Sharon Hoover brings her years of experience in local church missions to bear on thorny questions every church faces. Should we prioritize evangelism or works of service? Local ministries or overseas missions? And what about short-term missions trips? Hoover approaches each question with nuance, helping us plot our church's unique course as we seek to serve Christ's kingdom.

Going on a short-term missions trip can be a life-transforming experience, but it can also involve weeks of physical and spiritual challenges. In this revised and expanded ten-week course, you will find a concise summary of crosscultural principles, help in facing spiritual warfare, tips on avoiding a tourist mentality, spiritual preparation through individual or group Bible study, and discussion and reflection questions.

Number of Studies: 10

Can a one-time crosscultural experience truly be life-changing? Veteran trip leader and intercultural guide Cory Trenda provides a unique guide for individuals and teams to make the most of a crosscultural trip after returning home. Combining practical tips, reflections, and stories from decades of experience, this is an essential resource for those who want crosscultural trips to be a catalyst for lasting good.

How would it look if we "disabled" Christian theology, discipleship, and theological education? Benjamin Conner initiates a new conversation between disability studies and Christian theology and missiology, imagining a church that fully incorporates persons with disabilities into its mission. In this vision, the people with disabilities are part of the church's pluriform witness, and the congregation embodies a robust hermeneutic of the gospel.

Millions are on the move in today's world, and Christians have a unique perspective on this migrant crisis: after all, Jesus was a refugee. Patrick Johnstone and Dean Merrill help us understand what's causing today's refugee crisis, explore Christian theology and tradition on migration, and show us how Christian workers around the globe are opening their hearts to embrace these modern outcasts.

Missionary Paul Borthwick and pastor Dave Ripper show how transformation through our personal pain enables us to minister faithfully to a hurting world. They candidly share about their own struggles and how they have seen God's kingdom advance through hardship and suffering. We can become powerful witnesses to Christ as a result of our brokenness.

How diverse are your friendships? In a time when cultural divides are expanding, we can learn to see every human from God's perspective instead of through the lenses of prejudice and bias. Through vivid stories from several countries, MelindaJoy Mingo models reaching across cultures, showing the beauty of diverse friendships.

Acts of violence against women produce more deaths, disability, and mutilation than cancer, malaria, and traffic accidents combined. How and why has this violence become so prevalent? Elaine Storkey offers a rigorously researched overview of this global pandemic, exploring how violence is structured into the very fabric of societies and cultures around the world.