Mission Trips of a Different Kind: Diving Into the World’s Financial Districts

Thinking about mission trips to impoverished countries as about only reaching the poor is a thing of the past, says Resource Global visionary and leader Tommy Lee.Editor's Note: Tommy Lee played a key role in the Together LA 2015 conference, facilitating and hosting an amazing list of speakers and organizations.The reality is that many of these same countries where Christians went out in multitudes to share the gospel in distant villages and outposts, now have economically thriving financial districts inside cosmopolitan cities.“The whole idea behind Resource Global is that the world is different. We used to think that missions was just about sending missionaries to all these islands, the bush, and third-world countries where they don’t know anything about Christ,” Tommy said. “Now, the cities are booming, the economies are booming, and their young people are well-educated, college grads, wealthier than you and I, and have dreams to really make a difference in the city.”The question now becomes: “How do you equip young Christian marketplace leaders to not only grow their existing enterprises for their city but to understand the greater world of global missions and supporting initiatives around the world?”Because of this shifting paradigm, an important focus for Resource Global is to identify young marketplace leaders, who are post-college to early 30’s living and working in different global cities. “We come alongside them to help them really understand their journey and what their presence in their city means,” Tommy said.Resource Global was started in 2010 after the Lausanne Global Congress in South Africa. After the Congress was over, the question was asked - How do we invest in these leaders who are making a difference for the Kingdom in their respective countries, cities, and also communities?

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In the first five years of the organization, the staff and volunteers of Resource Global worked primarily with ministry and non profit leaders to engage their cities. Resource Global worked on projects in a number of global cities and also in various parts of the US. Countries included Ghana, South Africa, Egypt, Peru, China, and more.Tommy said that the idea of establishing cohorts, such as in Jakarta, came when he felt the need to shift away from focusing on ministries and invest in these young marketplace leaders in key urban cities around the world. Many of these young leaders had studied in the West, Oxford, or other cities outside of their own and now were returning home to work. “Globalization was creating a different type of person, one that is unlike anyone we have seen before.” They are seeing things different, with a different set of lenses. “What does it mean if these people continue to renew their city as we continue to invest in them?”Cohorts are started when a decision is made to “journey together for eight months to really be able to learn some practical, theological ideas, and also reflect and understand God’s journey and story for their lives.” The long term vision is to build a global network where like minded leaders from different cities are learning from one another. Technology has allowed us to do this easily now.Tommy adds, “So, we will spend some time looking at Scripture, but a lot of it is looking at what their story is and how God is moving and shaping them. We also look at the topics of faith and work as well as their strengths and passions while tackling what it looks like to address the problems in their city.“The key then becomes for us to connect them with the other cohorts. So, we have a cohort in Chicago, we will have one in Nairobi, and Singapore. Now, with the world being smaller, how can a person in Jakarta connect with a person in Nairobi and learn from each other?”Resource Global focuses on developing local leaders and teachers.“These cohorts are a pipeline for developing local leaders and teachers,” Tommy said. “Now, this first cohort (Jakarta) is helping us to oversee a conference, they are now going to be some of our future breakout teachers and We’re teaching them how to break down scripture and speak according to scripture and develop talks around scripture.”First in a series.

Ministry Launches to Help Firmly Place Faith Alongside Your Work

God cares for every area of your life, and although it may seem obvious, He cares about how you live out your faith at work and inside the workplace. That's an area of our lives that could use more attention from churches, said Steve Lindsey, who is the visionary behind the Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles (CFWLA).CFWLA is a gospel-centered non-profit dedicated to transforming our relationship to work, fostering human flourishing, and renewing Los Angeles, states the organization. Lindsey recently shared his vision with Together LA, and about the group's first conference to be held in Santa Monica on April 1. The CFWLA is partnered with Pacific Crossroads Church for "cultural renewal to equip, connect and mobilize the church, sent out to care for the world of work."Lindsey's answers to four questions about CFWLA from TLA are below.TLA: What inspired you to start this ministry?Steve Lindsey: My interest in integrating faith with vocational life goes back to the '80s (though I'm not really that old). I loved early exposure to Francis Schaeffer’s teachings that God cares about every area of life. Yet my vocational work seemed under-addressed in church contexts and ministry, and felt lacking any ultimate value or purpose to God beyond providing for my family and church or being a platform for evangelism. After much reading, prayer, research, and discovering the pioneering work of the Center for Faith and Work in NYC at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (Tim Keller's vision), my wife Margaret and I saw that such a center located in Los Angeles could be just such a catalyst for transforming our view of work and it's pivotal place in God's kingdom.TLA: How is the Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles unique?Lindsey: CFWLA is unique in its addressing the needs of working believers in three primary ways: 1) In-depth theological and spiritual formation tailored to our vocational calls, within a rich and transformative community environment, 2) Envisioning God's redemptive purposes for our life's work inclusive of our vocational careers, and 3) Enabling the initiation of concrete expressions of social, cultural, and spiritual renewal in our city through our world of work.TLA: What is the most important thing people interested in attending your conference need to know?Lindsey: Come prepared to be fully engaged and receive an exciting vision for your vocational world and the future vision of CFWLA! Also, our website www.faithandworkLA.com is designed to make information and access simple to all of our events and offerings.TLA: How can Christians in LA come together to love on the city in terms of CFWLA goals?Lindsey: Loving the city well involves seeing God's love for all of creation more clearly. Our cities, communities and places of work are all extensions of God's creative work in the world. But so much has been broken and lost and in need of His restoration and redemption at the individual, social, and institutional levels. At the Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles we believe that the gospel affects everything, and as Chuck Colson once said, "Transformed people transform culture." Anyone longing to see God's hand more tangibly at work through their vocational contexts is encouraged to seek us out.