A bright young woman, Stephanie is seeking God’s will for her career and future. She started exploring her calling to China when she joined our summer study abroad program as a junior in college. Now that she is graduating, she has to decide how to seek first the kingdom of God.
Read MoreDear GoLiveServe,
At Urbana, I felt God’s call to go to China. I just got my masters degree in teaching. My job prospects here are good because I am in a high-need area; therefore, my parents want me to stay in the U.S. How do I honor my parents and still be obedient to God?
Read MoreEvery day we read disturbing headlines from around the world: radical factions escalating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from both sides; IS jihadists massacring Christians in Iraq; Islamic terrorists kidnapping school girls in Nigeria; militant Buddhists persecuting Muslims in Myanmar; the government taking down crosses from church buildings in China … and the list goes on.
Read MoreRecently, the Chinese government is further tightening its control around the country. As churches prepare for the challenges ahead, it is important for us to know how the leaders see their needs, irrespective of the political pendulum swing that occurs from time to time.
Read MoreSo you have heard the opportunity and challenge of tentmaking missions. You realize that God may be calling you. You know it is time to take action or at least to seriously explore. But where do you begin?
Read MoreAt the 2010 Lausanne III, Tim Keller of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church made a case that if Christians want to reach the world, they must reach the cities. Christianity won the 1st century Greco-Roman world because it won the cities. Today, half the world’s population is urban.
Read MoreSince the Arab Spring more than two years ago, the Muslim world continues to make headlines—civil war in Syria, violence and bloodshed in Egypt, continued unrest in Tunisia and Libya, unrelenting insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan even as the U.S. and her allies struggle to pull out. Large populations of displaced refugees now threaten the stability of neighboring countries. As age-old sectarian and tribal hatreds rage across the region, one CNN journalist sadly concluded that there seems little that outsiders can do but wait for the volcano to finish erupting.
Read MoreOn Feb 15, the video titled “A Message Signed with Blood to the Nations of the Cross” went viral. 21 Coptic Christian migrant workers from Egypt were led like sheep along the Mediterranean coast of Libya by masked terrorists. They lined them up along the beach, forced them on their knees, and beheaded them. This was supposedly IS’ revenge for the alleged kidnap and torture by the Coptic Church of two Egyptian Christian women who had converted to Islam, a claim denied by those involved in the story.
Read MoreFor over a year, many are speculating on what Beijing would do with China’s Christian movement as the Zhejiang provincial government continues to take down crosses from church buildings—over a thousand by now, and counting. There are also reports of increased suppression of church activities in other provinces. Is this part of a systematic ideological tightening across the country that may step up in the days ahead?
Read MoreGLS strives to realize its vision for missions mobilization in partnership with churches: For every tentmaker we send out in partnership with a church, we hope to work with the candidate and his church to raise up several others to take his place locally.
Read MoreSeptember 11, Japan announced plans to “nationalize” three islands that are part of the Diaoyu-Senkaku territorial dispute with China since 1971. This came one week before the 81st anniversary of Japan’s occupation of N.E. China in 1931, which was the first step to full-scale invasion of the country as part of WWII in Asia. In terms of cultural trauma for a nation, 9-18 to the Chinese is what 9-11 is to Americans.
Read MoreIt has been said that the graying of America is a God-ordained phenomenon unique in the history of the world and of the church. Never before has any country had so many retirees who are Christian and suited to invest their best years to make strategic and meaningful contributions to God’s kingdom around the world, especially in tentmaking missions. The same is true for Canada where social benefits are excellent and the Canadian dollar is getting stronger all the time.
Read MoreIn the old days, “going overseas to save the lost” might simply mean putting our careers “on the altar” and going to seminary to study the Bible so we could preach to the heathens.
Read MoreIf career is an integral part of a tentmaker’s life and witness, and not just a “passport” to get to the field or a “platform” for ministry, then getting the right job is important. But what constitutes the right job? How do you find that job overseas?
Read MoreIs it possible to have a profitable and missional business that creates jobs for the poor in an emerging economy using sustainable local materials to produce well-designed products for environmentally aware customers in the West? … The Quadruple Bottom Line of Business as Mission (BAM) aims at holistic witness to the Gospel that brings about economic, social, environmental and spiritual transformation to bless the unreached …
Read MoreThe current global economic malaise has made it more challenging for donor-dependent missionaries and job-dependent tentmakers to stay on the field. While there is a place for short-termers, the work of missions to impact lives and transform culture requires long-term investment. There is no short cut to building relationships and gaining influence. So it is important to consider what it would take for workers to serve on the field beyond a few short years.
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