Summer Short-Term Missions Opportunities

Psalm 67 Missions Network would like to invite you to be a part of two Summer Missions Opportunities this July!

Dates:

• July 13-21, 2013 (Corpus Christi, Texas)
• July 20-28, 2013 (Near McAllen, Texas)

Both trips will have similar assignments. You will be working with a small, Hispanic congregation to serve in their community by:

• Assisting in leading Summer Bible School (VBS) for all ages including adults.
• Leadership Training (praying with, encouraging, and providing materials to church leaders)
• Street Evangelism (working with church members to take the Gospel to others in their communities.
• Sports Outreach - Individuals athletically gifted may have the opportunity to play in public parks and present the Gospel to those who gather.
• Light construction work (painting, cleaning, moving, etc)

A few things other items of note:

• Psalm 67 Missions Trips are "Discipleship Orientated" which means participants should view themselves as one who is going to "benefit and grow" and not just one who will "go and serve others." We specifically design times of prayer, teaching, and discussion to engage participants and to challenge them.
• Speaking Spanish is NOT a requirement. Translators will be available.
• There will be an opportunity to enter Mexico for those who desire. Likewise, there will be a day of rest and a time to learn the culture.

If you or your group is interested, please contact us right away at office@psalm67missions.net

Concordance & Missionaries - "Saturday is for Suriname"

  Many of us take our concordance for granted. Our English concordance has become a search engine on a computer, which makes Bible study so much quicker & easier. Perhaps some of you remember the days of the book concordance, and flipping back & forth, searching many Scriptures to find the one you’re looking for. And to search for all verses with the same two words was extremely difficult & time consuming. Now we do it all with a few clicks of the mouse. Yet what an amazing tool is a book concordance if you have no computers, and there’s never been one in your language. Imagine the joy!

That’s the joy of the Wayana tribe in the jungles of Suriname. World Team missionaries Margaret & Jan have just completed a concordance in the Wayana language, and are now distributing them in the tribal villages. The tribe, who meet daily for worship, are excited about this new tool for knowing God’s Word. Praise God for his provision!

Another exciting development is that one of the tribes is sending out their own missionaries. They recently sent out a team to find a mysterious tribe in the jungles, who shy away from others, and are unknown to the other tribes. No one knows what they are like or what language they speak. The believers are very courageous & self-sacrificing for the spread of the Good News of Jesus.

Roy & Margaret (pictured with the Pfleegors) have served the tribes in Suriname for over 40 years, and will soon retire. Marco & Marjolean from Holland are replacing them, and there’s a need for another missionary to help. Roy was a soda truck driver before becoming a missionary.

Michael & Erin Pfleegor will help out some with the ministry to these tribes, but their focus will be more on unreached people in the capitol city of Suriname, Paramaribo. Psalm 67 Missions Network is partnering with the Pfleegors in this ministry. Please, prayerfully consider what part you too might have in this ministry for the glory of Christ. Thank you.

Saturday is for Suriname!

Suriname is a small country on the Northern coast of South America. It was a Dutch colony until 1975, so some still know it as Dutch Guiana. Suriname is very ethnically diverse with peoples originally from Africa, India, Indonesia, China, Brazil & Europe, as well as, Amerindians. Dutch is the official language, though each ethnic group has its own language. The people from India, for example, still speak an Indian language, though they have dropped the Indian script and now use Latin letters like Dutch or English.

There is much need for the Gospel in Suriname. Many of the ethnic groups there are unreached, though some are already working to bring the Gospel to them. World Team has been working for over 40 years in the jungle with the Amerindian tribes, some of which are now sending out their own missionaries. One couple, originally from neighboring Guyana, the Shiwdats have been serving in Suriname's capitol city Paramaribo for over 20 years.

Psalm 67 Mission Network is partnering with Michael & Erin Pfleegor, sent by Rockport Baptist Church, to labor with the Shiwdats & World Team in Suriname. Once there, the Pfleegors will learn Dutch, and then begin spreading the Gospel in Dutch. They will also help train interns from Psalm 67, and work with small groups who come for short trips.

