RICHMOND (BP) — The International Mission Board will host Missions College on Jan. 4-7, 2023, near Richmond, Virginia.
Missions College is a training event for pastors, church leaders, mission trip participants and church members engaged in missions, or people who are interested in partnering with IMB teams. Missions College centers around 11-hour learning tracks led by missionaries with extensive field experience. Participants will choose one of the following tracks:
- Foundations for Mission
- Missions Scope
- Cross-Cultural Evangelism and Discipleship
- Displaced Peoples
- Using Oral Methods for Discipleship and Leadership Development
- Global Cities
- Strategy Coaching (for mission team leaders involved in church planting)
One of Missions College’s most popular tracks is Cross-Cultural Evangelism and Discipleship.
Cross-Cultural Evangelism and Discipleship.
The people we are trying to reach with the gospel have radically different perspectives on the world. Learn about worldview differences and the danger of syncretism to help you evangelize cross-culturally. Practice gospel presentations that can be adapted to different people groups, and that you can teach to others. Also, learn about short and long-term discipleship needs and develop a plan for discipling believers in various contexts. Led by field missionaries Joel Williams, who serves in the Americas, and Jeremy Hollie, who serves in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Also included at Missions College are breakout sessions and daily worship times led by keynote speakers.
Participants will choose three of the following 90-minute breakout sessions.
- The Sending Church
- Culturally Appropriate Gospel Presentations
- Introduction to Storying
- Partnering from the Backseat: Avoiding Dependency
- Short-term Trips
- Ethnodoxology
- Prayer Strategies
- Community Health Lessons for Short-term Trips
- Going to the Nations with IMB
- Next Generation Missions
“We are asking the Lord, by His grace, to use the powerful testimonies and deep experiences of our IMB field missionaries to teach and mentor Mission College participants,” Lloyd Rodgers said. Rodgers serves as a trainer in the Americas.
Participants from last year shared how the Lord used the time to show how they can be involved in the missions task:
“The biggest thing we are going to go back and share is that anyone can come here, even lay people, whatever position you have in your church, you have something you can give. IMB really shows you through the breakout sessions and the classes that there are so many ways to fit in.”
“Missions College has given me a deeper sense of the message that was given to us in Luke that we should make sure we are spreading the Word and using the tools that God has blessed us with. I’ve learned a lot.”
“I am so excited to go back and talk about the opportunities there are to share Christ, the opportunities we have with IMB that we’re learning about. It’s already changed me spiritually.”
Rodgers, who is one of the event’s organizers, added the IMB’s intent to ignite a passion for the lost in the hearts of believers. “Our desire is to see God glorified by learning the skills needed to respond cross-culturally to lostness, the greatest problem in the world. Our prayer is that Missions College will anchor in the heart of each participant the biblical mandate to be steadfastly present among people and places where Jesus is not named or known,” Rodgers said.
The cost for Missions College is $249 per person. The fee includes training, materials, lodging for three nights and meals.
Register now: https://www.imb.org/event/missions-college-2023-virginia/ For information, please email: [email protected] or call 804-353-0151.
