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#BestoftheBestFriday: Travel Checklist; Top 50 Most Dangerous Nations

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Hardest Places to Follow Jesus

This week brought the alarming news of even more persecution of our Chinese brothers and sisters; The Guardian reports that alongside jailing pastors and closing churches, the Chinese government is releasing a new version of Scripture to establish a “correct understanding” of the text.

Whaaaat?

Photo credit: https://www.imb.org/image/indian-orphanage/

As you continue to pray for the Chinese church, we thought you’d find valuable Christianity Today and Open Doors’ refreshed list of the 50 countries worst for persecution. Sadly, India has its inaugural spot in the top 10 this year due to increased extremist violence against Christians.

P.S. on China: As the nation changes rapidly, the opportunity to teach becomes even more valuable. Check out this article from ChinaSource if you’re interested in the educational sphere there.

Best Business as Mission Articles

With this week’s post on using your business degree overseas, it only seemed appropriate to publish the BAM (that’s “Business As Mission” for all you newbies) Review’s most popular post from July-December: The Spirituality of Professional Skills and Business. The author explains that it’s

essentially a plea for Christ-followers to demonstrate and proclaim a wholistic [sic] gospel and to pursue authentic whole-life discipleship. In many respects, it reflects one element of my own pilgrimage in mission, which might be described as a long pursuit of an answer to the question: “How do we integrate our Christian faith with our vocational talents and training in a life committed to the global mission enterprise of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?”

We’ll also slide in their editor’s pick for the last half of 2018: Value Chain Analysis through a Spiritual Lens. The author explains, “For a Kingdom-oriented company, the value chain analysis helps managers strive for a competitive advantage, and when viewed through a spiritual lens can also help managers better realize the spiritual value of work within each activity.”

If you’re interested in using your business degree overseas, we highly recommend signing up for their monthy roundup, the BAM Review Connect.

And consider signing up for Antioch Journey’s 31-Day Challenge to help you make the most of your vocation for Jesus Christ, before you even head out for fulltime BAM.

New Methods in Bible Translation

For those of you hoping to be part of reaching the 4.13 billion yet unreached--there’s an exciting new method of Bible translation that’s Church-centric. Curious? Grab an overview here. (And don’t forget our printable, infographic prayer guide for the unreached.)

Comprehensive Travel Checklist

If you’ve seen our flexible timeline, you won’t want to miss Good Neighbor Insurance’s Comprehensive Travel Checklist. It’s a thing of beauty, we tell you. They even link to their travel medical guide and help for jet lag. What’s not to love?

And don’t forget our #WFMW Practical Advice on the Little Stuff, like luggage.

Like this post? Check out the rest of our #BestoftheBestFridays Series.

Go. Serve. Love

After seven years on staff with Cru, Janel and her husband packed up their family of six to--yup, Go. Serve. Love in Uganda with Engineering Ministries International (EMI). EMI focuses on poverty relief and development, providing structural design and construction management for Christian organizations in the developing world. After 5.5 years there in East Africa, Janel and her family recently schlepped back to the U.S., where they keep working on behalf of the poor. She writes and loves on her family from Colorado. You can find more of her ideas for practical spirituality and loving each other at AGenerousGrace.com.