(Photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Urbana Student Missions Conference website)

“My father is a businessman. I got good advice to study something else before I studied theology. So, [I] stud[ied] business…[While] studying business [I] met my husband as well, who was planning to serve in missions.

“God has brought us together in the same desire to serve Him. But when we graduated from business, our plan, our dream was to study theology after. So, for three years, we were at Regent College in Canada.”

During their time at Regent College, Breuel and her husband attended the 2006 Urbana student missions conference hosted by InterVarsity. It was in this process of discerning God’s call on their life that the Breuels found themselves led to Italy. They have lived there for nearly nine years now.

“Urbana was instrumental. That week, the calling for missions, that flame that was inside me was almost like He came to [me]. It’s almost like there was so much wood for that fire here because you get to see people that are also passionate about God in missions in the same way. Hear from global voices and just be exposed to multicultural worship,” Breuel explains.

Faithful “Yes”

Her faithful “yeses” bring us to today. Breuel now works as the Evangelism Training Coordinator with IFES in Rome, Italy. She is also the Director of Revive, a conference seeking revival across Europe.

(Photo by Christopher Czermak on Unsplash)

“You know, it’s beyond anything that I could have dreamed for, to be dreaming about revival in Europe. But it is just in that journey of trusting Him, being as close as you can to Him, and being faithful to whatever He entrusts and He increases that.”

Ask yourself—how could God use my faithful “yes”?

Take the time to grow close to Him, listen, and discern how He is leading you. Pray for God’s discernment for His call on your life.

Listen to more about Breuel’s story here.

Header photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash.

“Jesus had no question of His identity. He knew who He was, and He knew He was sent. He never questioned that. His closeness to the Father was evident throughout His life, and that’s the model,” Breuel explains.

“To think that when Jesus says, ‘as the Father sent me, I am sending you.’ There’s so much weight because He was sent, and that we are sent. We get to be Jesus’ representatives.”

In other words, we get to be Jesus’ representatives to the world. However, living a life of missions does not always mean packing a bag and heading to a far off land. Instead, it means the privilege of drawing near to God, growing in His love, and sharing His heart with others.

Missions Turned Missional Lifestyle

For this reason, missions will never go out of style because missions is the business of boldly declaring Christ’s love and truth. Instead, the era for missional living, whether locally or globally, is constant because God is the same as He was yesterday, is today, and will be tomorrow. As Breuel says, His heart burns for this world to know Him.

Not sure how to live a missional lifestyle?

(Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash)

“Everybody has people around their lives. That one friend that you’re close with…[Be] intentional about praying for opportunities to share the Gospel. And not only share the Gospel, but…shine Jesus in that life and have that as a lifestyle,” Breuel suggests.

“Knowing that we are ambassadors, they will never forget where they’re from and who they are representing.”

As Christ’s ambassadors, we are on a mission to live into a deep relationship with God and help lead others to do the same. Let’s live a life which radiates God’s truth and love.

“I never come as fully alive [as] when I’m just doing exactly what He asked me to do,” Breuel says.

Ask God, why did you create me? What did you create me to do? Then take the time to slow down and listen for His voice. And pray for opportunities to share the Gospel.

Listen to more from Sarah Breuel here.

Header photo by James L.W on Unsplash.

“His intent is that each community and every generation would be fully submitted, that they would live as faithful witnesses submitted to the authority of Jesus Christ.”

Seeking God’s Will

Churches, communities, and individuals ebb and flow in their obedience to God. However, Hubbard sees a faithfulness in the generation currently transitioning into adulthood.

Part of the call on the Christian life is to make disciples and to bring others into a place of knowing and loving God. Culturally, this generation was raised to value all people, even those who are different. Hubbard believes there’s a place within God’s Kingdom work for this mindset.

“But it’s also a culture that wants everyone to have the freedom to do whatever they want to do because they’ve chosen to do it because you should just be able to be you. The complexity of the Gospel is that while God’s love and care for each of us is completely inclusive, He calls us to holiness as well,” Hubbard explains.

