Engaging your church in mission
When we talk about missions, we usually focus on the lost, the harvest field and the workers in the harvest field. What has not been given much focus over the many years of doing missions, is the process of mobilizing resources for the work in the harvest field.
Those who have been involved in this process, which we call missions mobilization, know that: This is not an overnight process.
If not done well, it can lead to breaking the church’s trust, ill-prepared new workers, and missionary attrition – among others.
We hope the booklets can help you become more effective in your missions mobilization efforts.
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Four foundations for missions mobilization
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In the booklets
These series of booklets are:
Booklet 1: Mobilization as a Vocation
We speak often of a vocation, conviction, or calling to cross- cultural service. Every Christian has a role in God’s global mission, with great potential to make a difference in our broken world. As people and churches respond to God’s leading into greater involvement in global missions, the journey of learning, equipping and engagement begins. Mobilizers play a significant and vital role in the lives of Christians who are on that journey. Ours is a valid, worthy and important calling.
Booklet 2: Mobilization and Church History
When discussing the history of Christian missions, the focus is usually on the era in which William Carey sparked missionary efforts. This is generally described in evangelical circles as the Era of Modern Missions. So what were the mission efforts of the church before modern missions?
Let us look at some of the mission efforts of the centuries after the early church was born, leading up to the era of modern missions. As we do so, we will look at some lessons we can learn from church history, examining some of the reasons why missions languished and flourished through church history. Although this is not a detailed and comprehensive look at history, it will hopefully encourage you to research and explore more on your own.
Booklet 3: Mobilization Focus
Having discussed mobilization as a vocation and in church history, this section looks at those that are being mobilized — churches, families, couples and individuals — and where they are coming from (their unique contexts and situations). In the same way that a frontline worker needs to learn the language and culture of the people they are reaching, mobilizers need to learn the language, culture and history of their mobilization context.
Booklet 4: Mobilization Principles
With each person being unique, living in differing contexts and working with various churches amidst a changing world, there is no one size
fits all approach for the mobilizer or the mobilized. New mission opportunities are created, new generations of Christians grow up and new mission partnerships are explored. Still, in the midst of all this diversity, there are some common mobilization principles and practices that do not change. Being mindful of these will be helpful for us and for the churches and individuals we are mobilizing.
Who is Mobilization Foundations written for?
These booklets are an attempt to provide some foundational thinking on mobilization for mobilizers or anyone interested/involved
in inspiring people in mission. Hopefully, reading these booklets will prompt more in- depth reflections on the practice of mobilization. It is our hope that these reflections would result to mobilization done with more careful thought and God-honoring practices.
Although these booklets are written for mobilizers, we do hope that those who are in the work of missions will take time to also read and consider their own potential in mobilizing for the harvest field.
You can read these booklets on your own or as a team. There are reflection questions at the end of each booklet that can help in guiding discussions and further learning.
Recommended reading
And speaking of further learning, there is a list of books in the last booklet to get you started to read more about mobilization.
Through good, God-honoring mobilization practices, may we see more people and churches involved in the work of the harvest field. These series of booklets are based on the dissertation written by Jojie Wong entitled “Developing an Integrated Foundational Training of Missions Mobilizers for OMF Philippine Home Council.”
