Teaching Materials
Activity Options
For more information, or to order any of the mentioned materials contact Jim Pindras, the Associate Director for Congregational Relations, by phone at 1-800-532-4253 or e-mail.
Celebrate
Celebrate New Testament Dedications at your church: Whenever a New Testament is completed and printed, LBT participates in the dedication ceremony. Your congregation can take part by having your own celebration of this blessed event. We can give you information about the country in which the dedication occurs and different ways in which your members can celebrate with us.
Hold mission dinners featuring entrees from other countries: Your congregation may want to periodically hold a mission dinner with some of the food from other countries.
Hold an LBT Raffle or Bake Sale: Ask your pastor if it would be all right to hold some sort of sale with the profits to benefit the mission work of LBT.
Send birthday and holiday cards to missionary children: Try to remember significant days in their lives. Encourage your Sunday School or Day School children to write them letters about what is going on here in the United States
Schedule special events for Pentecost Sunday: Celebrate this first "Bible Translation Sunday" by providing fun materials to your congregation like language quizzes and translation samples.
Schedule a day trip to the zoo: You can focus on the animals from the continents in which LBT serves.
Communicate
Invite a Mission Speaker: Contact LBT's Missionary Supervisor to schedule a missionary to speak at your congregation, Sunday School, Chapel Service, Mission Board, or Men's / Women's groups.
Set up a display in your church: Log on to www.LBT.org/resources to download display materials or contact LBT to order a display kit to create an attractive display for your church lobby or Narthex.
View an LBT video: Log on to www.LBT.org/videos to view online. Use your small group or in conjunction with a Bible study.
Regularly update your congregation about the latest news from LBT: Use the information from The Messenger, The Supporting Hands, missionary prayer letters, and the monthly prayer calendar for your congregation's bulletin and newsletter items.
Look for news relating to LBT in your local newspaper, radio, and/or television stations: If you read or hear any news about LBT, share it with your Congregation and with us.
Regularly distribute LBT materials to members of your congregation: Request bulk mailings of The Messenger, LBT's Daily Bible Reading Guide, Missionary biographies, Individual Mission Project Packets, etc.
Talk with people one on one about the mission and ministry of LBT: Many people are more at ease in speaking individually with people about LBT. This is by far the most effective method of communicating God's mission to your congregation.
Use LBT Bulletin Inserts: Go to www.LBT.org/resources to download or to order display materials to post on your bulletin board.
Communicate opportunities for financial support: LBT has many resources about opportunities for financial support to pass along to individuals or groups within your congregation. These would include Individual Mission Project Packets, brochures, Donation Envelopes, Memorial and Special Gift Cards. To order use your Materials List and Order Form.
Represent LBT at rallies, conferences, meetings, retreats, etc.: We can send you display and resource materials for people to review and take. Also, we can equip you with ideas to be more effective in communicating the mission of LBT.
Help arrange for and publicize speaking engagements in your area for visiting missionaries: Many times a visiting missionary doesn't know a lot about your town or area and may need help in setting up speaking opportunities in other churches.
Write articles for your congregation newsletter: Use information you have gleaned from the missionary prayer letters, Supporting Hands, the Messenger, or the monthly prayer calendars and write an article for your congregation's bulletin or newsletter. If you are unsure of your facts, call 1-800-532-4253 and ask for the Associate Director for Mission Resources to check your accuracy.
Regularly update the Mission Bulletin Board: Make sure your congregation's Mission Bulletin Board is updated every two months with news from countries where LBT is doing translation work, news from missionaries, news from the LBT Service Center, etc.
Present a mission play or puppets show: Your play could be about a modern mission story or a mission story from the Bible. Look at the accounts of Jonah or the Apostle Paul. This can be presented in church, at Sunday or Day School, at VBS, or at home.
Play "Spin the Globe": This works especially well in the classroom. Daily, weekly, or monthly, have a student spin a world globe and have another student (with his/her eyes closed) stop it with a finger. Identify the place under the finger. The class can then pray for the Gospel to reach the people in that place, for the missionaries who work there and for special concerns (i.e. drought, war, famine, etc.) of which you might be aware.
Encourage
Encourage others to look at missions as a career choice: Some of you know individuals who might make excellent missionaries. Pray for and encourage those individuals to pray for God's guidance in exploring missionary opportunities.
Encourage your Adult Sunday School Director to hold a Bible study focusing on mission work: LBT has a few different Bible studies available to you for consideration.
Encourage your pastor to hold a Mission Festival: This would be a great way for your congregation to become familiar with God's work around the world.
Write cards and letters of encouragement: Order a copy of "How To Write To Us". This is a booklet about things to consider when writing to missionaries.
