Missions on the Internet
In these pages we want to provide pointers to a selection of mission related resources available on the Internet. We believe that the information obtained and communicated through these resources can make a huge difference in either mobilizing people for missions or in being effective in missions.
Is It Worthwhile?
Increasingly more and more people and organisations in Southern Africa are linked via computer networks, or the ``Internet'' as it is commonly known. This is now also becoming true of the mission community world-wide.
The advantages are, amongst others, the costs (especially for long distance communication), access to up to date (mission) information world-wide, the ease of communication with far away places, etc.
Disadvantages can also be the cost (typical R90-100/month for Internet access in SA) and resources --- not everybody has a computer with a modem and access to a telephone line. Note that cheaper options are available for e-mail only access (R40-60/month) and possibly for mission organisations. Security aspects when communicating with ``restricted mission access'' countries are also a factor.
We believe that the advantages will increasingly outweigh the disadvantages.
Please Note
- We do not have the space in this guide for a proper introduction to the Internet and related concepts. There are other such introductions --- see Brigada's research assistant (web address: http://www.brigada.org/pgcra/index.html), or contact your nearest Internet Service Provider.
- The Internet is huge and changing all the time. Therefore important resources may not be listed or our pointers may become out of date due to address changes. Please contact Jacques Smit at Inserv if you have corrections/suggestions. The e-mail address is: reachout@inserv.org.za
This Page on the Web
If you have access to the ``Web'', you can use http://netministries.org/ministries/inserv/mission.html to avoid typing in the references given here.
List Servers
Subscription to a list server is via e-mail. Once subscribed, you receive all mail sent to that e-mail list, and your messages to the list will be forwarded to everybody on the list. These lists can be very useful for information sharing, discussion groups, etc. Subscription is free (normally), but some lists are moderated, i.e. messages are ``censored'' before being passed on to everybody. A list can introduce a lot of e-mail in your e-mail in-box, depending on the amount of ``traffic'' on the list. It is wise to keep the instructions sent to you upon subscription --- it will tell you what to do to cancel your subscription.
{You do not need online access to the Internet in order to get mission info. On this page we list some of the useful mission lists that are accessable via e-mail (see previous page on List Servers). A web address (URL) is listed if it is known. For an extensive listing of Christian e-mail lists, see http://www.gospelcom.net/ifc/virtual.html
Note that you can also obtain Web pages via e-mail! To obtain MissionNet 's web page (see below), you could send an e-mail to getweb@usa.healthnet.org containing the following in the message body (the subject is ignored): getweb http://www.missionnet.org/ For more info on so-called ``web servers'', send an e-mail to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk with any subject and only the following line in the body of the message: send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt
} - Brigada http://www.brigada.org
Brigada is a system of conferences and forums that allow you to network with others who share common interests in sharing God's love with unreached cities and peoples around the world. Brigada Today is a weekly bulletin with news and information about the Brigada ``family'' of mission networks. It normally is distributed to over 10000 participants on Friday mornings. Subscription: Send an e-mail to brigada-today-subscribe@egroups.com The subject is ignored. - CMDNet http://www.cmd.org.nz/cmdnet.html
CMDNet is an electronic service of the Centre for Mission Direction, New Zealand, set up to share information, news and resources among those worldwide who have an interest in cross-cultural missions. Subscription: Send an e-mail to cmdnet-subscribe@eGroups.com The body and subject of the message is ignored. - Dawn Friday Fax http://www.jesus.org.uk/dawn/
DAWN FRIDAYFAX is a weekly positive news service about what God is doing around the world for those who need up-to-date insights. The Fridayfax comes by e-mail, fax and snail mail versions as well as on the Web and reaches about 7 million people weekly. Subscription: Send an e-mail to friday_fax@attglobal.net with the subject (not the text) subscribe English The address from which the e-mail is sent is used as the subscription address. - Global Glimpse http://www.calebproject.org/gg.htm
The Global Glimpse is a weekly email inspirational news bite for you to reprint in your Church bulletin, newsletter, or to read from the pulpit. It is distributed to thousands worldwide on a weekly basis. Many churches have found it is an excellent tool for raising missions awareness and participation on all levels. - Global Prayer Digest http://www.global-prayer-digest.org/
The Global Prayer Digest is a daily prayer profile and devotional which you can receive free of charge by e-mail. Condensed missionary stories, biblical challenges, urgent reports, and exciting descriptions of unreached peoples provide a digest of rich fuel for your own times of prayer for the world. Subscription: Send an e-mail to subscribe-brigada-pubs-globalprayerdiges@xc.org The body and subject of the message is ignored. Note the lack of the last `t' in the address! - Hope for Europe Prayer News http://www.HFE.org
This news service keeps you informed of all the news and events across Europe. Twice per month a two-page "news and resource" sheet for the HFE movement is compiled, including news and events across Europe. Hope for Europe (HFE) is helping Christians convey the contemporary and eternal hope of the Gospel. HFE is a pan-european evangelical initiative involving churches and ministries both nationally (vertically) and across borders (horizontally). Note: subscription information unavailable at printing time --- see the web site for the required info.
- Jericho Walls / Jerigo Mure http://www.nupsa.org.za
Jericho Walls is a national prayer letter administered by NUPSA with the purpose of informing the Body of Christ in SA about prayer needs in SA and globally. You may receive it monthly in English or Afrikaans. Subscription: Send an e-mail to jericho-walls-subscribe@associate.com for the English and jerigo-mure-subscribe@associate.com for the Afrikaans version. The body and subject of the message is ignored. - KidsSA http://www.onelist.com/group/kidssa
This is a Christian forum, based in South Africa, discussing childrens ministry. Events, games and program ideas are welcome. It is also a place for childrens workers to contact each other and improve their resources. Subscription: Send an e-mail to kidssa-subscribe@onelist.com The subject and message text is ignored. - Mission Kids http://www.mknet.org
MKNet's purpose is to encourage contact between MKs (Missionary Kids) and TCKs (Third Culture Kids). Issues of concern to MKs and TCKs are discussed. Subscription: Send an e-mail to hub@mknet.org with only the following as message: subscribe mknet You can also access the MK List of lists with web address http://www.mknet.org/resources.htm which is a list of resources on the Internet dealing with issues strictly related to MK/TCK's. - MissionNet http://www.missionnet.org/
MissionNet, maintained by Ron Smith (e-mail address: ron@missionnet.org), is a Christian missions ministry which uses the Internet to share information about mission work that the subscribership may benefit from. These news items are concise, rewritten or original articles submitted by the MissionNet Editorial Board. We constantly glean from various sources items which are directly or peripherally related to mission work worldwide. Birthed as a local BBS system called The Mission Board in 1993, MissionNet is the oldest and longest running missions email list on the Internet with more than 3500 archived posts. The list is also available in a weekly digest form. Subscription: Send an e-mail to mnet-on@missionnet.org for the daily, and mnet-digest@missionnet.org for the weekly news bulletin. (You may use any subject or message) - Mtalk http://www.missionnet.org/
This open mission discussion list is freely usable by subscribers for missions discussions. All posts are unedited and sent out real-time by the list server. Subscription: Send an e-mail to mtalk-on@missionnet.org for the daily, and mtalk-digest@missionnet.org for the weekly digest. (You may use any subject or message body) - Urgent Prayer Needs http://www.missionnet.org
This is a missions urgent prayer needs list, originally the idea of Dave Hatch in a list called Speed The Need, but now maintained and supported by Missionnet (see above). Subscription: Send an e-mail to upn-on@missionnet.org for the daily, and upn-digest@missionnet.org for the weekly news bulletin. (You may use any subject or message body) - Youth SA http://www.youth.co.za/forum.htm
This is an e-mail forum for youth workers, youth pastors and all people interested in youth ministry within Southern Africa. It is to assist these people in interacting, sharing ideas and resources, obtaining support, encouragement and mutual assistance for Southern African Christian youth. Subscription: Send an e-mail to youthsa-subscribe@onelist.com The subject and message text is ignored.
Mission Related Web Sites
Listed here are some of the Web sites that we have encountered and which we view as valuable mission resources. There may be many other equally or more valuable ones, and we will appreciate any pointers.
