Mission Ministry

Our goal as Christians is never simply to build our own tribe. Instead, we seek the peace and prosperity of the city or community in which we live through a gospel movement led by the Holy Spirit, a movement united by the gospel of Jesus Christ, a common mission to reach and serve others, and a commitment to be gracious and generous to those who disagree with you. In Serving a Movement, best-selling author and pastor Timothy Keller looks at the nature of the church’s mission and its relationship to the work of individual Christians in the world.

What can we learn from faith-filled brothers and sisters around the world? How can we pray for them? And what do their remarkable stories teach us about a God whose light shines in a dark world? I Am N reminds us that we are each “N”—as radical Muslims in Iraq identify followers of Jesus the Nazarene. Wherever we live, we have camaraderie with those who are persecuted.

The winners of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting tell the astonishing story of Mary Clarke. At the age of 50, Clarke left her comfortable life in suburban Los Angeles to follow a spiritual calling to care for the prisoners in one of Mexico's most notorious jails. She actually moved into a cell to live among drug kingpins and petty thieves. She has led many of them through profound spiritual transformations in which they turned away from their lives of crime, and she has deeply touched the lives of all who have witnessed the depth of her compassion.

Why I Am Catholic traces Brandon Vogt’s spiritual journey that culminated in the realization that Catholicism was right about a lot of things and serves as a compelling reproposal of the Church for former Catholics; a persuasive argument for truth and beauty to those who have become jaded and disenchanted with religion; and at the same time offers practicing Catholics a much-needed dose of confidence and clarity to affirm their faith against an increasingly skeptical culture.

What will it take to accomplish Christ's mission in our lifetime? That's the question evangelicals have been asking for over a century, but our efforts to reach the unreached and finish the task have often sacrificed the important for the immediate. The greatest challenge in evangelical missions isn't a lack of urgency, but a lack of discernment. As we've prioritized movements that are simple and reproducible, the gospel and faithful churches are now threatened. In Mission Affirmed, Elliot Clark seeks to reshape our motivation by considering the example of Paul the missionary.

Riley Unlikely is the inspiring story of Riley Banks, who first traveled to Kenya at age 13, and has been back every year since, bringing backpacks of school supplies and hygiene kits for young girls, developing relationships and friendships, and is currently, as a young millennial, raising money to build a complete learning complex in Kibwezi, Kenya for those who have nothing.

God Wants to Unleash Us into Fruitful Disciple-making Beyond Our Wildest Dreams. What if passionate Jesus followers began to multiply rapidly until thousands of lives and families were transformed? What if, instead of hard work with little fruit, God began to do “exceeding abundantly beyond all you could ask or imagine?” Imagine those you’ve invested in sharing Jesus freely, making their own disciples, and then training them until they too can disciples others.

Many people today talk about justice, but are they living justly? They want to change the world, but are they being changed themselves? Eugene Cho has a confession: "I like to talk about changing the world but I don't really like to do what it takes." If this is true of the man who founded the One Day's Wages global antipoverty movement, then what must it take to act on one's ideals? Cho does not doubt the sincerity of those who want to change the world.

Termites for dinner. Bombs in the backyard. A nation torn by decades of war, still on the brink. Can one life really make a difference here? Born without her left hip and leg, Michele Perry is no stranger to seeming impossibilities. So when she arrived in war-torn southern Sudan, with little more than faith in God's promises, she did what everyone told her was crazy: she opened a home for orphaned children in guerilla warfare territory.

Is gospel Christianity dead? Pundits are writing the obituary of historic, orthodox Christianity, but pastor and author J. D. Greear (Gospel, Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart) believes the postmortems are premature. Jesus promised to build his church. He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. The church is not going away. Along with this promise, Jesus gave clear instructions for how the church would prevail. He promised to build it on the rock of the gospel.

There is a toxic trio of demonic spirits that consort to abort plans, destroy destinies, and shipwreck faith. But Christians don’t have to live under their thumb. Hell’s Toxic Trio will teach believers how to properly identify these spirits and conquer them.

Many marketplace Christians have wrestled with these questions in their lives and in their work. But, from entrepreneurs to assembly line workers, from high-paid execs to minimum-wage hospitality staff, more Christians are becoming overwhelmingly filled with renewed purpose as they realize that their work has a role in God's kingdom plan.

A Nobel Peace Prize recipient beatified by the Catholic Church in 2003, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was celebrated by heads of state and adored by millions for her work on behalf of the poor. In his measured critique, Hitchens asks only that Mother Teresa's reputation be judged by her actions - not the other way around. With characteristic élan and rhetorical dexterity, Hitchens eviscerates the fawning cult of Teresa, recasting the Albanian missionary as a spurious, despotic, and megalomaniacal operative.

These are difficult days in our world's history. Natural disasters are gouging entire nations, 1.75 billion people are desperately poor, and economic uncertainty still reigns across the globe. But you and I have been given an opportunity to make a big difference. What if we did? What if we rocked the world with hope? Infiltrated all corners with God's love and life?

As in previous years, Desiring God has put together a book based on the six sessions of their annual national conference. The 2011 event boasted an impressive line-up of speakers whose messages are now featured in this volume: David Platt, Louie Giglio, Michael Ramsden, Michael Oh, Ed Stetzer, and John Piper. The book is purposed to compel Christians to cross cultural and linguistic barriers to reach the lost with the gospel.

Is your church a rowboat church or a sailboat church? Rowboat churches depend largely on human effort. When church budgets shrink and membership declines, rowboat churches frantically row harder against a current. Sailboat churches, on the other hand, take up the oars, hoist sails, and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide them. Arguing that churches should be "sailboats," Joan S. Gray encourages listeners to shift concern from the many daily, practical concerns of their local church to fresh ideas that can be found using the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In our zeal to glorify God and be used by him, we have a tendency to rely on doing things for God. However, when God chose to use certain individuals in the Bible, it wasn’t because of their efforts or abilities. God was looking at their heart. God wants worshipers who work, not workers who worship. There is a vast difference between the two.

The fullness and vigour of Christianity has been in decline in the life of the West, the application of gospel truths often limited to personal evangelism and our personal prayer life. But this is a radically narrow view of the Christian mission. In the biblical narrative we see a vision for the mission of God’s people that is nothing less than the faithful worship of God in every area of life and culture - in our laws, educational institutions, politics, and arts, to name just a few.

This highly anticipated debut from Matt Walsh of The Blaze demands that conservative voters make a last stand and fight for the moral center of America. The Trump presidency and Republican Congress provides an urgent opportunity to stop the Left's value-bending march to destroy the culture of our country. Republican control of the presidency, senate, and House of Representatives for the next two years is a precious - and fleeting - gift to conservatives.

Aussi improbable que cela puisse paraître, Gladys était certaine que Dieu l’appelait en Chine en tant que missionnaire. Et voilà qu’à l’âge de vingt-sept ans, elle venait d’être renvoyée de l’école de formation à la mission pour avoir échoué au cours d’étude de la Bible!