#FunFactAboutMe my life long goal is to become a missionary in Africa.

or maybe something like…

#ithink, being a christian missionary would be a great job!

or…

#20FactsAboutMe 17.) when I’m 18 I wanna do Christian missionary and go to Uganda and china and help build schools

or…

Dear sweet baby jesus, if you get me through this shift today I’ll become a missionary.

Okay, maybe that last one was a joke, but you catch my drift…

Are Christian Missions Groups Active on Social Media?

The question though is are Christian Missions groups using social media to connect with people who are expressing an interest in missions?

Are you active in social media?

Is your group or agency active in social media?

I’m not talking about broadcasting your message using social media and treating it like any other traditional marketing media. What I’m talking about is actually connecting personally with people who are interested in pursuing missions.

You need to listen online, not just talk.

If are are not using social media to connect with people interested in Christian Missions then you are missing out on a potentially huge way to connect with people who are interested in missions and may or may not have a plan on how to get there…

Gary Vaynerchuk has made his mark in business largely through the use of social media. He has leveraged the web and social media to connect with potential customers in ways that have never been possible before. I recommended his book Crush It - Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion on the latest YWAM Podcast after listening to it and being inspired to try to put into action with my role in missions.

Gary did a keynote speech at a recent convention where he talks about how he uses social media and why it works. It is probably the first YouTube video that is over an hour that I have ever actually sat through, and is well worth the time. Here it is:

(be aware though that Gary uses “colourful” language at points in the video)

The new book that he refers to in his keynote is The Thank You Economy. As I write this I currently have the audio version on hold at the library and am eagerly waiting for it to become available. If it’s anything like Crush It, I know I won’t be disappointed.

So if you took the time to watch the video, and I would highly recommend that you do, then how are you going to connect to potential new missionaries? Are you going to use these ideas, or let them slip by, along with the many new potential new missionaries that are out there looking for a  way to connect with what God is doing, and how they can be a part…

(image by Nathan Colquhoun)

The first speaker on the video talks about how he went through a transformation about how he understands his skills and profession, and seeing how he can use that to bring glory to God in the nations. He has been able to work all over the world with the skills that he has with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), partnering with many different ministries.

According to the video millions of people die from a lack of clean water, and there are an estimated 2 billion people around the world who are lacking adequate water supplies and sanitation. Using the skills of a water engineer he would have learned about water supply, sanitation and hygiene. Clean water is a HUGE issue in developing nations, and the skills of a water engineer are invaluable in addressing these issues.

The video goes on to tell more about the project and being good stewards of the world that God created. I’m hoping to look a bit more into the project and what it’s about, but for the purpose of this article I really wanted to look again at how God is able to use a seemingly non-traditional skill set, learned outside of the mission environment, for His purposes.

The program that he is working with YWAM Salem Environment and Resource Stewardship (YWAM EARS), and you can find out more about it here.

Normally when we think about God using people’s skills we think of the more “traditional” skills being used for missions. Some of the more practical skills that we think of people using are things like:

• Medical / Healthcare
• Construction
• Teaching

What we don’t often think about are the “non-traditional skills” that God wants to use. Certainly the skills that I use in missions as a missions communicator would not be considered “traditional”.

The following video is a great example of someone using their skills as an engineer, another “non-traditional” skill set, in missions:

The project is called “Vision 10810” and is essentially a “Mobile Gospel Media Centre”. The thing that God spoke to this engineer when the engineer asked how God wanted him to use his skills was:

To design and build semi-trucks which can provide housing for a 12 person team, a full equipped stage to do evangelism and provide a place to store Bibles. These trucks would be more than just a stage. It would be a mission headquarters on wheels.

You can read more about the vision on the Vision 10810 web-site.

How about you?

Regardless of what skills, career or education you have, God wants to use them. They question is not does God want you, the question is, are you willing to let God use you?

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

The question I keep asking myself is “Where do I put my hope and expectation?“.

Too often I find that I put my hope in earthly things. By putting my hope in those things, instead of in God, I am setting myself for disappointment and “deferred hope”. Instead of putting my hope in God I find myself put my hope in:

• People
• Finances
• Circumstances

Not only do I need to be careful where I put my hope, but also what am I hoping for? Does my will and what I hope for line up with God’s will?

Where do you place your hope, and what are hoping for?

Photo by Martin Gommel

Let’s face it, many of our short term missions programs don’t to much to dissuade this mentality either.

When I started in YWAM on my YWAM Discipleship Training School I did dance, singing, sports and drama. I also had the chance to speak in front of churches, youth groups, schools, prisons and a village in Vanuatu. It was an amazing opportunity, don’t get me wrong, but it certainly didn’t use any of my strengths.

