Learn
Bringing mission awareness and interaction to the entire church body, training members for service and connecting them to missionaries and mission needs.
Members will pray, give and go more passionately and effectively if they know about mission efforts and how to participate. Mission education helps to not only make people aware of the mission needs throughout the world, it also helps train them to become involved in meeting those needs.
Mission education is most effective when it is churchwide and year-round. It must be integrated into the overall DNA of the church by consistently keeping the Great Commission at the forefront of all the church desires to accomplish. The “learn” response is strategically connected to all the other Kingdom-growing responses. Unless members are made aware of the mission needs and opportunities in the various mission fields, they will not become involved. “Learning” usually precedes “doing.”
The North American Mission Board (NAMB), Woman's Missionary Union (WMU) sponsor organizational approaches to mission education, and staff members at both entities, as well as at your state convention and in many associations, can help you start units or assist you in evaluating and give direction to existing ones. For further information, contact NAMB at (770) 410-6000 or visit www.namb.net/educate; WMU at (205) 991-8100 or visit www.wmu.org; and your state convention and association partners.
While the “learn” response is often facilitated through church-based, age-graded mission education organizations, these are not the only ways to build awareness among members of mission efforts. Sermon illustrations, video and print resources, missionary speakers, mission fairs, and mission projects are all ways members can learn about mission efforts and be informed, inspired, and challenged to further their understanding and participation.
Following are some ideas, resources, Web sites, and contacts to help you facilitate learning about the four fields. As you read and consider each selection, place in the block the symbol that corresponds with your current or potential use of the idea or resource.
> = Already use idea or resource
* = Implement this idea or resource immediately
? = Consider future use of this idea or resource
__ Contact your association missions staff or office to determine what training events are available for missions awareness and involvement. Make sure appropriate people in your church, especially members of your mission team, are receiving the association newsletter so they can be aware of such events and registration information. If you have completed the “Our Church's Acts 1:8 Mission Fields and Mission Partners” worksheet, you can find contact information on your association. If you have not completed that sheet, visit www.ActsOne8.com to locate your association and receive contact information.
__ Invite someone from your association office to speak to your church about the work in the association.
__ Working with your associational missionary, plan a vision tour of your association. This may be an actual tour of the communities and churches within the association. Learn what current ministries are being done, needs that are being explored, and untapped channels of service in which your church can be involved.
__ Connect with missionaries who are serving within your association. Visit and invite them to speak to your congregation about the work and how your church can be personally involved.
__ Link your church's Web site to the association's Web site for further information on the work.
__ Attend and encourage church members to attend the annual association meeting, if applicable. Contact your association office for details on when and where that is held.
__ Participate in Associational Missions Week. Check with your associational missionary to determine dates. For further information on this week, visit www.namb.net/amw.
Ideas and Resources for Learning About Judea
__ Contact your state Baptist convention office (or visit the convention Web site) for a listing of staff assignments and contact information. To locate contact information for your state office, see the listing at the end of this guide, or visit www.ActsOne8.com. Work with appropriate state staff on statewide and individualized training events for mission awareness and involvement within your Judea.
__ Subscribe to your state Baptist paper and visit its Web site. Contact the circulation manager for the paper (your state convention office can give you specific contact information) to learn how to have copies sent to each member, or provide copies in bulk for members to pick up in the church.
__ Invite someone on the state staff or a missionary in the state to speak to your congregation about the work. To locate missionaries in your state, contact your state convention office.
__ Contact your state convention office to determine print or video resources it has to help you share with your congregation about the work in the state.
__ Link your church's Web site to the state convention's Web site for further information on the work in the state.
__ Participate in a state missions promotion, if applicable in your state. Many state mission offering materials include study materials about ministry and missions efforts in the state.
Ideas and Resources for Learning About Samaria
__ As often as possible, and in as many settings as possible (worship service, mission groups, prayer meetings, etc.) show video segments on the work of North American missionaries. Two excellent video resources include the subscription-based E-ssentials for the On Mission Church and the annual North American Missions Emphasis video, both produced by NAMB. To order E-ssentials, call 1 800 634-2462; e-mail essentials@namb.net; or visit www.essentials.tv. The North American Missions Emphasis video is sent to Southern Baptist churches by mid January of each year. For further information call (770) 410-6327 or email aaeo@namb.net.
__ Participate in the annual North American Missions Study. Materials are free and provided in the North American Missions Emphasis kit sent to each church by mid January and on the web at www.AnnieArmstong.com. To learn more about the study, visit the Web site, email aaeo@namb.net, or call (770) 410-6327.