We are excited about this open door from the Lord of the Harvest to reach unreached peoples with the Good News of Jesus. We would like to send the Pfleegors by January of 2014. God has already graciously provided; the Pfleegors already have 50% of what they will need to move to Suriname, get settled & learn Dutch. We also need families & churches to commit to regularly supporting them when they are there. Please consider partnering with us in service to Christ & the peoples of Suriname by prayer & financial help. Pray with us that God will continue preparing the Pfleegors for this great undertaking, and that he will provide all that we need to send & support them. And send your contributions to Psalm 67 Missions Network. We will keep you updated on their progress.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Psalm 67 Missions Network - "Partnering"

In a previous post we mentioned that we are going to cover the three major objectives of Psalm 67 Missions Network as we seek to carry out our mission. If you do not recall this information, we seek to fulfill our mission through three major areas:

• Training - Pre-field assignment, during, and after
• Sending - Short and long term missions
• Partnering - Working with established missionaries, congregations, and other

By "partnering" we are opening up a broad level of cooperation. This may look like sending teams for construction projects that help missionaries and congregations with whom we are already involved. It may look like emergency disaster relief. "Partnering" might also look like sharing resources with other partners to assist them in their ministry.

One way that we see this in scripture is taken from the book of Acts:

    And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
    Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
   
(Acts 11:21-30 ESV)

At the very basic level we have several things going on here (not exhaustive)

• Oversight given by and through the congregation and it's leaders
• The sending of trained and qualified individuals to work with other believers
• The work was diverse
• Teaching
• Exhortation
• Relief sent THROUGH the hands of two men who were sent by the Elders

This is a glimpse of what we at Psalm 67 Missions Network desire in our partnership ministries.

Thank you for partnering with us for the glory of God that the Nations would be glad!


Psalm 67 Missions Network

Christ's Church on Christ's Mission (Part 3)

(Continued from previous post)

 Why do we try to serve Christ on our own? There are, no doubt, more reasons, but let me suggest a few (which I've found in myself). 

1. Perhaps I am seeking some personal recognition, whether from God or man, rather than the profit of the body; I want to be the hero others look up to, rather than the unseen servant of others.
2. Perhaps the Lord has given me a burden to do some good work which I see being neglected by others; and rather than doing the slower & harder task of getting others to serve with me, I take the quicker & easier road of serving alone. 
3. Perhaps I don't think others could or would do as good a job as myself, so I fail to trust God to teach, grow, fill with the Spirit, empower & use them, and I neglect to pray for, encourage, train & make use of them.
4. Perhaps I find it hard working with others because I think I have all the best ideas, and am unwilling to listen to others or submit to their ideas & aid in their work. The end result is a whole lot of different body parts running around separately, trying to be whole bodies individually. There goes an eye. Here comes a nose.

 This is not limited to preachers, teachers & missionaries. Rather, we are all slaves of Christ, freed from our old bondage, so that we might serve him (2Co 5.14,15). Each child of God is necessary & each gift of the Spirit useful for Christ's mission. Men & women (Rom 16.1,2). Business- & tradesmen & women able to travel & ply their trade (16.3; cf. Acts 18.2,3). Laborers (Eph 4.28). Wealthy landowners (Acts 4.34-37). Seamstresses (9.36-42). Slaves (Col 4.9; cf. Phm). Masters (Phm 1.1,2). Servants of governments (Php 4.22). Homeowners (Acts 18.7-11). The list could go on. In short, ordinary people empowered by the Spirit, any--no, every--one of us. All who do so are "co-laborers in the truth" (3Jn 8).

Thus, there is the need for every effort on the measure of every part of the body of Christ toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission, bringing God's salvation to every people group. And in that work, there is the need of every believer lending every gift of the Spirit, who was given to empower us to this same end (Acts 1.8), in order that God may be glorified. Not ME doing what God has called ME personally to do, and maybe convince some others to help ME do it. Rather, US working TOGETHER to accomplish what God has called US to do. That is Christ's community on Christ's mission. Let's go!

Michael and Erin Pfleegor are members of Rockport Baptist Church in Arnold, Missouri and are preparing their family to serve in Suriname, South America. We invite you to pray for them, and consider perhaps contacting us at office@psalm67missions.net if you would like to invite The Pfleegor Family to your congregation, Sunday School class, small group, or other setting to present their ministry.