Southern Africa
The number of local (South African) ``mission'' sites is increasing every year. - Africa Missions Resource Center http://www.africamissions.org/
A lot of info on Africa - culture, demography, research, news services, etc. - Africa on Fire http://www.africaonfire.com/infoafrica.htm
Another comprehensive list of links to info on Africa, including profiles, travelling, etc - Christian Network Info http://www.cnwinfo.co.za/who/index.html
CNW-INTER.NET has as its aim to create an affordable and functional communication service for the South African Christian community, comprising churches, church members and Christian organisations, on the Internet. Some highlights from this site are: weekly columns, topical and dynamic news service, church events, discussion forums, and interesting categories such as BibleNET, MediaNET, ChrisNET, YouthNET, ReviewsNET, ChurchNET, PastorsNET and ChurchZONE. - Christian Network Links for Africa! http://www.worship.co.za/dir/ or http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/cecilian/777/
The purpose of these pages is to provide links to, or information about, electronic communications networks for Christians in Africa. Most of the links are to Web pages such as African web pages, churches, mission and education links, but information about other means of communication, such as bulletin board networks, is also included. A good place to start your search for SA missions web pages. - Christus vir die Wêreld http://www.sun.ac.za/studentekerk/
This is a Stellenbosch Student Church based web site being developed to support missions by information, prayer support, networking, and e-mail. See what is happening at Maties! - Communication Ministries Network http://www.cmn.co.za/
A Christian site with info on online courses, some SA mission organisations, etc. - Missions Out of Africa http://www.btc.co.za/missions/index.htm
The purpose of this site is to provide ideas, programs, information and resources that can be used by Christians who are interested in being involved in and motivating others to become involved in missions. You will find mission related articles, youth info, mission links, etc. - Reach Out http://netministries.org/ministries/inserv/reachout.html
This is the web address of the Reach Out guide --- regularly updated info on short-term mission opportunities for (especially) people from Southern Africa.
Prayer Information
Many of the pointers in this section are also covered in the Mission Research section.
- Prayer Info by E-mail
See the List Servers section for e-mail based sources of prayer info. - Pray for Unreached Peoples http://www.calebproject.org/upgpray.htm
Caleb's comprehensive list of available people group profiles and references to other indexes (including secular ethnographic sources) - People Profiles http://www.ad2000.org/joshovr.htm
Several lists can be found on the Internet. This is a good starting point.
Short-Term Mission Opportunities
Nowadays many of the home pages of organisations also list short-term opportunities, so if you want to work with a specific organisation, look at their web site first. Listed below are sites with info on many outreaches, usually from different organisations.
- Across Pacific & Asia http://across.co.nz/
At this New Zealand based site you will find info on service and outreach opportunities accross the Pacific (e.g. China, Thailand, Philippines, Papa New Guinea, etc). - CCC Short-term Trips http://www.ccci.org/JESUSfilm/join/shortterm.html
This page of Campus Crusade for Christ International lists short-term opportunities where the Jesus film is being used (or recorded!). Prayer journeys and outreaches to the Mediterranean and the 10/40 window are possible. - GOSHEN http://www.goshen.net/WebDirectory/edr.html
Use Goshen's search engine (GoSearch) to search for ``short term mission'' opportunities (without the quotes!) --- you will find many pointers, apart from the specific directory given above. - Hope for Europe Mission Opportunities http://www.HFE.org/missions/missions.htm
Hope for Europe (HFE) is helping Christians convey the contemporary and eternal hope of the Gospel. Their web site has listings of several mission opportunities. - Facilitating Organizations
These are organisations that help you to take your own team to a destination. Note that most of them are USA based. See Mission Discovery at http://www.missiondiscovery.org/, Missionary Ventures at http://www.missionaryventures.org/, IAM Missions at http://www.iammission.com/, Touch the World Ministries at http://www.touchtheworld.org/, SERVE at http://www.serve-intl.org/index.html - MediaPOST http://familyhome.net/mediapost/
MediaPOST serves to qualify and match skilled individuals with short-term overseas service opportunities. - Mission Finder http://www.mfinder.org/
Here are many ideas, a big selection of mission projects and trips, training suggestions, and other help if you are interested in missions. Helps to find a short-term trip and/or training opportunities (mostly in the USA) - Organization Opportunities
Some organization sites with several opportunities: New Tribes Mission at http://www.ntm.org/summit/, OMF at http://www.omf.org/, Pioneers at http://www.pioneers.org/EDGE/edgehome.shtml, SIM at http://www.sim.org/international/shortterm.html - Reach Out http://netministries.org/ministries/inserv/reachout.html
This is the web address of the Reach Out guide --- regularly updated info on short-term mission opportunities for (especially) people from Southern Africa. - SERVE http://www.serve-intl.org/index.html
SERVE (Sending Experienced Retired Volunteers Everywhere) keeps a database of service opportunities and links you to the specific organisation. - Short-term Missions Directory http://www.globalmission.org/st.htm
This directory is maintained by the Task Force for Global Mission of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and lists many mission opportunities world-wide. It can be searched according to country, type of ministry, etc. Note that it provides evangelical Christian mission organizations with the opportunity to list their short-term outreaches. - Short-term Urban Missions Directory http://www.iugm.org/sumr-dir.html
This edition lists opportunities throughout North America. Through it, people with an interest in inner city ministry can find short-term mission experiences with some very exciting ministries. Available for more than seven years, the directory includes both summer and year round opportunities for both individuals and groups.
