In Europe for God's Global Mission

Many of you who are readers of my blog know of my concern for global missions. With that in mind, I am "shared" with the IMB several times each year as part of a joint venture. I speak at some events, consult occasionally, and try to connect pastors with God's global mission.

I started getting into a global state of mind while I was at Catalyst. I spoke on Wednesday to the church planters. The International Mission Board was there highlighting our new resource called OneApp, which I will explain more in detail later this week.

So, after I spoke at my Catalyst main stage session (with the obligatory picture posted to the right-- also posted, along with all the others, at http://twitpic.com/photos/edstetzer), I was off to Prague five hours later and then connected to Krakow where I am now.

We did some of the normal touristy things when we arrived, having visited the city square and then the Wawel Royal castle. (Yes, I am carrying a man bag. I have had it for a while but am glad to be in a place where I do not have to hide it in shame. It's is a man bag, not a purse.

Yesterday, my fellow team members spoke at local churches. (One of them, Jeff Noble, blogs and is posting pictures to Flickr.)

I preached yesterday and talked about the Kingdom of God and its relationship to the church.

I will be sharing much about international missions work over the next week. As many churches seek and strive to be more missional, this must never lead to a de-emphasis of global missions. Missional is not mission-minded, but it must never be the opponent of mission-minded. We need both/and (with more of the both) rather than either/or.

So, this week, we are working with missionaries and church planters working hard to engage postmodern Europe through evangelism and church planting. We are humbled to see how they are sacrificing for the gospel and the Kingdom. My hope is that we can be some help, but also encourage others to come along and help as well.

Then, in the fall of 2009, I will be also taking a group to a Two-Thirds World destination. More about that soon. But, since I am in Europe I want to talk Europe for a bit.

First, all week we will be posting Europe info on the blog. If all goes well, I will have lots of video and pictures. (There is camera crew following us for this very purpose.) I plan to interview missionaries and church planters and post their info here at the blog-- and I promise some good content.

Part of what the IMB is doing is looking for ways to partner with innovative churches and networks in the United States. A few months ago I mentioned Larry McCrary and The Upstream Collective, an informal network of missionally-minded churches and individuals from various denominations and backgrounds. The people involved in The Upstream Collective are seeking to get involved in God's work in Europe while also being more incarnational in their own communities.

The next time we are in Europe it will be a part of The Upstream Collective's "Jet Set Tours," week-long vision trips in various European cities. The goal for Jet Set Tour participants is to experience and explore the culture, and through that, begin to discern ways their churches can get plugged in, in Europe.

I'll be hosting a Jet Set Tour to Rome and Marseille with Darrin Patrick from May 22 to June 1, 2009, and then we're looking at doing London and Paris with Daniel Montgomery, May 22-29, 2010. The Upstream Collective is also working on future tours to Scandinavia and Spain.

If you're interested in a Jet Set Tour, let the folks at The Upstream Collective know, since the Jet Set Tour groups are intentionally kept very small. More information is on their Web site (www.theupstreamcollective.org). You can e-mail them for more information on the existing trips I mentioned.

Today, we are heading to a local university to teach and then will spend the evening with college students. Come back this week to learn more about what God is doing in Eastern Europe.