Spiritual Equipping For Mission

God calls his people to mission. But the demands of crosscultural ministry can be overwhelming and draining, leading to discouragement and burnout. All of our strategies and methodologies for reaching others are useless if we are incapable of living the holy, faithful lives God intends for us. Yet God does not leave us on our own. The Holy Spirit equips us to succeed and thrive spiritually in preparation of becoming God?s message bearers in the world. Spiritual formation and discipleship are at the core of effective and fruitful mission. Mission professional Ryan Shaw unpacks ten fundamental spiritual keys we need to practice to have a successful outer global witness. He shows how we can partner with God to experience Jesus' transforming power and presence, with practical insights for praying, growing and persevering as God's servants in the world. God is calling a new generation to serve long-term to fulfill the Great Commission. The Holy Spirit is at work within us to equip and enable mission workers in and out of the field. Discover how you can become who God wants you to be as his ambassador to the world.

Authors from eighteen countries give us their perspectives on biblical principles and cultural expressions of spirituality particularly as the church engages in God’s mission. The anthology of texts enriches our understanding of the depth and the meaning of being spiritual and the diversity of forms to live out the Christian faith. The issue today is how spirituality should direct and guide a daily life as followers of Jesus in the engagement in the mission of God. No doubt that it has to do with our inner life and our relationship to God, but it is in showing our love and concern to others that we prove our love to God, according to the Apostle John (1 John 4). Mission without spirituality will only be a human effort to convince people of religious theories. Spirituality without a missionary involvement of the church will not express God’s desire that the transforming gospel reaches every person. This book will help you rethink your understanding of what is spiritual, revisit your own spiritual journey, and appreciate the different forms of spirituality as they are described and performed around the globe.

St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, like many other churches, is struggling with an understanding of evangelism and how to go about doing evangelism. There is also confusion about who should evangelize and when evangelism should take place. The congregation needs to gain practical knowledge of how conversion and discipleship relate to evangelism. What is the realtionship between discipleship and evangelism? How should the pastor equip the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church congregation to rise from a sedentary position to become active witnesses beyond the church walls? This book has four chapters. Chapter One introduces the project by stating the problem, discussing the ecclesiastical setting and the church's ministries. Chapter Two contains the review of biblical literature, the theological foundations for evangelism, and the role of evangelism in the African American Church. Chapter Three deals with the methodology as well as the execution of the Project.Chapter Four contains the findings. Chapter Four has the conclusion, evaluation, and recommendations.

In Together We Equip, you will discover the biblical foundation for equipping others. Equipping others in ministry is a process you bring with you as the leader! Its both personal and public. Its you as an individual and your church. This book will challenge you to take responsibility to grow spiritually, engage the culture, and share the gospel. Further, you will discover the impact of discipleship in the local church by examining mentoring small groups and preaching as relevant means to equip others. In the later chapters of the book, seasoned church ministry leaders with years of experience in making disciples through equipping ministry of the local church share many practical ways to equip others and lead church ministries: childrens ministry youth ministry collegiate ministry mens and womens ministry adult and senior adult ministries. Many ministry leaders do not know how to make disciples. They know, accept, and believe the Great Commission (Matt. 28: 1920). Yet they struggle with practical approaches and methods to carry out a viable equipping ministry. The book will help you elevate the importance of personal growth, making disciples, and assist you to align your age-graded and gender-based ministry leadership development.

Make no mistake—spiritual warfare is real. As you make your way into intentional mission and ministry, you may find yourself facing various kinds of opposition and resistance. You may experience great discouragement or doubt. Temptations may threaten to derail you. And you may even encounter active attack from spiritual forces of evil. But fear not. Veteran missionaries Jack and Mary Anne Voelkel give us confidence that God can overcome the enemy's spiritual attacks on us. When we face harassment and persecution from the principalities and powers, we need to know that Satan is not on equal footing with God. Jesus has disarmed the forces of evil through his death and resurrection. We have available to us tremendous resources for spiritual defense and offense, and by putting on the whole armor of God, we can take practical, prayerful steps toward spiritual triumph. Be not afraid. In the midst of spiritual warfare, the greater reality is that Jesus is Lord over all powers and authorities. He has already achieved the victory. Includes questions for group discussion.

This volume looks at mission formation for all Christians and missionary formation for mission workers, agencies and churches in a changing situation of mission. The focus is on educating the whole people of God. Here is the reason for the title of this volume: Reflecting on and Equipping for Christian Mission. Theological education in the broad sense participates in the task of equipping people for God's mission in today's world. At the same time we affirm that all theological education is contextual and that no particular context should exercise dominant influence. ""Doing theological education contextually is not necessarily educating and equipping for mission. All theological education is contextual but in this book theological educators focus on missionary formation, missional leadership and theology of mission. A remarkable achievement, in which models from different global regions and churches, past and present, mutually enrich each other."" Kirsteen Kim, Professor at Leeds Trinity University, United Kingdom ""Co-participating in God's mission requires preparation, both intellectually and spiritually, which is enabled by the churches' faith in the triune God and further nurtured through multicultural, multidisciplinary and interconfessional exchanges. This volume is highly recommended since it brings interesting experiences and helpful insights for mutual equipment of the churches in order to share more effectively the good news of the gospel in today's world."" Carlos E. Ham, Pastor of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba and President-elect of the Matanzas Theological Seminary ""Education in the 21st century has become market-driven with competitiveness, profitability and survival as significant factors that determine institutional policy and pedagogy. This new volume on theological education and Christian mission takes seriously the integral development of the human person in education seen from the optic of different contexts. Mission is a question of being which is unfolded and realized in education."" Andrew G. Recepcion, President of the International Association of Catholic Missiologists (IACM), Philippines Stephen Bevans is Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD Professor of Mission and Culture (Emeritus) at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. Teresa Chai is a faculty member at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary filling the John Bueno Chair of Intercultural Studies and Global Mission Center Director. J. Nelson Jennings has been Associate/Executive Director of Overseas Ministries Study Center, New Haven 2011-2015. Knud Jorgensen is adjunct Professor at the MF Norwegian School of Theology and one of the editors of the Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series. Dietrich Werner is Senior Theological Advisor to Bread for the World/Church development services in Berlin, Germany.

Once upon a time, Moses had had enough. Exhausted by the challenge of leading the Israelites from slavery to the Promised Land, Moses cried out to God, "What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? . . . If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me" (Exodus 11:11, 15). If that sounds hauntingly familiar to you, you may be the senior pastor of a contemporary church. The burden of Christian leadership is becoming increasingly unbearable--demanding skills not native to the art of pastoring; demanding time that makes sabbath rest and even normal sleep patterns seem extravagant; demanding inhuman levels of efficiency, proficiency and even saintliness. No wonder pastors seem and even feel less human these days. No wonder they burn out or break down at an alarming rate; no wonder the church is missing the mark on its mission. In Creating a Missional Culture, JR Woodward offers a bold and surprisingly refreshing model for churches--not small adjustments around the periphery of a church's infrastructure but a radical revisioning of how a church ought to look, from its leadership structure to its mobilization of the laity. The end result looks surprisingly like the church that Jesus created and the apostles cultivated: a church not chasing the wind but rather going into the world and making disciples of Jesus.

New York Times bestseller What is Jesus worth to you? It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily... But who do you know who lives like that? Do you? In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple--then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a "successful" suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus. Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment -- a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring.