When you’re scrambling to imagine life without something? When it’s important to you? Pack it.
Sure, there are many things you will learn to live without (see my next point) and there are some things you don’t want to have to live without.
It’s okay to have certain things that are your “items” that you bring with you. Your list of essentials might be different from mine. The point is everyone has certain things they don’t want to have to live without and that’s okay.
Wondering what kind of character essentials should be “packed”, so to speak, before heading overseas? Well–let’s look at what you’ll need to leave behind.
Hopefully this one’s a bit of a gimme if you’ve already traveled overseas. Friends of mine used to joke about “Africa Wins Again” days–when a rat eats the special food you brought from home. The electricity’s been out for three days. And the government accidentally shuts off your cell phone.
It’s helpful for me to think of going overseas like skiing moguls: Keep your knees loose, not locked. If you like specific ways of doing things, missionary life might just eat your lunch–and even faster than everyone else’s. (Check out My Story: Culture Shock, Mayonnaise, and the Last Straw).
On Go. Serve. Love, we talk a lot about strategies to reach the 4.13 billion unreached.
This month, we’re geared up to share stories from Avant Ministries, which since 1892 has focused on planting and developing the church in unreached areas of the world.
Through church planting, church support ministries, media, education, camp and business, Avant hopes to establish churches among the unreached: mature, nationally-led churches that desire to plant more churches, first in their own city, and then all over the world.
Go. Serve. Love is pretty hyped about this month’s focus organization: MDE–a Business as Mission org helping individuals around the world employ their skill sets in nations that need them most.
MDE describes themselves like this:
During the month of August, Go. Serve. Love is stoked to share stories from All Nations, a global training and sending agency.
All Nation’s vision is to see Jesus worshiped by all the peoples of the earth. Their mission? To make disciples and train leaders to ignite church planting movements among the neglected peoples of the earth.
During the month of August, Go. Serve. Love is stoked to share stories from All Nations, a global training and sending agency.
All Nation’s vision is to see Jesus worshiped by all the peoples of the earth. Their mission? To make disciples and train leaders to ignite church planting movements among the neglected peoples of the earth.
During the month of August, Go. Serve. Love is stoked to share stories from All Nations, a global training and sending agency.
All Nation’s vision is to see Jesus worshiped by all the peoples of the earth. Their mission? To make disciples and train leaders to ignite church planting movements among the neglected peoples of the earth.
We’re back with current need-to-know missions thoughts from around the web.
Remember our posts, What do you wish you’d known before you went? Parts I and II? Some great minds over at A Life Overseas have collaborated for Dear Missions, I Wish You Had Told Me…as well as 7 Questions to Ask during Your First 7 Days on the Field.
photo courtesy of imb.org
Ramadan began this week–and there’s still time to pray along with us (c’mon! Everybody’s doing it!) for the 1.8 billion Muslims around the world. So you’ll be seeing a little more from us about these painfully unreached people groups around this third rock of ours.
That’s why we’re honored that the International Mission Board has allowed us to reprint a super-informative article about community in Islam–one of the most significant obstacles to Muslims coming to Christ.