What was interesting, and something that I usually don’t admit to, was that after my DTS I was asked to teach dance and drama! It was, shall we say, entertaining. I’m sure many of my former students still cringe in memory of my teaching in these areas…

It wasn’t until I had served for quite a few years until I was able to actually use some of the skills and knowledge that I had gained before going into missions. Then it wasn’t until I actually left the local YWAM Centre I was working at and worked with the GENESIS Centre, and eventually joined the International Chairman’s Team, that I was able to work full-time in missions using more of that knowledge.

Limitless Potential

I enjoy talking with my eight-year old son about what he wants to do when he grows up. One minute it’s a scientist, then a pilot, a police officer, an astronaut, a missionary, a professional football (soccer) player, doctor, etc. At the age of eight the world is open to anything he can think of wanting to do, and my job as a parent is to help him find what God has created him to do (no big task right!).

We’ve been talking a lot about what “gifts” God has given him and what areas he is already good at. Tamara and I can already see things that he excels at and want to encouraging him in those areas, while still helping him grow in the areas he doesn’t excel at.

I would hate to see Caleb put into a position where he would not be using his God given gifts. I don’t believe that God gives any of us these gifts for us to not use them. To not use them is certainly not being good stewards of what God has given us.

Responsible for our Worker’s Gifts

As missions leaders we are responsible for the gifts that our people bring to the mission. We need to make sure not to take them for granted, but rather to realise that they have God given gifts that we need to be good stewards of.

Like the parable of the talents states in Matthew 25:14-30, if we don’t prove faithful to God with the few that he firsts gives us, He will not trust us with more…

Even though personal and organisational debt is something that limits so many people in fulfilling God’s plan in their lives, it is not something that I have seen talked about much in teaching or schools in YWAM. Sure, there is a lot of talk and content about support raising for missions, but I have not seen nearly as much content created about personal financial stewardship.

Personal Finance and Financial Stewardship Training

There are many programs out there that can be implemented personally, or in our schools in YWAM. Two that I have been looking at are the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover, and more recently Lazarus at the Gate, an Economic Discipleship Guide.

Both of these programs are things that could be very easily implemented on our schools in YWAM, whether it be on the YWAM Discipleship Training School, or a school like YWAM Denver’s Phase II / School of Ministry Development (which does offer a section on Stewardship in their curriculum). They are also programs that could be implemented with regular staff training and equipping that should be constantly happening are all YWAM Centres.

Dave Ramsey, Total Money Makeover

This is a program that I am very familiar with and one that my wife and I are trying to implement in our own life. The centre of the plan is the seven baby steps:

1. $1000 Emergency Fund
2. Pay off all debt with the Debt Snowball
3. 3 – 6 Months of expenses saved.
4. 15% Retirement Savings
5. College / Education Fund for Children
6. Pay off home early
7. Build wealth and give

In addition to teaching these seven steps in his book The Total Money Makeover, there are other teaching packages and programs that could fit very well within a missions setting.

Some of the different programs are Financial Peace University and Generation Change. Here is a video explaining Dave Ramsey’s Generation Change, which I think could fit very well into a program like the YWAM Discipleship Training School:

Generation change is geared towards youth groups, which could suit the discipleship training school audience.

The other, and possibly better option for missions training schools like those offered in YWAM, is Financial Peace University. Financial Peace University has been used successfully by churches, companies, communities and non-profits to help people learn how to control their money.

I find Financial Peace University for Non-Profit Organisations to be especially interesting for missions organisations. Below is the video specific to non-profits and how Financial Peace University has helped them with their students, staff and clients:

Certainly looks to me like something that could be part of a missionary training course…

Lazarus at the Gate, an Economic Discipleship Guide

Lazarus at the Gate is a small group discipleship experience designed to impact global poverty.

While the Dave Ramsey program is a commercial operation, Lazarus at the Gate is an open source curriculum designed to be used by small groups to explore what the Bible has to say about personal finance. There are numerous resources available from their web-site, Simple Living for Just Giving – Resources, including curriculum for adults, curriculum for students and a series of devotionals.

During the 12-sessions of the adult curriculum the participants are encouraged to make four different individual commitments:

• Spend joyfully
• Spend justly
• Spend less
• Give more

With the curriculum being open source there is nothing to stop the curriculum being rewritten from a missions perspective.

Lazarus at the Gate has the advantage over the Dave Ramsey material in that it is free and open source, but would require more work on the part of the facilitator to implement. The Dave Ramsey material has the huge advantage in the quality and breadth of material and resources provided with their different courses, including full training DVDs, CDs and more.

I think that either one could be a good option to implement in a missions training program.

What do we do now?

As missionaries personal finance is not something that we should take lightly. It is an area that the enemy can use to rob us of God’s desires for our lives. How we handle our personal finances shows a lot about our character and what we place value in.

• What tools are you using to help with your personal finances?
• Are there some tools that you can recommend to others?
• Is your ministry centre helping to disciple your people in this area?

Let us know in the comments below…

Top photo courtesy epSos.de

War School is a short film about Child Soldiers. It takes the traumatic plight of children forced to be child soldiers and brings it back into an an environment that we in the developed world know, elementary or middle school.

