Author Ann Dunagan asks, “Is Your Family Mission Minded?” (HT: Life.Outpoured)
How to avoid five pitfalls of Short-Term Mission trips
An MK learns about sacrifice and the value of protecting your health
NonModern explains why Evangelical Christians may be the worst witnesses in their own culture
An example of the church being a missionary to Russia
The turn of the new year always gives us pause for reflection on the past and contemplation of the future, so the start of 2010 appears to be no different. As I remember lessons learned over the past few years as a missionary, one theme keeps recurring: we are shaped by the environment in which we find ourselves, no matter how much we may resist. And I have been very much influenced by my mission field’s culture which is an “in the moment” people group, something I like to call “The Culture of Now”.
Of course, the title is not indicative of a culture of wanting things or change to happen immediately (i.e., “I want it now”) but of a state of being in the moment, relishing the experience and not focussed solely on the future. In an earlier cross-cultural course I had learned of the differences in such cultures, and I am grateful to have understood the technical differences before entering the mission field.
It was actually the change of decade that prompted me to take note of my personal attitude shift. Reflecting on where I was (physically, spiritually, and emotionally) as 1999 slipped into 2000, I started to realise that I had been a much more agitated individual. Always focussing on the next task, job, location, or goal, I wasn’t actually interacting in the moment. Time with people, though often a pleasant thing, was seen as an obstacle to progress; because it was a necessity to interact with others, I felt at the time that it must be kept to a minimum. While I would be present at an activity or function, mentally I was worlds away, going over tasks in my head or thinking constantly about what sequence of events needed to happen once I got out of the situation. Read More…
MissioMishMash gives the answer to the question, “Is it safe to be a missionary?”
Life.Outpoured revisits Speaking Missionese. The video on Christianese is hilarious, yet true.
Missionaries already know they’re outsiders when entering a foreign field, but what if the church saw itself in the same way?
The Scriptorium Daily reports on the Urbana 09 student missions conference and includes some great missions quotes; they’re all good but my favourites are the first two.
Want to learn more about missions in Europe? The Upstream Collective is holding a conference in a week.
Bible Verse of the Day 
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