Sep 17, 2019 | Mobilize Others
A third-generation Chinese believer gains a heart for the lost around her for the first time “I’ve never read the Bible like this before!” Though my friend Nina had heard the 1 Samuel 17 story of David and Goliath countless times, she was blown away to learn the deeper truths of this particular passage for the first time. We were in the middle of our weekly Xplore study when it all seemed to click in Nina’s mind. We read verses 46 and 47 that said, “All the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear… (emphasis added),” and from that point on, Nina’s eyes were opened to God’s overarching purpose of redemption for the whole world. God clearly displayed his desire and purpose for David’s defeat of Goliath: so that His name may be worshipped by all the earth. Nina shared that she always had been taught that the importance of the story of David and Goliath, however, was only to teach that God is bigger than the giants you face. She had no idea that the original intent was so that God would receive glory from all peoples, until she read this particular passage herself with a fresh perspective. Nina is a third-generation Christian in China, which is very rare. China has been under communist rule for many decades; therefore, the majority of the population is classified as “unreligious.” Her grandparents have incredible stories of God displaying his power through healing and miracles, but the idea of God was somewhat...
Sep 12, 2019 | Mobilize Others
One Xplore Study Impacts Countless Arab Lives Last semester, I sat among a group of believers who shared stories of how God had awakened their hearts to His immeasurable love for the nations. Some explained how they had began praying for the nations regularly, and others explained that they began sharing their faith with their Muslim coworkers. Though their stories were different, they all were gathered in the room together because they shared something in common. They all wanted the Arabian Gulf to experience God’s love for the nations, and they all ended up in the room together because of one guy named Trevor. Trevor is one of those guys who talks to everyone. He is quick to encourage and pray for his friends, and he is bold in sharing his faith with colleagues from other faith backgrounds. He gives of his finances to send others to the unreached, and he gives his time to mobilize those around him. The impact this one man has had on the church in Dubai is significant, but Trevor was not always like this. In fact, up until three years ago, he was disillusioned and completely separated from the church. In Trevor’s words, “All of that changed with a cup of coffee.” After stepping away from the church for thirty years, Trevor found himself re-entering in 2016. Though he was exposed to church in his childhood, he never truly understood the truth about Jesus. So when Jesus began revealing more of Himself to Trevor in 2016, Trevor’s life began to change. Trevor started attending an international church in his city. After six months...
Mar 12, 2019 | Mobilize Others
CMM Global Affiliate leads the cause of mission mobilization in Pakistan When Asif first sensed God’s call to the nations, he thought, “I will change Pakistan through my prayers.” But over time, Asif realized the need was too great and the task was too big for any one man or one church to accomplish. To reach Pakistan—and the rest of the nations—with the gospel, it would require the whole body of Christ. Today Asif and the international church he pastors are leading the charge for mission mobilization in Pakistan and setting the pace for other churches to follow. Regionally, Pakistan has access to more than one third of the world’s unreached people, and nearly 200 million unreached within its borders. As one of the newest CMM Global Affiliates this past year, Asif realizes the vast potential the Pakistani church has to move the gospel into unreached areas, though it is not without challenges. He says Christians in Pakistan are often filled with fear, and even hatred toward the nation. “They feel neglected and a persecuted minority, so the natural response will be to hate the majority and other nations, especially if they’re not Christian,” he says. But as their mobilization efforts have begun to take root, Asif and the other leaders have witnessed firsthand that the love of Christ is more powerful than cultural or religious barriers. Because Asif is also the national coordinator for Kairos in Pakistan, half of his congregation has gone through the Kairos missions course, which has initiated a significant paradigm shift within the hearts of church members. He has also found the Xplore study...
