Mission Ministry

Robotic church planters? AI-driven missionary strategies? Avatar-based member care? I, Missionary is a collection of hypothetical short stories that explores some of the questions the global church is facing with the rapid rise of AI. Mission organizations, churches, and individuals are all trying to come to grips with these new technological realities—both the potential blessings and curses. But none of us have walked this road before. We need fresh language, examples, and categories.

When building a children’s ministry at a church, there is so much to consider: Which curriculum should we use? How many volunteers do we need? How do we keep parents in the loop? And that’s before we run into stalled check-in computers, missing activity sheets, and floors that need to be vacuumed. Writing from personal ministry experience, Jared Kennedy shares a four-fold approach for gospel-centered, missional children’s ministry: hospitality, teaching, discipleship, and mission. 

For far too long, the church has tried to make disciples using a one-size-fits-all approach. Some churches advocate 1-on-1 discipling, others try getting everyone into a small group, while still others training through mission trips or service projects. Yet others focus all their efforts on...

For women and men to thrive equally in ministry, the church needs male allies who are committed to supporting women in their callings. Allies in Ministry provides a practical, research-based pathway for men who desire to support women in ministry but may feel uncertain about how to act or...

Robert Moffat was a man totally set apart for the Kingdom of God. This Scottish missionary who left everything to minister in Africa, had a massive impact on the culture and history of the Southern part of the continent that is still reverberating in those lands today.

This book addresses a dilemma all who want to be faithful member missionaries face, especially those preparing to serve full-time: “How do I share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others in a comfortable and natural way?” In traditional, Church-supported missionary training centers, those who have been called to serve are generously and ably taught what to say.

David Anderson writes about multicultural leadership not from the perspective of an ivory tower intellectual, but as a hands-on practitioner who loves and believes in the body of Christ. . . . If you believe there is no solution to the race problem, I urge you to reconsider and to learn from...

We all want to know, "How can I help without hurting in this specific situation?" But there’s no one answer, and there’s definitely no shortcuts, but there are key principles—or ministry design principles. Think of these like the rules an improvising actor learns—the principles are crucial, but the actor must decide how to put them into practice based on the complexities of the situation. This book contains 20 ministry design principles. They’re in no way perfect, but they represent the very best ideas we have for how to do effective poverty alleviation in the kingdom of God.

Ministry Makeover examines the decline within the church, especially the United Methodist Church (UMC), and some causes for this decline. It calls for a reforming of United Methodist structure and polity by drawing more attention to the value of the bi-vocational model of ministry and a re-visitation of the Wesleyan/United Brethren view and historical perspective.

With high expectations, Vanguards of a Missionary Uprising calls on Christian African-American students to step forward and lead a new international missionary movement. Celebrating their leadership potential, a veteran urban missionary makes this positive challenge from Jesus Christ's Great Commission in the Bible.

Church planters generally are optimistic and enthusiastic about church planting for this generation. Many are launching or about to experiment with innovative approaches to plant churches that engage the marketplace. They are applying missional perspectives to reach this large mission field. This book documents and explores these innovative approaches to church planting.