Overview

Speaking from backgrounds of service internationally and life experience living cross-culturally, the authors provide practical and immediately usable ideas for your church missions program.

Here is a book for anyone who wants to be involved in missions in an informed way. You and your church will be challenged to rethink and refine your mission endeavors. Whether a future missionary, a missions leader or a sending church, Andrew Jit and Chris Irwin will help you tackle some of the biggest issues in missions today.

With input from both stateside mission leaders and on-the-field missionaries, the authors explore the real, sometimes raw, and even unspoken realities of missionary sending. You will be given clear and practical steps for effective missions sending.

Whether your church is big or small, rural or urban, Missions in Focus can help your church be more informed about missions, be more effectively engaged with missions, and follow a path to becoming a successful sending church.

ISBN 978-0-89900-072-5

Book Features

• Provides detailed steps on how to create partnerships with missionaries that are more than sending a check in the mail
• Shows specific ways local church can become proactive in providing missionary care
• Discussion questions at the end of each chapter are provided for individual study, local church study and for missionaries themselves
• Gives helpful guidelines in evaluating missionary performance
• Spells out accountability structure and the ways that can enhance the relationship
• Discusses in-depth the phenomenon of “Short-term Missions” with its pro’s and con’s
• Additional resources are given with each chapter

Endorsements

“Missions in Focus is a real and compelling resource that provides a clear plan for every church how they can be effective in training and equipping missionaries. This book will truly help churches and individuals if they put into practice the advice given by two missions experts.”
 -Kyle Idleman, Senior Pastor – Southeast Christian Church

“In Missions in Focus, Andrew and Chris grapple with the transformations taking place throughout the world we have always called “Missions.” Andrew is a Kiwi transplanted to the USA, whereas Chris is a US of American who has lived most of his life in Latin America and Europe. Their unique perspectives add a lot to the text. Their writing helps us step back and take stock of just how rampant the changes have occurred over these past 20 years. A thoughtful reading of their work should help us re calibrate for another decade or two into the future.”
 -Doug Lucas, President – Team Expansion

“Veteran global mission workers Andrew Jit and Chris Irwin have done us a great favor. Drawing on their years of experience as missionaries, the authors have provided us with one of the most well-rounded and practical guides for developing healthy mission-ministry in the local church. Missions in Focus: 10 Essential Conversations for Effective Sending can help a congregation take their local and global mission ministry to the next level of effectiveness. Each of the ten chapters ends with exceptional reflection and discussion questions, enabling us to engage one another in deep and necessary conversation. This is a timely and relevant read.”
 -Gary L. Johnson, Executive Director – Coaching Elder Teams to Win

About the Authors

Andrew Jit was born and raised in New Zealand and has served the church in ministry roles with youth and missions in both New Zealand and the United States. He is currently the global missions pastor at Owensboro Christian Church. He is the author of Missions Abandoned: Re-Establishing Missions as a Priority in Our Lives and Churches. He is the founder of MiT Global, a ministry focused on making passionate purposeful disciples who are living on mission for Jesus. His passion is helping, teaching, and training disciples to live on mission daily in order to have a global impact. He has coached and trained numerous churches in their missions thinking and strategy, and he currently serves on several missions boards. He has travelled extensively around the world teaching, leading and training disciples. He is married to his beautiful bride, Jamie, and blessed with two daughters, Hannah and Ella.

Chris Irwin is the Director of EnterMission, a 10-month discipling and leadership training program for young adults. Upon completion of college, he and his wife, Nicia, served as church planters for almost 18 years in Latin America. They would later transition to Europe where they led a multicultural team of church planters for 10 years. Chris has his Master’s degree from Wheaton, and is a PhD candidate at Johnson University with a research focus on helping faith communities engage and leverage the cultural and ethnic diversity represented in today’s multicultural world. Chris and Nicia reside in Knoxville, Tennessee, with their four children and too many cats.