In This Month's Issue:
DAILY MISSIONS
Tanzanians get it from the first!
Dex and his university help new businesses
RESOURCES
Sermon: "How to See Yourself on Mission"
Sermon: "Mission, the Church, and You"
Sermon: “Active, not passive: following the Lord of love and justice”
Sermon: “God tells us what to do and helps us to do it”
Sermon: "The Wedding of Marie and Sean"
FOR MEDITATION
"Gandhi’s Seven Deadly Social Sins"
For this vision to work:
1. Members are able to share their personal stories and convictions in a climate of acceptance.
2. Members believe that what they do on their own Monday to Saturday is as important a part of God’s mission as what their church does.
3. Members need a way to discern the specifics of their part in God’s mission in each area of daily life (e.g., learn how to use the worksheets for each mission field from Basic Tools 1-3D).
From children’s Letters to God :
“ Dear God, It is great the way you always get the stars in the right places. Jeff”
Clergy, what is the church’s purpose?
To increase believers or to increase love and justice in the world?
We’ve been hacked! If you
received Desktop Dating, it
did NOT come from us!
If all the pictures do not show up, click here to view on your browser.
Watch Member Mission Presents on YouTube!
See:
Trish and her horses help people with special needs
Shop iGive to Donate to Member Mission
Shop online at your favorite stores through iGive and up to 26% of the purchase price of each purchase will be donated to Member Mission Network, Inc. Click here for directions on how to join and the amount given is tax deductible.
Keep Member Mission Around!
For Member Mission to last beyond 2013, it needs to be in the wills of its advocates. Click here for three ways to put a bequest in your will.
July-August 2010
Member Mission Newsletter #84
Mid - Pentecost – Door openers!
(Click here for a printable version)
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DAILY MISSIONS
Tanzanians get it from the first!
As “Member Mission Tanzania, June 14-19, 2010" progressed, a group of 16 pastors was saying: “We see that our work is more than preaching in church. We are responsible for love and justice in our families and in our society. Abuse in family life has to be one of our concerns here at home and as a country.”
Tanzanian trainers
From many as the workshop ended came comments like these: “We have never had anything like this before. Others come with the Bible and teaching us how to be close to God. You have brought us a new way to look at mission; at being close to God in a new way; theology; all of us being missionaries; and love and justice as first. And you have given us hard skills in listening, and communication, and planning that we can use in our churches and in our businesses.”
During the first four days, Gloria Young and Christopher Jones led 13 leaders in process training in those “hard skills” for two days; and, then, two days of practice in using member mission resources to discover one’s missions in each area of daily life. Next, they trained 87 pastors and leaders for two days in using those member mission resources with their church members.
The training of leaders was in English with translation into Kiswahili as needed. For the last two days, all of the training and the resources were in Kiswahili. Trainers and participants came from Tanzanian Pentecostal, Pentecostal Evangelical, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Restoration, African Inland and Evangelical Assemblies of God, Moravian Evangelical, and Roman Catholic Churches.
Sponsored by the Member Mission Network, Inc., they met in the modest Canaan Spiritual Life Center located on an island about two hours from the center of Dar es Salaam. The participants from Dar es Salaam were joined by two staff members from the Diocese of Central Tanganyika and the one from the Diocese of Kagera.
Dex and his university help new businesses
If you are a graduate of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, still live near it, and are starting in business for the first time, Lehigh will help! Lehigh supplies office space, help with website and internet questions and connections, and entrepreneurial advice from any of the faculty. Even if you are still an undergraduate, Lehigh offers you this help.
Dexter F. Baker, class of 1950, and former CEO of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has been a large part of shaping Lehigh's generous help to new businesses. His Dexter F. and Dorothy H. Baker Foundation has established the Dexter F. Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Innovation. It supports Lehigh's existing programs in product development, computer science and integrated business and engineering. Funding also comes from the Ben Franklin Center located on the campus and state grants.
Where do you see God at work in what you have been doing, Dex?
I’ve been encouraged through my lifetime to help others overcome obstacles or solve problems so others can prosper and grow as servants of my Lord.
How has God been helping you to do it?
It is just another avenue to help others to be leaders and creators and to build organizations to provide employment and opportunities for self-expression and to help them to develop their God-given talents.
Sermon: "How to See Yourself on Mission"
Helping members to see “mission” and “missionary” as good words and to see themselves on mission 24/7/365. Elizabeth Hall, Parish Assistant, Common Ground Covenant Church, Boise, ID, 6/6/10; illustrated with Power Point slides.
Sermon: "Mission, the Church, and You"
Helping members to see that God's mission has a church rather than the church has a mission; and to discover their part in God's mission in each area of their daily life. Elizabeth Hall, Parish Assistant, Common Ground Covenant Church, Boise, ID, 6/27/10; illustrated with PowerPoint slides.
Sermon: “Active, not passive: following the Lord of love and justice”
Love and justice are the marks of Jesus’ presence and work. For us as Jesus’ people, being loving and just is the way we follow him! The Rev. A. Wayne Schwab, 5/9/10; Easter 6, RCL, John 14:23 29; Trinity Church, Plattsburgh, NY.
Sermon: “Living our Faith”
Move beyond spiritual experience and finding God’s love to ask what does God want you to do in your Monday to Saturday living. The Rev. A. Wayne Schwab, 6/13/10; Pentecost3, Year C, 2 Samuel 11/26 12:10, 13 15; Psalm 32; Galatians 2:15 21; Luke 7:36 8:3; Trinity Church, Plattsburgh, NY.
Sermon: “God tells us what to do and helps us to do it”
The Christian faith’s unique message: God tells us what to do and helps us to do it. The Rev. A Wayne Schwab, Sunday after the Ascension, 5/16/10; John 17:20‑26, Trinity Church, Plattsburgh, NY.
Sermon: "The Wedding of Marie and Sean"
The good news that God helps couples to keep their marriage vows! A. Wayne Schwab, Mark 10:6‑9, 13‑16, Michigan, June, 2010.
FOR MEDITATION
Gandhi’s Seven Deadly Social Sins
Politics without principle
Wealth without work
Commerce without morality
Pleasure without conscience
Education without character
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice
YouTube Brings You Members on Mission
Click the link or image above to watch this story and learn more about the personal impact of Member Mission.
Watch Member Mission Presents on YouTube!
Tell us about your work with member mission at info@membermission.org or phone / fax 518-561-1184. You continue on this list because of past interest and / or work together with the member mission vision. If you missed or lost any past newsletters, you will find them on the website under Newsletter > Archive.
* * *
Which advances God’s kingdom more:
your church’s outreach ministries
or
what the members do on their own Monday to Saturday?