As you grow in your heart for the world invite others in to grow with you. The message you’ve learned is not just for you, but for others around you. Being a mobilizer starts with sharing what you’ve learned and inviting others in to learn alongside you.
There are several ways you can live as a mobilizer alongside your friends and family. We’d encourage you to start by gaining a Biblical foundation for missions, learn to explain the task remaining, and strive to live with a global mindset.
Giving a Biblical Foundation for Missions
The foundation for our knowledge of God, His plan for the world, and His plan for our lives comes from the Bible. Throughout the Bible we see God’s plan to reach all peoples. It starts in Genesis when he created the world and told mankind to “fill it” and ends with Jesus Christ being worshiped by people from every tribe, language, people, and nation in Revelation.
You can add laborers by helping someone else understand God’s heart for the nations in His Word. You need to actively have God’s word in your own life as you share with others. There are five tools to help saturate your life with God’s word: hearing, reading, studying, memorizing and meditating. You can share these five tools with others around you who are interested in studying the Bible as well! Learning God’s word in community is a joyful and life giving activity.
As you saturate your life with God’s word and share God’s heart for the nations with others consider sharing the section from this lesson on missions in the Old Testament and New Testament. If it’s new to you as well that’s great - you and your friends can learn together.
Here are some other ideas to consider as you study the Bible and learn to give others a Biblical foundations for missions:
• As you study the Bible with your friends and family highlight every verse that talks about God’s heart for the nations. Consider reading out loud together!
• As you are reading, select a few passages about God’s heart for the nations that you can study more in depth.
• Memorize several “mission” verses together.
• Find different ways to meditate on “mission” verses together.
• Think of one person you know who you can ask to join you in studying (or hearing or memorizing or meditating on) God’s heart for the nations. It could be your roommate, someone you just met in your college ministry, your sister, your old youth minister, anyone. If you can think of several people, pray about inviting them to be part of a five to six week Bible study using one of the guides on The Traveling Team. Write out your plan to put this into action.
• Read “Let the Nations Be Glad,” by John Piper or do Jeff Lewis’ study “God’s Heart for the Nations.”
Explaining the Task Remaining
Author and pastor David Bryant points out that God cannot lead you based on facts you don’t know. The reason much of Christianity’s resources are misplaced isn’t because people are opposed to reaching unreached people. The reason is many well-meaning pastors, elders, deacons, and church members are unaware of the global status of Christianity.
Jesus says in Mark 1:38, “Let us go on to the next town that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Jesus wasn’t satisfied with one town, or group of people hearing about him, so neither should we. If it’s true that every tribe, tongue, people, and nation will be represented before God in heaven (Revelation 7:9), then our job should be to help others focus the majority of their time and resources in reaching those tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations that have yet to be represented.
One of the best ways to start is by learning about who these unreached people are. What are the names of the tribes? Where are they found? What languages do they speak? What is their worldview or main religion? What would be some of their objections to Jesus as the Son of God, the only way to the Father, the Savior, and the Giver of eternal life? How can we best communicate the gospel with them?
There are many ways to help someone else learn about God’s World:
• Go to the Every Home for Christ and order a free World Prayer Map. Put one on your wall and give the other to your friend. Pray over it together choosing countries with unreached areas to focus on while you pray.
• Take a friend to visit the worship center of another religion (Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, etc.) as a learner and ask questions about what they believe about Jesus, the Bible, Christianity, etc. Remember that you are there as a learner. Also, dress modestly and appropriately to show respect. After the visit, discuss what you learned and what scripture says concerning their worldview.
• Go to the Joshua Project website or app to research unreached people groups together. See who can find the “most unreached” group of people. Write a report together about one of the most unreached groups and submit it to your church or campus ministry to consider how you can be part of reaching those people.
• Contact Wycliffe Bible Translators to adopt a Bible-less people to pray for regularly. Keep each other accountable by praying together at least once a week.
• Invite a friend to participate in The Traveling Team’s summer training program – the IT Project. You will spend seven weeks in Los Angeles taking a missions class, learning about the major world religions, and visiting a mosque and several temples. Also, you will both be trained and equipped to go back to your campus and church as better mobilizers to continue adding others who will embrace God’s heart for the world and live purposely as World Christians.
Living a World Christian Life Together
How do we put all of these things together in our day to day lives and live with a global mindset? It’s not about doing everything perfectly or doing everything at once, but about day by day learning more about God and growing in love for Him and His world.
James 1:22 says to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. God could have chosen to use any method to reach the world with His gospel. Christ’s last commands make it clear that the method He chose was to use people to reach people. You have a crucial part to play in the greatest story ever.
One of the best ways to help others get a heart for the world is to take them to do God’s work with you. Most science classes come with a lab. The reason is because there is a great deal of value and knowledge to be gained from experiencing something firsthand. In the same way, many principles and truths are caught, not taught.
Here are several ideas to help you teach someone about God’s work and to live with a global mindset.
• Recruit a prayer partner to pray with you through Operation World.
• Read one of the books from The Traveling Team’s Top 25 Books for Campus Mobilizers.
• Encourage a friend to go on a summer mission trip to an unreached area of the world. It’s even better if you’re going on the same trip together! If you need help finding a trip ask your campus minister, pastor, or fill out one of our mission agency forms.
• If you just can’t go, don’t hesitate to help others go by praying and giving. Commit to give to mission work in unreached areas. Get your roommates involved – keep a jar in your living room to collect money. At the end of each semester, decide where to send it – to a missionary you know or to a mission agency.
• Take an international student to Wal-Mart or the grocery store and bring an American friend along. Share with a friend what you have learned about sharing the gospel with international students and invite them to join you the next time you plan to share the gospel.
As you grow in your heart for the world and grow alongside others you will not do everything perfectly. Your goal is to grow in love for God, His world and participating in His work around the globe. If you can help someone learn to impact the world with their lives they will not simply understand facts and have more knowledge, but they will experience God’s word and God’s world by participating in God’s work!
