with real-life illustrations and practical exercises, this guide offers the tools needed to reduce apprehension, communicate effectively, and establish genuine trust and acceptance.

Above all, Elmer demonstrates how we can avoid being cultural imperialists and instead become authentic ambassadors for Christ. Whether you are embarking on a short-term mission trip or traveling for business or pleasure, this book is both an ideal preparation and a handy companion for your journey.

One of the biggest challenges in global mission work is money—not merely the need for it, but working through cross-cultural differences surrounding how funds are used and accounted for. Cross-cultural missteps regarding financial issues can derail partnerships between supporting churches and agencies and national leaders on the ground. North Americans don’t understand how cultural expectations of patronage shape how financial support is perceived and understood, and Western money often comes with subtle strings attached. So local mission work is hampered by perceived paternalism, and donors are frustrated with lack of results or accountability. How do we build financial partnerships for effective mission without fostering neo-colonialism?

Cross-cultural specialist Mary Lederleitner brings missiological and financial expertise to explain how global mission efforts can be funded with integrity, mutuality and transparency. Bringing together social science research, biblical principles and on-the-ground examples, she presents best practices for handling funding and finance. Cross-cultural partnerships can foster dignity, build capacity and work toward long-term sustainability. Lederleitner also addresses particular problems like misallocation of funds, embezzlement and fraud.

This book is an essential guide for all who partner in global mission, whether pastors of supporting churches or missionaries and funding agencies.

Most of us would rather have a root canal than ask for money. Raising support is one of the most difficult challenges facing Christians in ministry. Fears of rejection, concerns about biblical validity, feelings of not being deserving, anxiety about limited resources can all block us from obtaining the means to fulfill our calling.

This book both affirms that God uses the Christian community to send us into ministry and demystifies the process.

Living by faith is not the domain of only those Christians called to "full-time" ministry. Every Christian can enter into the adventure. What is important is not our vocation, but whether we are committed to obeying God's will in our lives. If you are willing to step out in faith and trust in God, doing whatever it is He has asked you to do, then you will see His provision.Once you have experienced this, you will be spoiled for the ordinary.

International statesman and conference speaker Loren Cunningham and his wife, Darlene, are the founders of Youth With A Mission. They currently live at the YWAM University of the Nations center in Kona, Hawaii. Loren speaks and teaches internationally. His extensive missionary travels have taken him to every country on earth.

This honest and inside look at missions is a refreshing encouragement to missionaries who have served on the field or who are planning to serve. This book is written by Ron Smith of Mission Builders. Ron Smith is the co-founder of School of the Bible with YWAM and missionary for over 20 years.

Strong, godly relationships are the pillars of lasting support raising. Discover the friend-raising principles that are uniting thousands of missionaries and senders in their work for God's Kingdom. DVD - Running time: 22 minutes

Many, after having responded to God's call to missionary service have struggled unsuccessfully to raise and maintain support. Friend Raising brings together God's plan for missions support with principles proven in the field. The book focuses on lasting support raising: intimacy in relationships, bearing one another's burdens, generosity, and communication. In a world swamped by fundraising hype, Betty Barnett presents a refreshing biblical alternative based on relationship.

Peter Jordan's vital, insightful teaching on the challenges and opportunities that await returning missionaries makes this essential reading for everyone involved in missions. A missions "must-read"!

In Part I, Chapter 1 establishes the joint responsibility for missionary care between the Church and mission agency. Chapter 2 lays a clear five-point Scriptural pattern for a successful reentry. That is followed quickly in Chapter 3 with discussion of the "human dilemma" which makes it so diffucult to follow that pattern. Part II is comprised of 70—good and not-so-good—stories written by returning missionaries. Commentary follows each story to help the reader identify with the situation, provide solutions, and then translate those solutions into help for his own returning missionary friend. Part III contains several general articles of value and a reference section.

You can get involved in the Great Commission! You can serve as a sender! This book will teach you how to care for the missionaries you know while they are preparing to go, while they are on the field and when they return home. You will be amazed at how active you can be in missions. Serving As Senders is formatted for group study. The individual assignments and a Group Study Guide are incorporated into the book. Serving As Senders has been translated into twenty languages and has been distributed around the world.