Submitting to Jesus

The call to holiness requires submitting not to ourselves, but to the authority of Jesus. In turning from ourselves and toward God, Hubbard says we become our true self, the person we were designed to be by God. However, becoming this person is a lifelong journey.

“He extends grace to us over our whole lifetime of moving toward that. One of my encouragements to people…is God will set a standard of this beautiful holiness, this purity, and yet, He doesn’t reject us in our journey,” Hubbard says.

“We can stand pretty close to Jesus, but have our eyes turned away from Him…What do we do to keep our eyes on Jesus, and to keep moving toward him?”

Answering her own question, Hubbard suggests Christians pursue spiritual disciplines and live life in communities who point them to Jesus.

Join in Prayer

Pray for this generation. Ask Jesus to bring redemption and hope on college campuses. Pray for students on campuses to have boldness in declaring Christ’s love and the Gospel.

Will you consider joining InterVarsity’s Every Campus movement? Commit to praying for a local campus. Walk that campus, invite students to Bible studies, and help disciple this generation.

But also, challenge yourself by asking: am I at the center of God’s Will?

Learn more about the EveryCampus movement and how you can commit to prayer here.

Find more ways to get involved with InterVarsity’s campus ministry here.

On the other hand, Christians in countries with freedom of religion are blessed with the ability to live out and share their faith without many repercussions. But with that freedom comes another kind of spiritual challenge — complacency.

Femi Adeleye, Director of the Institute for Christian Impact (Photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship)

For example, Christians in Ghana comprise just over 70 percent of the population and generally have a lot of freedom to practice their faith. However, Femi Adeleye sees Ghanaian believers struggle with complacency.

Adeleye is the Director of the Institute for Christian Impact, an initiative seeking to nurture a new generation in Africa to make advances for the Gospel. He also serves as the Africa Director for Langham Preaching and recently spoke at Urbana 18, a student missions conference hosted by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Adeleye says, “In Ghana, we do not have the separation of religion and state so there is liberty to share your faith with literally anyone. You go to a marketplace in Ghana and you find people openly and publicly sharing their faith. You go into some industry, even some banks and staff arrive like half an hour before opening hours to have a Bible study or a devotional. So there is that level of freedom.

“I think the challenge you have is beyond the preaching. How do people live out their faith in a way that bears witness to what the Gospel is?… In my part of the world, people have this secular-sacred divide and think what you do in church or in Christian circles is ‘ministry,’ but what you do in your profession is ‘secular.’ So it doesn’t really matter how you do it.”

This mindset in Ghana is familiar to many Christians in unrestricted nations. The irony is the more freedom we have to live out our faith, the more tempting it is to compartmentalize our faith for the sake of comfort. It’s all too easy to “check our faith at the door” when we go to work, school, or anywhere else outside the church building.

How can believers combat this mindset? Adeleye suggests, “We go back in Scripture with them to have them appreciate that the Lordship of Christ is not to be limited to so-called sacred or spiritual contexts…. We find that even in the Old Testament, God is interested in all aspects of life — not just in temple worship, but even in how people did agriculture, in how architecture was done, [and] in how relationships function between natives and visitors or strangers.”

There are many examples in Scripture of people in the Bible who integrated the sacred and the secular well.

“Think of people in the public sphere like Daniel. We often think of Daniel as a prophet, but Daniel was a politician. He was an administrator. We think of Nehemiah. Sometimes people think he was just a prophetic person God used to rebuild. He was a governor! In Acts of the Apostles, there are businesswomen. We think of Dorcas. We think of Lydia. There are people in everyday-ness of life in what they do [who can] still be a witness by their lifestyle and by their words.”

Adeleye and the ministries he works with seek to make disciples in Ghana who will have a profound Kingdom impact. Please pray for this Kingdom impact and that Ghanaian Christians will live as ambassadors for Christ in all areas of life.

“If God is interested not just in the sacred space but in all aspects of life, it is important that in our discipleship strategies, we have Christians appreciate the need to see their professional callings as ‘ministry,’” says Adeleye. “Those in business, those in politics [need] to know that in and through their professions, they can be a witness to God’s saving grace.”

Header photo courtesy of Riley Kaminer via Flickr.