Jan 24, 2019 | Mobilize Others, Prep for Ministry
New staff experience an immersive mobilization training before launching to their assignments. “I found myself at several moments being awestruck that I was even in Southeast Asia and this was the direction God was leading me,” said Cara, a new CMM recruit. “Even when I think about the difficulties facing me—transitioning into a culture so different from my own, security risks, being across the world from family, learning a new language—I feel secure and honored in moving toward the work He has prepared for me to do.” One of the responsibilities of the team here in College Station, besides mobilizing on the Texas A&M campus, is spearheading our recruiting efforts. We’ve found that for the frontier mobilizers we recruit, the time between onboarding and launching is crucial. Like Cara, many of them said “yes” to God knowing they would face many obstacles: support raising, language learning, and moving cross-culturally around the world. The CMM has developed an extensive Field Staff Training to equip and prepare laborers like Cara as much as possible before they leave for the field. Cara spent two weeks in Southeast Asia learning to utilize our resources effectively, structure her work week, understand overarching principles of movement-building and discipleship, in addition to gaining hands-on training in frontier mobilization. She also had the opportunity to get to know our senior staff and leadership from all over the world and glean from their years of ministry experience. Because the training is held abroad, she was able to practice meeting local believers and exercise her mobilization skills, as well as engage in culture-learning exercises, such as prayer-walking and interviewing...
Oct 4, 2018 | Mobilize Others
Northern Ethiopia, part of the 10/40 window of unreached people, is one of the most challenging areas for evangelical Christianity. Persecution and living ostracized from the society has been the story of believers in this area. But God is at work, and opportunities to hear the good news are growing for people living there. Partnership efforts between evangelical churches and mission organizations are raising up mobilizers who are catching God’s heart for the nations with a focus on reaching the unreached in northern Ethiopia. One such multi-organization partnership is an intensive summer mobilization training program for college students at the Legetafo Training Center. The 40 day program is offered by Horn of Africa Evangelical Mission Engagers (HOAEME) in partnership with the CMM and EvaSUE (Evangelical Student Union of Ethiopia—InterVarsity in Ethiopia). EvaSUE’s broad reach of 40,000 evangelical students on 140 university campuses is the recruiting pool for the program. Over the past 5 years, Legetafo trainings have raised up hundreds of young leaders who are are now serving as full time mission mobilizers across Ethiopia. Plus, many of the trainees who have not become full time mobilizers have returned to their campuses or cities, igniting mission fires in their churches and workplaces. One example is a female university lecturer by the name of Mastewal, who attended the Legetafo program in 2017. Afterward Matewal returned to her home church, Bahir Dar Meserete Kristos, with a vision of mobilizing her church for God’s mission. She began by leading her Bible study group through the Xplore study, and after finishing the study her group started supporting two missionaries working in the Gambela...
Sep 14, 2018 | Mobilize Others
“Now I’m aware I am a significant part of [God’s] Great Commission, and He has purpose for each one of us,” shared Anna-Lena, a German believer. Anna-Lena, along with 800 other European and Latino students, recently attended one of the two large mission conferences in Latin America hosted by MOVIDA (Moviendo Vidas, translated as Moving Lives). The MOVIDA team used the CMM’s Xplore study as the daily devotional at the conference. After being trained by our mobilization team in Peru on how to lead Xplore, the small group leaders at these two conferences led more than 80 groups through the study. As one MOVIDA leader shared with us, the Xplore study acted as a tool to facilitate discussion at these conferences and lead more students like Anna-Lena to begin taking steps to embrace mission as a lifestyle. The leader shared her perspective in full here: When you are seeking to mobilize the youth to the mission (especially when there are more than 100 international, interdenominational, and intergenerational groups), looking for written material that will not only teach and inform, but also touch and move their hearts can be a huge challenge. Finding a resource like Xplore was an answer to many prayers with so many collateral blessings. As a full-time missionary working for MOVIDA in Peru, I realized we would not only have Peruvian young Christians attending our conference. We were hosting a bi-national event together with Chile, and would also have a group of European youth in attendance who were craving the passion they see on this side of the globe. We had hoped all these participants would not only...
