Content Resources

Vaccines aren't perfect, but they prevent a lot of disease and save a lot of lives. In this session, we will review vaccination as related to those who travel internationally and to those who live in resource-limited areas. We will discuss new advances in vaccination.

Any device capable of being connected to cyberspace can be subject to surveillance, hacked, and used monitor behavior in the physical world. The lowest level of threat is probably the thief who wants to steal your smart phone. The highest level of threat is the nation state monitoring you using that same smart phone, supposing you will compromise the local believers. Between these extremes are the criminals who call your contact list, tell them you have been kidnapped and demand ransom, and the criminals who seize your data with ransomware. Mission teams may need to turn to cybersecurity professionals to develop plans for working in closed countries and nations that are fundamentally hostile to the faith or are just corrupt. Knowing when this help is needed is critical to staying safe. This session will provide participants with tools and strategies to enhance their cybersecurity.

We see the world through constructed patterns acquired through ordinary experiences in our culture. These experiences embed values, beliefs, and expectations into our worldview. The becomes the framework through which we engage with the world. What happens when this framework is used in a second culture? How does it impact how a person leads, ministers, or gives care to those with a different worldview? This seminar will unpack research examining transformative worldview experiences of missionaries. This seminar will help you understand the worldview tensions and shifts in people working cross-culturally in order to better prepare second culture workers as they consider the impact of worldview on how they lead, minister, and serve.

The pathway to healthcare missions is not a linear pathway and there is not one right way. In this plenary session, we are going to hear from experts across the spectrum of healthcare missions, from the initial exploring stage, the preparing process, and beyond. We're going to look at the many varied expressions of healthcare missions, such as the traditional long term medical missionary, but also the non-traditional marketplace worker. We'll explore short term service opportunities, medical education fields, domestic service, and disaster relief. We'll learn about what healthy preparation looks like and end with stories and lessons about thriving in healthcare missions.

The purpose of this session is to explore ways to integrate the Lord’s call to love and humbly serve others within the discipline of nursing. God created people to glorify Him, so believers are to present their bodies as a living sacrifice and life of worship (Rom. 12:1). Jesus came to serve others as He touched the untouchable and marginalized. Nurses, and other members of the healthcare team, can use their gifts and talents they have been given, as well as their training, to come alongside the vulnerable, hurting, suffering, and broken in the same way Jesus did.

In view of a changing world context, what is the future of medical missions? Does the traditional mission hospital have a place in today's world? Where does medical missions fit into globalization and urbanization and increasing populations where there is high restriction on religion? What are healthcare strategies that will work in the 21st century? This session will review the history of medical missions, where we are today, and what are the new additional approaches that will meet needs and open doors for the Gospel.

Do you ever wonder how to bring up end of life discussions without creating fear or loss of hope? What does an end of life discussion include and is it wider than creating a DNR? It is crucial to create an open atmosphere to discuss end of life beliefs, customs, and values, but how and when is this done and who can do it? This session will give you the ability to start a dialogue, set goals, and understand different resources that are available. We will discuss aspects of culture, religion, and psychology that require sensitive approaches. Every situation is unique and has its own dynamics, but in creating an open and relaxed atmosphere a plan of care for end of life needs and goals can be addressed and new definitions of hope can be explored.

Why are you heading overseas as a healthcare missionary? What's your ultimate long-term goal? Is your dream, for example, to vaccinate multiple thousands of children against preventable childhood diseases or ... do you dream of launching movements of missional-communities (churches) among a Muslim group who will share Christ with their entire people group ... AND vaccinate all their children, too? The Kingdom needs missionaries who will do both. This workshop will help you learn key aspects of what to look for when joining a team, and how to form and prepare a strategic team to go and do it together.

Serving the Sojourner in America's Most Diverse Square Mile

Parenting is challenging in any situation, but raising children while living overseas and serving cross-culturally adds new complexities. Gleaming lessons learned from 15 years of field missionary experience, and siting practical examples, the session will explore tips and tools for providing missionary kids with academic, social and spiritual success.

Characteristics of altruistic individuals, such as passion, dedication, and empathy, can under certain circumstances make them more vulnerable to experiencing psychological distress. In the last two decades, a significant body of psychiatric and psychological literature has looked at this issue. This presentation will draw from the presenter’s work with the diplomatic community and disaster relief workers to identify common stressors and stress responses among Christian workers in foreign environments. In addition, it will explain the notion of psychological resilience, describe the five resilience factors most likely to be protective against burnout and disillusionment, and will suggest ways that Christian health care workers can make use of these concepts to protect their own psychological health and well-being.

Theology is, simply put, our talk about God in Christ and his actions as shown to us in the Bible. Missions is all about witnessing in various ways to God in Christ and his actions in the world. In other words, theology and missions go hand-in-hand. Though we often think of "missions texts" - our go-to verses for supporting missions - missions is far more than a collection of verses but is part of a larger story of God's salvation and making that salvation known. In this session we will see how the Bible tells that story and how we are called not just to "know" but to take our place in that story and be Christ's witnesses in the world, no matter what gifts and opportunities God gives us.