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)
Cross-cultural ministry
One of Missions College’s most popular tracks is Cross-Cultural Evangelism and Discipleship.
“The people we are trying to reach with the gospel have radically different perspectives on the world,” IMB noted in a description of the track. “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,” they noted. The track will be 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,” said Lloyd Rodgers, who serves as a trainer in the Americas.
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,” he said.
“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.”
The cost for Missions College is $249 per person. The fee includes training, materials, lodging for three nights and meals.
To learn more about registration, click here. Register now:
For information, please email: missionscollege@imb.org or call 804-353-0151.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by IMB staff and originally published by the International Mission Board.