Technology is everywhere, but sometimes that means the Church forgets that tech can be a missions opportunity. Nick Skytland wants to change that.

Skytland wears several hats. He was the co-director of the Hackathon event at InterVarsity’s Urbana ‘18 conference, runs a technology consulting firm called Quite Uncommon, and works as a data analyst at NASA. In other words, he has one foot in the world of technology and innovation and another in the world of missions.

And he thinks the Church is missing a major opportunity.

“The biggest mission field that exists today is online, and the fewest missionaries are being sent online,” Skytland says.

Photo courtesy of InterVarsity

So what’s the solution? Skytland thinks believers need to start thinking creatively about tech use so that the next generation of innovators has the Church in mind.

“This generation of students is growing up as one of the first truly digital-native generations,” he says. “They’re growing up using technology, developing technology, creating technology, and using technology to share the Gospel with their friends, their family, and their neighbors.”

How To Use Tech

So how do we encourage a tech-savvy Church? Skytland says this could look like creating tech that assists missions, using tech to access people directly, or working with tech-based organizations and providing Christian perspectives. He wants Alexa’s answer to “Who is Jesus Christ?” to be written by Christians who care.

Missions organizations often have practical challenges that require technological solutions, so connecting with a group that already does mission work might be a good place to start.

“All missions organizations have a need for technologists to come alongside them to help them with their work,” Skytland says. “That might look like a full-time job for them, but that might mean simply volunteering some of your time.”

Urbana 18’s Hackathon provided that opportunity. “For four days, we get these organizations to sit down and work with the students and partner with them around collaboratively building technology to address a problem that the students care about and the organizations care about. Collectively, they can do what they could never do individually.”

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

What’s more, tapping into missions organizations might be easier than it seems at first glance. After all, they have access to resources and information that can be invaluable in tech solution development.

“Missions organizations have a lot of data, and they don’t even know what the true potential of that is, so a lot of the work that we’re doing these days is about how to uncover that data, how to make it more accessible, and how to build visualizations that inform decisions by the leaders of those organizations.”

Your Role

But this issue isn’t limited to NASA data analysts and young technologists. Skytland thinks everyone who can access technology can make a difference. If you can read this story online, that probably means you too.

“If you’re a Christian and you have access to technology, the question you should be asking is ‘what could I be doing with this technology to reach the world and share the Gospel?’ You might just use technology creatively to share a meme, to write a story, to make a Facebook post, or to just be bold in your faith.”

Connect with InterVarsity to help equip young people here.

Find out what Skytland does with Quite Uncommon here.

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

We connected with Joseph Vijayam, CEO of Olive Technology, at Urbana ‘18, to talk about how for-profit business can meet for-others missions.

Distribution vs Creation

Vijayam says that the Church has traditionally focused on Jesus’ call to generosity.

“The Church has done a phenomenal job of distributing wealth, of serving the needs of the poor, the widow, the sick, and the dying by taking the wealth of those who are members of the Church and giving it to those who are in need all around the world.”

But Vijayam says that’s not the end of the story. Distributing wealth is crucial to the Gospel’s message of mercy, but the Church needs to create wealth, too.

“The creation of wealth is actually what enables us to send people to the field. It also enables us to send help to people who are in need, so the Church needs to also embrace that as a calling.”

Answering a Call

Joseph Vijayam (Photo courtesy of  InterVarsity)

What’s more, sometimes the call to wealth creation is an individual one. Just as all people are called to evangelism but some specialize in it, Vijayam says some people are called specifically to the world of business. Some are called even more intentionally to entrepreneurship.

“An entrepreneur, someone who founds a business, is someone who is not only creating wealth for himself but also for others, for those who work with him or her, and they’re doing it over multiple generations,” he says.

This allows entrepreneurs to create “engines of wealth creation” fueled by Jesus-centered concepts.

“I think that it’s very important that the Church encourages people who have been given that calling, as long as they can be really clear about why they’re creating this wealth, that this wealth comes from God, and that we give it all back to God and His work.”

The Missions Field of Business

But business isn’t just gets missions going; it can be a mission field in itself. Vijayam thinks a good Kingdom-centered business model measures the impact it has. That can be economic prosperity for the community, a push for a socially just culture, or spiritual growth in businesspeople.

