Being a part of a non-profit sector allows us to live in and travel to many cities in the United States, as well as in Europe. As followers of Jesus, wherever we live or travel, our goal is to live out our faith in a different culture. It does not matter if you are a full-time vocational Christian worker, an international company employee, a student studying abroad, or a person who simply wants to live and work in another country—the first 30 days matter! The sooner that you can get out the door, learn the culture, meet people, build relationships, and discover what God has in store for you, the sooner you will feel at home and love your new environment.Thirty topics and Scripture verses are introduced as well as practical ways to apply what you’ve learned each day through a simple but fun application assignment.You may want to use the book as an individual devotional, with your family, or with a group. Regardless, it is short and practical so that you have plenty of time to get out and enjoy your new home.

The First 30 Daze: Practical Encouragement for Living Abroad Intentionally

Religion & Spirituality

McCrary, Susan Y

McCrary, Larry E.

Christian Books & Bibles

Upstream Collective, The

The Western Church world is abuzz with talk of being missional. Church leaders, conference speakers, and authors are weighing the merits of the attractional church movement of the past few decades, and where they find it lacking, prescribing changes in the way we need to approach our cultures with the Gospel. There has been a consensus shift among many churches, networks, and denominations to become more focused on mission. The result is a renewed interest in reaching the lost in our cities and around the world. The Church, in many places in the Western world, is in fact returning to a biblical missional focus. Yet there is something still to be addressed in the process: the how. For centuries, God has called missionaries to cross cultures with the Gospel, and along the way, they have developed the necessary skill-sets for a cultural translation of the Good News. These skills need to be shared with the rest of the Church in order to help them as well be effective missionaries. Tradecraft for the Church on Mission does exactly that. This book, in essence, pulls back the curtain on tools once accessible only to full-time Christian workers moving overseas, and offers them to anyone anywhere who desires to live missionally.

Tradecraft: For the Church on Mission

Calfee, Rodney

Crider, Caleb

Stephens, Wade

Marketplace workers make up the majority of every church’s membership. Yet, in reality there is only a small percentage of church members who usually take part in God’s mission. They are the ones who are trained, sent, and expected to engage in missions, because they are the “professionals.” That leaves the vast majority of the missionary force in our churches untrained, unsent, and unengaged. But the Great Commission does not belong only to the full-time ordained Christian workers. The mission is the responsibility of every follower of Christ. If we believe that to be true, then it must affect our churches. It must affect who and how we equip and send. We need to start preparing our marketspace people (which includes most of the church) to be able to take the gospel wherever they are, in whatever profession they are in, to their neighbors and to the nations. Larry McCrary urges us to strategically utilize these workers for God’s mission. McCrary’s unique perspective on the relationships between the marketplace worker, the sending church, and the missionary team is vital in the "marketspace," the term he coined to describe the space in which a person works and interacts with others on a daily basis.Are you considering using a different pathway to spread the gospel? How can your church support marketplace workers? How can your missionary crew integrate new members onto your team?If you find yourself asking any of these questions, then this book will be more than just another perspective on the value of marketplace missions.

The Marketspace: Essential Relationships Between the Sending Church, Marketplace Worker, and Missionary Team

The concept of a mission trip may bring to mind different things, depending on your experience, age, and context. But no matter what initial image comes to mind, Christ-followers should be no strangers to short-term missions. Yes, mission trips have been promoted within Western church programming for decades, but this particular expression of missions does have its roots in Scripture.\nThe commission Jesus gave to his disciples still applies to us today, including the short-term mission trips we take. If you’re going on a short-term trip—whether across your city or on the other side of the world, consider how you will be going in terms of the attitude and posture you’ll adopt as you go—as servants, desiring to obey God, etc. But could there be more to how we go?\nWe’d like to suggest that Christ-followers’ approach to mission trips should be primarily based on listening. In this short-term trip field guide, our hope is to help you consider why listening truly is the way to make the most of a future short-term trip. We will encourage you to focus your listening on what the Holy Spirit has to say to you about this trip and what He desires for it. We will also help you learn to listen to your teammates, your church leadership, your on-the-ground ministry partners, and to the people and culture of the place you are going.\nReady to get started? Let’s make the most of your mission trip.

Listen: How to Make the Most of Your Short-Term Mission Trip

Fu, Melissa

McCrary, Larry

Stephens, Debbie

Sloan, Nathan

Missionary Mama's Survival Guide is a concise and compassionate companion guide to:- Understanding God's mission- Accepting your child's vocation- Embracing your new role as a StayerBy educating yourself about what's hiding in the "wilderness," you will be able to drop your burdens of guilt, shame, and fear and pick up your tools of gratefulness, surrender, and freedom. This new awareness will help you settle into your adventure and release your child to pursue their own. Mama, get ready to survive?and thrive!The road ahead is hard, though not without reward. Missionary Mama, you are the unsung hero of The Great Commission. But unsung does not mean unseen. I see you, Missionary Mama. I'm here with you. So lace up those boots! Let's hike!

The Missionary Mama's Survival Guide: Compassionate Help for the Mothers of Cross-Cultural Workers

Haverkamp, Tori R

William Carey famously stated to his contemporary Andrew Fuller, “I will go down into the pit, if you will hold the rope.” Carey knew he would need this kind of support from faithful missionary senders, as he would face many challenges—physical, emotional, relational, and, of course, spiritual. We see the fruit of that faithful rope-holding today, as generations of believers in India and beyond can trace their spiritual lineage back to Carey’s ministry. His impact as a missionary would not have been possible without senders who were willing to sacrifice in prayer, possessions, and presence on his behalf. Throughout mission history, though, the local church has often taken a “backseat” approach to missionary care by outsourcing its responsibilities to a missions sending agency. This abdication of responsibility has no doubt led to many missionaries returning from the field prematurely and, in many cases, because of issues that could have been prevented. Could these laborers have continued serving if the church had understood its role in caring for them and been equipped with tools to develop a plan for doing so? 
Although the mission agency has a role to play and valuable resources to offer in caring for missionaries, the church is the primary means through which laborers are sent forth into the harvest fields and encouraged and equipped to persevere in their labor. From Paul and Barnabas in Antioch to Epaphroditus in Philippi, from Carey to the church today, the need for faithful sending churches is essential to the completion of the missionary task, and local churches must regain a proper understanding of their responsibility to hold the rope for their sent ones. Holding the Rope: Helping the Local Church Care for Its Sent Ones lays out a biblical framework for missionary care; helps reestablish the local church’s place in sending and supporting; gives valuable insight from the field, the agency, and the church on how to partner well together; and provides practical application for developing a pre-field, on-field, and post-field missionary care strategy. Sending doesn’t stop at the commissioning service—it is fostered and continues through faithful missionary care. The church must hold the rope and not let go!

Holding the Rope: How the Local Church Can Care for Its Sent Ones

Martin, Ryan

Lent and Missions: A 40-Day Devotional

Bell, Bradley

Worship & Devotion

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