__ Invite NAMB missionaries to speak in your church, or consider doing a telephone interview using a speaker phone. To locate missionaries, call (770) 410-6357, e-mail missionaryspeakers@namb.net, or visit www.namb.net/missionaries.
__ Subscribe to and distribute the free “Your Church on Mission with God” bulletin inserts each month in a Sunday program or newsletter. This is a joint publication of IMB and NAMB and provides up-to-date information on missions in Samaria and the ends of the earth. To subscribe, call 1 800 866-3621, or visit www.imb.org/resources.
__ Participate in a North American Mission Board vision tour to a specific mission effort in the United States and Canada. To learn more about this opportunity, call Church Relations at (770) 410-6321, or e-mail ActsOne8@namb.net.
__ Subscribe to and distribute mission-related magazines to your church members on an ongoing basis. Refer to relevant articles in sermons and at other times. Even if you do not currently have mission education groups in your church, providing curriculum-type magazines will be of great benefit in raising awareness of mission efforts and needs. Magazines to consider are:
• On Mission (to subscribe, call 1 888 239-3990, or visit www.onmission.com)
• Missions Mosaic (to order, call 1 800 295-6536, or visit www.wmustore.com)
• Missionary Moments (to order, call (615) 244-2355, or visit www.cpmissions.net)
__ E-mail ActsOne8@namb.net for further ideas and resources or to be connected to a NAMB staff member who can assist you further in learning about Samaria.
__ Learn about mission opportunities in Samaria by visiting www.namb.net, specifically thebridge.namb.net and www.namb.net/dr.
Ideas and Resources for Learning About the Ends of the Earth
__ As often as possible, and in as many settings as possible (worship service, mission groups, prayer meetings, etc.) show video segments on the work of international missionaries. Excellent video resources include Global Harvest, The Task, and Kids on Mission, all produced by IMB. To order, call 1 800 866-3621, e-mail imb@imb.org or visit www.imb.org/videolink.
__ Participate in the annual International Missions Study. For details about the study and ordering information, call 1 800 968-7301, or visit www.wmustore.com.
__ Subscribe to and distribute the free “Your Church on Mission with God” bulletin inserts each month in a Sunday program or newsletter. This is a joint publication of IMB and NAMB and provides up-to-date information on missions in Samaria and the ends of the earth. To subscribe, call 1 800 866-3621, or visit www.imb.org/resources.
__ Invite IMB missionaries to speak in your church. If you are unable to host them onsite, consider doing a telephone interview using a speaker phone. To locate missionaries, call 1 800 999-3113 to request a list of missionaries on stateside assignment, or email imb@imb.org.
__ Subscribe to and distribute mission-related magazines to your church members on an ongoing basis. Refer to relevant articles in sermons and at other times. Even if you do not currently have mission education groups in your church, providing curriculum-type magazines will be of great benefit in raising awareness of mission efforts and needs. Magazines to consider are:
• The Commission (on-line publication at www.tconline.org)
• “To the Ends of the Earth” (to order, 1 800 866-3621, or visit www.imb.org/resources)
• Missions Mosaic (to order, call 1 800 295-6536, or visit www.wmustore.com)
• Missionary Moments (to order, call (615) 244-2355, or visit www.cpmissions.net)
__ Participate in an international missions vision trip. Call Church Services at 1 800 999-3113, or e-mail ActsOne8@imb.net.
__ E-mail ActsOne8@imb.net for further ideas and resources or to be connected to an IMB staff member who can assist you further in learning about the ends of the earth.
Ideas and Resources for Learning About All Fields
__ If your church has a Web site, feature links to the Acts 1:8 Challenge partner sites. If you do not have a Web site, periodically include a list of these sites in your church bulletin or newsletter. Besides the sites for the four fields, include links to www.sbc.net, www.cpmissions.org, and www.bpnews.net.
__ Plan commissioning services (see the chapter on “Send” for more information) as a tool to help church members become aware of mission needs and how your church is meeting those needs.
__ Enlist mission volunteers to share testimonies and reports after they have participated in mission experiences-as individuals or as part of a group or team.
__ Encourage your church members to visit missionaries and ministry sites when they travel for business or pleasure. Encourage them to take photos and share their observations.
__ Conduct a churchwide mission fair, missions conference, or mission celebration to highlight the work being done in all four mission fields.
__ Participate in church or associational mission awareness events such as On Mission Celebrations. For more information, contact your state convention's OMC coordinator or call the OMC office at NAMB, (770) 410-6398.You may also e-mail onmissioncelebrations@namb.net or visit www.onmission.com/omc.
__ Secure a copy of Missions Plan Book published annually by WMU to assist you in preparing various missions emphasis.To order call 1 800 968-7301, or visit www.wmustore.com.
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