“There are many different ways in which the business itself is a field for ministry with the people you work with, the vendors, the supplies, everybody,” he says.

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

The Next Generation

Vijayam says the Church needs to encourage young Christians interested in business.

“Yes, you can be a tentmaker or you can be a person in the workplace and impact the people around you, but when you create a business, you have much more freedom and flexibility on how you can run the business and how you can show God’s love through the business, especially if you’re the business owner, if you’re the entrepreneur,” he says.

Business means reaching a wider audience with the Gospel, sponsoring the work God is doing, and helping fuel generosity and material assistance.

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, and Vijayam says there is a temptation for business to become about the accumulation. But he also believes that a focus on Christ and a communal effort on the part of the Church could see the provision of resources, guidance, and mentorship to potential Christian businesspeople.

Check out Olive Technology right here.

Find out what InterVarsity is doing for the next generation here.

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

“It’s easy to know that we’re broadcasting it. We know it’s going out, but how is it being received as a signal? Is the signal strong? Is it weak, is it garbled, is it off?” Lawton says.

“Sometimes we just don’t know. Sometimes, we’ll have listeners write us a letter and two or three weeks later, we’ll find out that it wasn’t even on that night or something, which is very discouraging.”

Software to Find Radio

In order to solve this problem, TWR has been developing Software to Find Radio technology, which picks up frequencies on the radio and can record the signal of their broadcasts as well as the signals strength.

“Instantly, TWR [and] all of our partners can know if the signal is being heard, how strong it is, how widely distributed it is. They can download that data right to their desktop if they want to in an Excel spread sheet, and they can know instantly how well that signal is going into a certain village or a certain part of the world.”

With this technology, TWR is able to transmit their broadcasts as well as partner organizations’ programs.

Lawton says this technology is a critical piece in ministry as they disciple to people in their heart languages all around the world, and it also gives TWR the confidence that they are doing their work efficiently and effectively.

Urbana and Students’ Impact

TWR recently worked with computer and programming students attending the Urbana ’18 event to help develop the Software to Find Radio technology.

Urbana has formed an extension of their event called #Hack4Missions. This extension involves 150 ITIS (Internet Technologies and Information Systems) students and split them into nine teams. In these nine teams, students are able to see how their work impacts the mission field by doing hands-on work and development of ministry programs.

“A lot of these students, they don’t know how they can participate in the world of missions. They’re not evangelists, they’re not pastors, they’re not teachers, they don’t have speaking gifts,” Lawton says.

Yet, through the #Hack4Missions event, students can see just how vital their work is and that it is needed.

At Urbana 18, TWR worked with 13 students who were part of the computer science, programming, communications, and project managers programs. They worked together to help kick off the programming of the sustainable Software to Find Radio feedback project.

Lawton says with the progress the team made at Urbana, it will be a, “jumping off point for TWR because we haven’t had the staff or the resources to figure it out… We’re actually hoping that these students can really make great progress in building this software, designing the code, documenting it so that we can just start using it.”

Through the Software to Find Radio project, TWR hopes to see people being discipled in their faith on a deeper level all around the world.

Come alongside TWR by praying for the development of this software. Pray for the engineers and software programmers who will be working on it, pray for those who will be listening to it, and that governments will not intercede. Finally, because there is a great need for technology-minded people in the world of missions, pray for the Lord’s provision of people.

What happens when you put the foremost evangelistic thinkers, organizations equipped with the tools to do missions all over the world, and thousands of college students hungry for opportunities to share the Gospel all under one roof?

According to InterVarsity, you get Urbana 18.

I was able to attend Urbana a week ago both as a reporter and as a college student. Now that we’ve shared some of the stories and voices we’ve heard, I wanted to offer my own perspective.

The conference had a little bit of everything. From meticulously organized corporate Bible studies to spontaneous, heartfelt worship, examples of believers coming together permeated every corner of the conference halls.

Everywhere I looked, the Church met in prayer, dialogue, and praise. Men and women of faith used their drive to work for Christ and their varied expertise to collaborate on projects that can benefit the whole Church.