Long-Term Mission Opportunities
Fingertip (URL: http://www.globalmission.org/go.htm) and Goshen (URL http://www.goshen.net/WebDirectory/edr.html) give excellent pointers. See the next section.
Mission Research
A limited number of sites is mentioned here --- see Global Mapping's research page given below for a more comprehensive list.
- ACU Missions Information http://bible.acu.edu/missions/default.htm
This page by the missions department of the Abilene Christian University has a lot of content and pointers on countries, cultures and world religions (amongst others). - Adopt A People Clearinghouse http://www.aapc.net/
This site is providing information and networking opportunities regarding unreached people groups. Profiles of 1,500 unreached people groups that include location, population, socio-economic factors, and status of Christianity can be ordered from the website. The clearinghouse also offers maps and videos and even a newsletter to help you develop an adoption program in your fellowship. - Brigada Research Assistant http://www.brigada.org/pgcra/index.html
Brigada (see earlier references for more details) also has research pages. This page not only introduces some of the Web terminology and concepts, but also gives pointers on researching unreached people groups via the Internet. - Caleb Project http://www.calebproject.org/
Caleb Project provides tools to facilitate the process of taking the Gospel to the least-evangelized for churches, missions agencies, and other ministries. Their resources include videos, prayer guides, ethnographic reports, maps, and other materials to enhance missions awareness and encourage informed prayer for the unreached. Many valuable links can be found on their pages. - Mission Network News http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/
Mission Network News is a mission news service dedicated to keeping Christians informed on evangelical mission activity around the world. - Network for Strategic Missions http://www.strategicnetwork.org/
The Network is designed as an unprecedented "cooperative thrust" to link the local Church, its resources and compassion, with the masses of unreached people in the 10/40 Window. The website is developed as a meeting place for Christians interested in Unreached Peoples. The site consists of a number of forums on different people groups and regions, each of which contains profiles, pictures, weblinks, ministry opportunities, discussion forums, and archives of articles. - Global Mapping http://www.gmi.org/research/websites.htm
This page by Global Mapping covering mission research web sites is (in my opinion) an excellent starting point - it covers the important sites and gives enough background on each site to let you decide on its value. - Joshua Project 2000 http://www.ad2000.org/joshovr.htm
The goal of Joshua Project 2000 is to see, as a minimum, a pioneer church-planting movement resulting in 100 or more Christians in one or more reproducing churches within every ethno-linguistic people of over 10,000 individuals by December 31, 2000. Available on this site is a list of unreached people groups, people profiles available and applicable research team registration and prayer profile forms. - SIM index to research and support organisations http://www.sim.org/research.html
Links to web sites of the above type organisations.
Useful Mission Directories
- Helps Int'l. Ministries http://www.xc.org/helpintl/mrd.htm
Helps Int'l. Ministries (HIM) is hosting a world-wide-web page which can serve as a "meeting place" or "information lobby" during the process of working out a way to make a "directory of directories", a method of accessing the "distributed Mission resources of the global electronic library".
This directory provides pointers to directories ordered by (amongst others) subject, language, peoples, geographical identity, and type of ministry. Other mission info such as mission events are also covered. You can also try the newly redesigned site at http://www.mrd.org and look at HELPS' Mission Computer-Related Resource Directory at http://www.xc.org/helpintl/computer/mcrd-a-z.htm
- SIM http://www.sim.org/
Here you will find a very useful index of mission organisations. - OSCAR http://www.oscar.org.uk/
OSCAR is an acronym for `the One Stop Centre for Advice and Resources'. If you're involved or interested in missionary or Christian work overseas, OSCAR is your gateway to useful UK related information, advice and resources. - People Teams http://www.peopleteams.org/
This is an international website hosting and linking community for Christians working together on mission with God. - Fields International http://www.fields.org/menu.htm
Fields International is a ``non-profit ministry using the Internet to help others lift up their eyes and look on the Father's fields''. It has pointers to web sites in the following categories - Maps, Prayer, Opportunities, By Continent, Radio, etc. Here you will find a very useful index of mission organisations.
Search engines
Some of the following search engines focus especially on Christian web pages. You may find more hits first time by searching there first.