Adopt a "missionary kid" (MK) who is in the States while his/her parents are overseas: Send birthday and holiday cards to these children while they are in college. Perhaps you could send treats or encouraging letters.
Provide Christian education materials: Save good quarterly Sunday school or VBS study guides for any age, as well as pictures and usable handicrafts. These can be sent cheaply as "printed matter." Also usable are sets of Bible study outlines and any quality Bible study notes you have collected. Missionaries and their families can use these for personal study. Please check with the missionary before you send such an item.
Send Christian music tapes: Missionaries, their children, and teens often love to hear Christian contemporary music. Tapes of well-known speakers and recordings of Christian radio are much appreciated by missionaries far away. Some missionaries like to hear tapes from their home congregations. Before you send these items, check with the missionary to see if there are import duties on such material.
Make your own tapes: "Write" your missionary family on audiotape instead of paper. This way each family member can say something on the tape, sing, talk about school, etc. Include a blank tape so the missionary family can respond.
Encourage your pastor to celebrate Bible Translation: LBT provides materials to assist your congregation to pray for and to celebrate the ongoing Bible translation, Literacy, and Scripture Engagement efforts around the world.
Enlarge
Recruit new representatives within yours and other congregations: Being a representative can be a lot more enjoyable if you are working with someone else. This is a great way to share your duties and allow another person to be blessed by involvement in this ministry. Also, if you have friends or associates in other congregations, ask them if they would be interested in receiving information about becoming a Congregational Representative.
Develop and/or respond to a network with other representatives: LBT has a base of over 650 representatives nation-wide, with a wide variety of experience. Call the Associate Director for Mission Resources for a regional list of representatives. Then get together with some of your fellow representatives in your area to share your thoughts and ideas.
Share your ideas with others: If you try something that you feel is innovative or successful, send in an Idea-O-Gram, and share your experience. Many of your fellow representatives are always looking for new, fun ways to present LBT's message to their congregations.
Give
Provide funding for a missionary's language study: Contact LBT's Program ministries for more information about paying all or a portion of the cost of language.
Provide funding for Mission Projects: LBT has over numerous Individual Mission Projects and specific missionary needs which the individuals or groups within your congregation can help fund. Call 1-800-532-4253 for your packet or for more information.
Financially support an LBT missionary: As a family, group, or a church, you can support the continuing work of an LBT missionary. Call 1-800-532-4253 and ask for Program Ministries to help you in the selection process.
Help pay off a portion of a missionary's school loans: Many missionaries still owe monthly payments on their educational loans. This would be a great relief and a most welcome gift to a missionary worker.
Sponsor an indigenous co-worker: You and your congregation could help fund the training and living expenses for an indigenous co-worker. This provides needed Scripture training that makes the translation process more accurate.
Provide for a missionary's computer:
Support a missionary's child: Help with the cost of college education for a child of a missionary. This could take the form of sending them extra spending money, offering to pay his/her phone bill, or laundry costs.
Look for opportunities to involve Thrivent Financial for Lutherans: for matching funds in any fund-raiser you have for LBT.
Give to God's Mission in your church: Whether to LBT or other mission organizations, financially support God's Mission.
Treat a missionary to a good haircut at a beauty salon: Many missionaries come back to the US not knowing current styles and with little money to indulge on things like a good haircut. Your help would be greatly appreciated by the missionary.
Recycle for missions: You can collect cans, bottles, and newspapers and turn them into your local recycling center for cash. You could then use that money to support the ministry of LBT.
Ask your pastor for your church to sponsor a "Read-A-Thon" or "Bowl-A-Thon" or "Walk-A-Thon": Find fun and educational activities to illustrate the need for Bible translation and literacy around the world.
Go
Take a short-term mission trip: One of the best ways to communicate the message of mission is to get a first hand look at how God's Word affects those individuals in other countries and cultures. Contact your district or synod offices for suggestions of groups to approach.
Help
Help arrange for housing for visiting missionaries: Being out on the road for months at a time is tiring and expensive for traveling missionaries. You or someone in your congregation could be a blessing to a missionary family by housing them for a night in an atmosphere where they could truly relax and recuperate from their travels.
Share your backyard pool: If you are fortunate enough to have a large backyard or pool, invite a missionary family over for an after-noon of fun.
Offer free baby-sitting to a missionary couple so they could have a date night: The pressures and stress of being on the road are incredible. Offering to baby-sit will allow a missionary couple a rare "date" night.
Be a friend, demonstrate genuine interest in their family and individuals: Simple, just be their friend.
Ask questions about experiences: This will give you not only a better insight into as to the daily life of missionaries, but will build a relation-ship as well.