But why do we need an event like Urbana at all? If you ask thinkers like John Inazu, author of Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference, they’ll say it’s because the body of believers is exactly that; a body, not an assortment of standalone pieces.

Urbana 18 was about partnership and community. InterVarsity and the myriad of other participating organizations provided practical networking opportunities, passionate and empathetic conversation, and motivational reminders to pursue the Great Commission. Every individual I interviewed believed wholeheartedly that Urbana could kickstart a generation of world-shaking servants.

Urbana also provides unique opportunities for some of the brightest minds in missions to sit side by side. Among others, I spoke to CEOs, NASA engineers, technology entrepreneurs, and even Hollywood scriptwriters, all of whom provided enlightening reminders of what it means to follow Christ in every field imaginable.

This conference brought people together. Sharp minds collaborated on technology that could change the face of missions. Christians from creative access countries were met with emphatic applause, not oppressive orders to stop, when they explained their work. Young believers signed on with organizations that could change their own lives and countless others. Brothers and sisters in Christ cried into one another’s arms as they shared the movement of the Gospel in their lives.

The conference walked through Revelation and the seven letters sent to seven churches. Each reminder of what the Church could become was met with open hearts and considerate minds. The prophecies of Revelation might not have a timeline, but for now, Urbana 18 indicates that the Church’s future could be one of partnership and community.

Urbana exists to encourage young believers to glean what they can from a wide field of resources and understanding. Urbana 18 helped kickstart missions movements in this generation. In this reporter’s mind, the community and devotion to God seen in conferences like this one inspire can shake the world.

Pray about what part you could play in the movement of missions during 2019. Ask God how you can support workers and thinkers at the forefront of missions.

And most of all, thank Him for a rising generation taking their place as workers seeking the harvest.

Why Missions Conferences Matter

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s President Tom Lin says rather than growing up unchurched, some students were raised with ‘moralistic therapeutic deism’. Now, InterVarsity works more and more with spiritually young believers or non-believers.

(Photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.)

Still, Lin does not see this as a reason to skip out on catalytically moving this generation to live for Jesus.

“When we think about the missions, the Urbana student missions conference, we don’t view it as a transactional experience…but, there’s something about the presence of a global community all together, thousands of students together, sharing this experience together,” Lin says.

“A lot of our Christian students today… feel very isolated on campus, marginalized. To be here at a conference where there are many like-minded believers who are asking similar questions, wrestling with similar issues, and marginalized as well on their campuses, there’s something very encouraging about it…being a part of a global community is a big part of the Urbana experience.”

Urbana 18 Experience

Urbana 18 provides a chance for students to set aside five days to immerse themselves in scripture. It is also a chance to questions like “What is God’s calling in my life?” or “What is missions about?” and “What opportunities are there?” Urbana 18 helps students dig into these questions while also helping them cast a vision.

(Photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.)

“It’s a generation that has access to information, so they know a lot. Our job in ministry or missions is not so much give them more information, but what I consider the most important is giving them vision. What does it mean to give them vision for what they could do with their lives? Vision for what God might want to do with their lives? Vision for what’s in scripture. Being able to understand God’s vision for the world,” Lin says.

“I think those kinds of things we want to emphasize more than just pure information.”

But what makes this generation unique is their challenges. Young students lack hope. News reports provide a steady stream of stories representing the hopelessness the world faces. Couple that with the constant access to enormous amounts of information and a life bordering over-sensitization, and processing it all can be difficult and anxiety-inducing. In fact, Lin says college institutions are encountering an increase in students seeking mental health needs.

In short, this is a generation dealing with a constant data flow primarily of brokenness. However, Christ is our ultimate hope. Let’s help these students chase God and dig into His calling on their life.

Get Involved

Help support students by offering encouragement. Commit to pray with and for a student in your life. Offer to debrief with a student returning from Urbana 18. Come alongside them as they put into action the things they learned during the conference.

Also, pray for this conference and the way it impacts and moves students. Pray for the challenges these students face such as debt, lack of a supportive community, and much more. Ask God to lead these students into immediate application of what they learned during their five days in St. Louis, Missouri. Pray for these students’ courage and boldness to live a missional lifestyle. Finally, pray against the spiritual attack these students face.

