Missions in Hard Places

In the early nineteenth century a young married couple, Adoniram and Ann Judson, set out for Burma knowing they might never see their families again. What moves men and women to leave everything to bring Christ where he is unknown or persecuted?

To answer, we need to step back and look at the great story of the Bible: God is a God who sends. He sends Abraham, he sends the prophets, he sends the Son, he sends the church, so that his glory may reach people “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

In this course you will travel through four stages:

1. God’s mission in the Scriptures: from creation to new creation, the scarlet thread of the missio Dei.
2. A theology of suffering: why a church that does not know how to suffer does not know how to persevere either, and how persecuted Christians live their faith.
3. The Gospel in every culture: guilt, shame and fear, three ways of experiencing sin and three dimensions of salvation in Christ.
4. The calling: myths and truths about how God calls, who goes and who sends.

With the BereaWay Method you will receive the biblical text, examine it in its context and connect it to your life and your church, because mission is not one program among many: it is the reason the church exists.

What you will learn

• Follow the thread of God's mission from Genesis to Revelation
• Understand a biblical theology of suffering and perseverance
• Recognize the main cultural dynamics (guilt, shame, fear) and proclaim the Gospel in all its dimensions
• Discern the missionary calling, your own and your church's, with balance