Recommended Reading
The following list is by no means exhaustive. In fact it’s deliberately short. These recommendations aren’t merely plagiarized from other people’s lists. We thought it best to begin with what various WEC NZ staff have found to be genuinely helpful. As we come across tried and true resources that we can highly recommend we’ll add them to the list. Maybe you’d like to recommend some yourselves.
The Idea Team is a resource and training arm of WEC International. It’s overseen by some ‘reflective practitioners’ who have an excellent site on church planting. If your particular interest is church planting among least-reached peoples then we recommend you take a look at www.ideateam.org first. Besides various recommended sites and reading lists it also includes a feast of tips from practitioners, an e-learning community and all you’ll need to know to undertake an ethnographic survey. How better to grasp the deep culture of the people that God is leading you to?
Many of the following recommendations refer also to other resources within them. From these you can navigate to most sites that are of real help for cross-cultural church planting focused ministry.
Prayer & Country Information
Operation World
The updated version of this remarkable prayer encyclopedia tells what God has been doing throughout the world, giving factual and very detailed treatment of all 240 countries of the world as well a section on special ministries. Operation World is also inspiring in its coverage of the powerful reality of God’s Spirit at work around the world telling of dramatic developments in the church. “Every Christian should be praying for the world outside their own borders. And to do that intelligently, I know of no resource as helpful as Operation World.” Ajith Fernando, National Director, Youth for Christ, Sri Lanka
100 Days
100 Days is a CD-sized book made up of bite-sized extracts from Operation World. Containing 100 days of prayer for the world, the book combines prayer material for all the major countries with themed entries as diverse as the sex-trade, key unreached people groups, landmines and orphans. With each day bringing something fresh and varied, 100 Days is the ideal prayer-jogger. It will inspire and stimulate prayer, and is intended as a companion volume to Operation World.
Church Mobilisation
Borderless Church by David Lundy
Explores the changing face of mission today to help your church be borderless at home and abroad. Church leader and missionary David Lundy explores the changing face of 'doing mission' today. He offers answers to key questions such as 'How can the church better interact with the global and local community?' and 'What's a borderless church and how do we become one?' His case studies of churches around the world help with these questions churches such as Mars Hill in Michigan, with 10,000 members, a shopping mall meeting place, lively services, a sense of community, and, most of all, a true passion for local and global outreach.
Cat & Dog Theology by Dr. Gerald Robison and Bob Sjogren
There is a joke about cats and dogs that conveys their differences perfectly. A dog says, 'You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, you must be God.' A cat says, 'You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, I must be God.' This book challenges the readers' understanding of their relationship with God. Our understanding of how we relate to God may not be wrong, but it may be incomplete. The God-given traits of cats ('you exist to serve me') and dogs('I exist to serve you') can be similar to certain theological attitudes held by many Christians. In our personal theologies, some attitudes may draw us closer to God, and others can also pull us away from Him. This book will help the reader differentiate those attitudes, and, as a result, draw closer to the God who delights in them!
Church Planting
A Vision of the Possible by Daniel Sinclair.
It thoroughly covers practical whys and how to's concerning pioneer church planting among unreached people groups, with applicable discussions from Scripture along the way.
See recommended list at www.ideateam.org
Reaching Muslims
The Messenger, The Message & The Community by Roland Muller
Roland Muller's latest book includes large parts of the out-of-print books Honor & Shame and Tools for Muslim Evangelism, plus much more. Muller begins by looking at what it takes to be accepted as a 'messenger' with something of value to say. He then moves on to look at the gospel message that we share, and ends up examining the community of believers that we want to gather. The book includes a frank look at shame-based cultures, and also the importance of building a sense of community into a new group of believers. Over 300 study questions.