Find more ways to come alongside students here!

Stream Urbana 18 here.

Note: Urbana 18 is available for streaming for a period after the conference ends.

Header photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Crissie Rask with Mission Aviation Fellowship says, “We love Urbana! It’s just such a biblically-focused, globally-focused missions endeavor. We love engaging with the young people that will be there. I think it will be about 11,000 students this year who already God has touched their hearts for what He is doing.”

From December 27-31, students at Urbana get a chance to explore God’s calling on their life and how they can get involved in the Great Commission. Attendees can participate in large group worship sessions, access over 200 dynamic Christian speakers, engage with Bible exposition and studies, prayer ministry, and hear testimonies from the global Church.

(Graphic courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship via Urbana.org)

This year, Rask explains, “The theme is Faithful Witness. What does God want you to do to be a faithful witness for Him? The book study, which is always so rich, is in Revelation.”

Missions organizations are also available in the Exhibit Hall to connect with students and answer their questions. “We want to engage with students and hear what God is doing in their lives, but also…we want to allow them to be challenged and say, ‘This might be an area where God could use you.’

“There are often several hundred mission organizations represented and it’s a wonderful fellowship there in the Exhibit Hall. We will often refer somebody to another group if they don’t fit with MAF’s exact profile.”

(Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

MAF specifically uses aviation in partnership with other organizations to reach people in the hardest-to-reach parts of the world. Their ministry flies anything from food and aid supplies to doctors, teachers, pastors, and medical evacuation patients. And everything they do is in the name of Jesus.

Rask says MAF is looking for young people to join their ministry who want to use their gifts and talents for God’s glory. Open positions range from pilots and aviation mechanics to teachers, IT technicians, and more.

“I think we have a unique niche in the world of missions in that we are quite specific in utilizing people with technical skills. That defines who would join MAF, but also it’s a little bit different in the sense [that] people with technical skills often don’t feel that God has gifted them in more word-oriented [skills] – although we do believe [sharing] the Word is a distinct part of disciple-making. But this is an avenue where God can use people with those technical giftings and place them…where they would have entree into the lives of international people that might not otherwise have a connection to the Gospel.”

As older generations pass on their legacy of faith and have paved the way for missions today, this generation of young men and women is taking up the banner to continue to spread the Gospel.

“I believe this generation is looking for something they can do with passion, and their hearts are for the Lord,” says Rask. “We are praying and we know other organizations particularly are praying and churches are praying that God would touch young people. We know it’s hard to make that decision and we go to some hard places, but we see young people absolutely willing to take that.”

The MAF team in Indonesia dedicating a new Kodiak. (Photo courtesy of David Holsten with Mission Aviation Fellowship)

MAF already has young individuals and families serving with them and making a difference for God’s Kingdom. Rask recently heard from two of MAF’s youngest field families who are back on furlough.

“Their stories of God’s faithfulness [are encouraging] in the midst of difficulties and their joy in being able to serve. In one case, in the Democratic Republic of Congo [our pilot was] able to fly doctors and medical personnel into an Ebola area and provide respite and be able to talk to people on the airplane on a long flight about how you know and worship a God that you can’t see.

“I love hearing that and the passion and the commitment and to have young people give personal testimony about how God is using them and growing them. They are building their ‘Ebenezers’ of what God is doing in the world and through them. I think it’s so inspiring to any of us to hear young people with that kind of commitment and passion.”

To keep up with what God is doing at Urbana, you can follow the conference page on Facebook here!

You can also learn more about serving with MAF here!

Meanwhile, please pray for the young men and women who are at Urbana right now, that God would provide guidance and wisdom as they find their place in His Great Commission. Ask the Lord to lead the right people to join MAF in reaching isolated people for His glory.

Rask adds, “Following Urbana is a missions conference [called] CROSS For The Nations and MAF will be there as well. It’s just another venue to allow young people to see and have a glimpse of the glory of God in the nations and what He is doing. It’s an honor for us to share that message and bring glory to Him.”

Header photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.