Ask A Missionary

If you are exploring doing something extraordinary for the glory of God among the nations, Ask a Missionary will give clarity and answers for a journey into missions. Because they have "been there," over one hundred missionaries from around the world, including Elisabeth Elliot, George Verwer, Phyllis Kilbourn, and Bill Stearns, share their insightful wisdom and practical advice on everything from making the decision to go, to stepping into a new life once on the field, and everything in between. The treasures amassed in this book will guide you toward serving in the most wonderful, challenging, God glorifying, eternity-impacting endeavor in the world: missions.

Written primarily in question and answer format with answers from over 100 missionary contributors.

The Last Missionary is a bicycle adventure story set in remote districts in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bob Walters travels with a team of Congolese colleagues discovering the state of the villages run over by the Pan-African war that devastated the region’s people through the terror of rape and the killing of millions. Along the way, Bob offers the reader a number of short tutorials and reflections on missiology, the study of mission systems. He ponders patronage and cargo cults, and asks the question, “Is Jesus the answer?” But this is not an answer book, it is a book in search of better questions. The Last Missionary is a challenge to both evangelicals and progressives in the church, missionaries and mission volunteers, and even non-religious aid workers.

It costs a lot to train, send out, support and care for people in cross-cultural ministry; however, the costs are immeasurable when these workers don't learn the language and culture well, fail to be effective and return home in trouble spiritually and emotionally. Mission Smart addresses serious gaps in the mission mobilization process and offers fresh solutions for seeing less missionary attrition. Mission Smart is for overseas ministry candidates, church leaders, and mission agency staff. The goal is to send the right people who know their callings, can thrive overseas and be effective in cross-cultural ministry.

Too Soon to Celebrate—Too Soon to Quit “Lord, why another mission agency? There are already so many good ones,” Greg Livingstone cried out on a beach in 1983. But, as he made his case to God that he should find someone else to change the world, the answer became clear: the world needed a new agency, operating in a new way, that would focus entirely on all Muslim peoples. So began the wild, risky, worthy story told in Uncharted Mission, a book that is more than the history of the founding of Frontiers. D. C. Keane weaves together interviews with over one hundred missionaries who refused to accept the status quo in missions and were willing to go where no one had gone before—to the Muslim frontiers. In this inspiring true story, you’ll meet pastors, engineers, artists, pilots, and others whose lives changed course when they discovered that Muslims were largely left out of historic missionary efforts. This is a book for innovators who ask, as Greg Livingstone always asks, “How can we do this better? How can we improve?" Don’t simply admire the groundbreakers who went before us in this compelling narrative; there is still work to be done. There are still “frontiers” of mission for the next generation of Christians who want to change the world.

Your life only makes sense in the context of God's plan to finish the Great Commission. God has given us the direction we need to make our lives count and leave our mark on eternity. When we find it, we move from merely existing to truly living life on purpose. Claude Hickman is the assistant director for The Traveling Team, a national missions mobilization movement. He and his wife Rebecca travel ten months of the year, speaking to thousands of students at college campuses, conferences, and churches in the U.S., casting vision for the evangelization of the world.

This new volume in the award-winning Encountering Mission series is for current and future missionaries. It provides practical guidance regarding getting ready for the mission field and the realities of life on the field. The authors are well qualified to write such a manual, each having served as a missionary for more than twenty years and each having taught missions in seminary. The authors begin by examining the contemporary context for missions, including the recognition that the world's mission fields are in constant and often rapid change. They then discuss aspects of preparing oneself for the mission field, beginning with home-front preparations and moving to on-the-field preparations. The final section deals with practical issues and challenges of missionary life.