Warning, this video contains disturbing content and strong language. If you are watching in public I would recommend using headphones…

Seeing a story that is happening every day around the world, but in an environment that is not foreign to us, and one that we can relate to, allows us to understand the story in a much different and more powerful way. The challenge that we are presented with is how can we portray the ministry that we are doing in missions in a way that impacts the life of people viewing it and develops empathy in the lives of people who can make a difference…

Personal debt can take many forms, including, but certainly not limited to:

• Credit Card Debt
• Student Loan Debt
• Vehicle Loan Debt or Lease
• Mortgage*

I have seen numerous message on twitter from people along the lines of wanting to join missions, but can’t because of debt. I have also seen people leave the missions field because of debt they had at home from before they joined or even because of debt they have incurred while on the missions field.

A friend of mine, Creagon Muldoon, who also works with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to mobilise people into missions recently posted this on Twitter:

Creagon – Creagon Muldoon

Praying for God to mobilizes the next of student movement. Wondering how He will overcome the 2009 average student debt load of $24,000.

Debt is very debilitating to someone wanting to follow the Will of God of their life.

There is not one positive mention of debt in the Bible. Debt is always presented in a negative light. It is not a “salvation” issue, but there is not one time mentioned in the bible that debt is used to bless His people.

Here are a few Bible versus about this topic taken from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University site.

1. Proverbs 13:22  "A good man leaves an inheritance to his childrens’ children" indicating that God wants us to make a difference, financially, in our family tree.

2. Proverbs 21:20  "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has."  This gives us an idea of how God wants us to save for a rainy day, to set something back for safekeeping.

3. Proverbs 22:7 states that "The rich rule over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender."  Really?  The Bible discourages debt?  Does God really want me to pay my debts off and avoid debt?

4. Luke 14:28 "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it."  Does Jesus really want me to save up and pay for the things I buy?

The final one should be very challenging for us. I can’t tell you how many times have I been in a meeting and heard people “stepping out in faith” to go on a trip that they can’t afford? It’s one thing to be planning for a trip without knowing where the money is coming from, but to actually go on the trip before it’s paid for seems to go against what Jesus is telling us in Luke 14:28.

What is Our Responsibility?

As a missions organisation we need to ask ourselves about what our responsibility is to our staff and students in regards to debt. Are we enabling our staff and students to go into debt, or are we helping them to avoid it.

Here are a few questions that I think we need to ask:

• Do we let our staff and / or students go to into debt?
• How do we handle it when our staff falls behind on their staff fees?
• Do we ask questions about peoples personal debt in our application process?
• Is there teaching or plans in place to assist people get out of debt?

Are we teaching our staff and students wisdom in regards to their finances or are we teaching them to be reckless with their finances? Do we confuse “faith” with “foolishness”?

Debt in YWAM

Another great article that I found after I had written most of this article is on the YWAM Associates web-site entitled “The Curse of Debt”. You can read the article here. There is some great information about debt in YWAM in that article including:

• Between 5 – 80% of staff at any given YWAM location are in debt
• Most YWAM Centres have lost staff because of debt
• Some YWAM staff have to take outside jobs to pay off debt

Have a look at the full article to read more.

Tools to Get out of Debt

There are some great tools out there to help you get out of debt. Someone who I have been listening to for a while is Dave Ramsey, the source of those quotes above. Here is a link to some of the tools that he offers for free on his web-site:

• The Seven Baby Steps to become debt free
• The Getting Started Guide – 6-part e-mail series

photo credit: Josh Kenzer

We can see it in our worship, we can see it in our flashy videos, we can see it in our web-sites and we can see it on our vehicles and buildings…

This video asks us, “What would happen if we put all that "entertainment" or extra energy into actually going out and making disciples? “.

Where is your energy going?

Are you too busy doing “ministry” to actually make disciples…

The Traveling Team has an interesting article about the role of the local church in world missions entitled “Local Church – Friend, Foe or Failure in the Great Commission”. The article points out four “truths” about the primacy of the local church in the Great Commission:

1. The Local Church is Primary in World Missions Because Jesus Said it is
2. The Local Church is Primary Because the Body of Christ is there
3. The Local Church is Primary Because it Affords Us Training and Care
4. The Local Church is Primary Because it is Both the Beginning and the End of Missions

There are some great points made in the article and it is well worth reading it here.

Although I work with a mobile church organisation in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) I have been extremely blessed to a part of a local church in Calgary that is very missions minded. I found out about YWAM through another member who had been sent out from the church. The local church has been a huge blessing and support for me and my family ever since I joined Youth With A Mission in 1998.

For me it is the combination of both the local church, South Calgary Community Church, and the missions agency, Youth With A Mission, that has created the environment where I am able to serve God full time as a Missions Communicator.

* Photo provided by YWAM Harpenden