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Get Informed
Do you want to reach the world for Christ? Then learn about the world. By becoming informed, you will be able to better define your role in missions and what you can do to help reach the nations for Christ. Don't know where to start? Try these suggestions: Your local library probably has hundreds of books on nations and peoples around the world. Many cities have ethnic or cultural centers that can help in all sorts of ways from free language classes to cultural awareness programs. Log onto the internet for all sorts of wonderful missions information; need some help finding those web pages? Try The US Center for World Missions, MisLinks Missions Resources, or The Missions Station, or Free Will Baptist Foreign Missions to start. As well, check your local Christian bookstore for some good books on World Missions.
Get In Touch
Want to know more about missions? Ask a missionary. In this modern age, the vast majority of missionaries have access to email and believe or not, almost all still receive snail mail. So if you don't have ready access to a computer, go back to the ole reliable pen and ink and drop a few lines to a missionary. Ask him or her some specific questions about his field of service and what they are doing and what kind of challenges and experiences he/she has faced. Then be patient and wait for the response. Remember, missionaries have a lot more to do than sitting around answering email and many letters don't get to the field very quickly even went sent via airmail. (If you sent it surface, it may take months.) Visit with a missionary guest speaker when he comes to your church and perhaps offer to host them in your home. These are great opportunities to learn first hand what God is doing on the mission field.
Get in now!
How can you get involved right now in missions? Start by praying. Prayer is not only important in missions--it is essential. Start even now praying for the nations and peoples of the world. A great resource tool for praying around the world is Operation World by Patrick Johnston. Or the Hotline, more specifically about Free Will Baptist Missionaries. As well, pray for specific requests for the missionaries on a regular basis. Keep a prayer journal and see the wonderful things the Lord does through your prayers for specific missionaries.
Get involved through financial giving. Many missionaries are solely supported through donor gifts. It is amazing what how much you can give to missions by just skipping ordering that pizza or by not buying that extra soda and giving the money to missions. Others have decided to live more simply so that they can give more of their income to reaching the nations for Christ.
Finally, get yourself involved. Do a short-term missions internship, go out for a few weeks on a work team, use your skills and efforts to further the cause of Christ throughout the world. Take your vacation and visit a missionary on the field or use the time to volunteer in a mission headquarters. The point is not to just get involved in missions, but to get missions involved in you!
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