Be a listener who is sympathetic and non-judgmental and keep confidential whatever is shared with you: Like all of us, missionaries need to be honest about their lives and challenges. All too often, they are put on a pedestal and not allowed to be human. By being a listener, you can offer a tremendous service to the missionaries by allowing them to express themselves in a non-threatening atmosphere.
Give a travel game or book to missionary children as they leave your church: Missionary kids are like every other kid on long rides, they get bored. Give them something to do during the long hours traveling.
Start a mission library and make it available to the members of your congregation: Collect books and/or stories about mission and the countries or continents in which you are interested. Mission biographies are an excellent way to begin. Also, look at the provided bibliography for other suggestions.
Put postal air-forms addressed to your church's missionaries in a rack to make writing to missionaries easier.
Pray
Pray for God's Mission: To focus your prayers, use missionary prayer letters, newsletters, Operation World, Global Prayer Digest, and other sources available.
Ask for an LBT Prayer Calendar: We can provide a monthly prayer calendar to you and your congregation can pray for specific concerns and/or needs of LBT missionaries and mission staff.
Pray for your fellow Congregational Representatives: Remember your fellow representatives in your daily prayers. Pray that God upholds them and encourages them in their ministry for LBT.
Encourage and pray with Sunday School children for mission: When praying with children, you might do one or more of these things: pray near a world map, use prayer cards or display pictures of missionaries, use simple language, use a only few names and places, and follow up on the prayers.
Pray for government leaders: Pray that the leaders of our nation will make wise decisions when dealing with issues concerning other countries. Also, pray for the leaders in the countries in which LBT missionaries work. Pray for peace, justice, and that the Gospel will change the hearts of the national leaders.
Pray for a missionary's family: The extended family of a missionary also needs prayer. Pray for God's peace to be upon the families when their loved ones are away serving God, to help them be supportive, and to ease the loneliness and anxiety.
Pray for missionary children and that, they will do well in school: Often, missionary children have to be separated from their parents for months at a boarding school. Other children are home schooled. Pray that they receive a quality education.
Pray for LBT national co-workers: Pray that our indigenous co-workers would be blessed by their work and that they can tell others of Jesus Christ in their own language.
Have your youth group and small group Bible study specifically pray for God's mission: During the prayer time in these situations, you could either raise up specific concerns or individuals or a general prayer that the Good News will continue to open doors around the world.
Begin a "Mission Prayer Support Group": Ask a group of individuals who are mission-minded to periodically meet to learn of and pray for specific needs in world mission.
Pray for adaptability to culture, fluency in language, and good relationships with indigenous co-workers: Going to and working in another culture is often difficult. Pray for flexibility.
Pray that Missionaries will have a consistent, meaningful devotional life: Missionaries face many trials and spiritual attacks. Pray that they may keep their focus on their task and on God.
Learn/Educate
Attend LBT sponsored workshops focusing on different aspects of being an effective representative of LBT: By attending these gatherings, you can review the most recent LBT information, preview videos and resource material, and meet other representatives in your area or region.
Look for mission seminars and/or classes to attend: Look for opportunities to learn more about God's mission in seminars or classes offered at a Christian college or Seminary. Classes will give you insights into different aspects of mission and allow you to communicate about this ministry more effectively.
Learn the way to greet people in one of the languages in which LBT is working and greet people on Sunday mornings: This is a great way to break the ice and start talking with someone about LBT.
Map God's Mission: Take a large world map and place pictures and markers on the areas where LBT has missionaries are working on translation projects.
Read and listen for stories about the countries in which LBT is working in newspapers, magazines, and radio or television: This will keep you informed about the current conditions under which our translators are working. This will allow you to more intelligently share news and information with members of your congregation.
Listen to mission music: Do you know of an album or Christian music artist or group which uses music that emphasizes God's Mission? Look for CD's that have music from other countries to listen and share. Also, encourage your pastor to use more mission-oriented music in your weekly worship.
Learn another language: Not only is this a useful skill, but it helps you better understand the process an LBT missionary goes through in learning a new language. In learning new languages, we learn about the culture as well as the words.
Subscribe to mission periodicals: You already receive LBT's quarterly newsletter, the Messenger, but you might also like to order good materials from other mission organizations such as Lutheran Society for Missiology.
Look for and read other congregational newsletters and bulletins: for new ideas about missions.
Visit the Lutheran Bible Translators Service Center: The LBT Service Center is located, at 303 N. Lake St., Aurora, Illinois. Call 1-800-532-4253 for directions or just stop by. We will be happy to introduce you to the Service Center mission staff and give you a tour.
Regularly visit LBT's website: Visit us at our website www.LBT.org for updates and timely information about LBT's work around the world
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