Short-term trips can be great, but they're often made of a large group of people who spend a week volunteering and then just leave. While that might help address a community’s immediate needs, it rarely leads to deeper connections for anyone involved.

At Uncharted, we started implementing Vision Trips: an experience oriented towards learning about our international Locations, meeting people, and establishing what will become long-last relationships with people around the world who are all working toward the same goals.

In this episode, we’re talking about Vision Trips and we’re asking questions like: what is a Vision Trip, and how is it different from a regular, service-oriented trip? And how do they help unify the church so we can work together to fulfill the Great Commission?

Partnering with a missions or international organization can bring a lot of opportunities to a church, and help introduce people to Kingdom-work happening all over the world. But there are good and bad ways a church can enter into a partnership, and good and bad consequences that can come from it.

On this episode, we talk to James Grout from One Child and we’re asking questions like: why should a local church look for an international partner? Where should we start when we want to ‘get into missions’? And how can we make sure we are entering into a healthy, fruitful partnership?

One Child: onechild.org

Outpost: outpostnetwork.org

What is the Bible for? How do we engage with certain passages that have been used to harm people? What can we do to be better students of the Word? Join us for Part 2 of our conversation with partner church pastor Will Barnes on how to read, interpret and apply Scripture.

RESOURCES:

Flexible Faith by Bonnie Kristian - www.amazon.com/Flexible-Faith-Re…low/dp/1478992093

Slaves, Women and Homosexuality by William J Webb - www.amazon.com/Slaves-Women-Homo…ics/dp/0830815619

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee - www.amazon.com/How-Read-Bible-Al…%2Dcentury%20life.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by Richard Bauckham - www.amazon.com/Jesus-Eyewitnesse…ony/dp/0802863906

The Bible is necessary to understanding our faith as Christians and our history as the Church. But it’s also a complicated book and full of stories that are difficult to wrap your head around. Especially as you’re told it’s somehow a historical document, a poetry collection, a self-help guide, an instruction manual, and also includes everything you could possibly need to know in order to live a good life. And it's hard to have frank conversations about any of this, because it is an incredibly touchy subject for most people.

But we're talking about with partner church pastor Will Barnes, and we’re asking questions like: What do we need to know about the Bible in order to understand it? Does God contradict himself in his Word? And are there questions we should be asking, but aren’t?

RESOURCES:

Flexible Faith by Bonnie Kristian - https://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Faith-Rethinking-Means-Follow/dp/1478992093

Slaves, Women and Homosexuality by William J Webb - https://www.amazon.com/Slaves-Women-Homosexuals-Exploring-Hermeneutics/dp/0830815619

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee - https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Bible-All-Worth/dp/0310517826#:~:text=The%20Bible%20is%20accessible.,twenty%2Dfirst%2Dcentury%20life.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by Richard Bauckham - https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Eyewitnesses-Gospels-Eyewitness-Testimony/dp/0802863906

It’s hard to pin down exactly what we mean when we talk about the ‘soul.’ It's more of a philosophical question than a linguistics question.

Maybe the times when we most keenly sense our soul, is when it’s weary. Most of us know what it means when the psalms say things like, “My soul is downcast. My soul waits for you. My soul longs for you.”

In this episode, we talk with our friend and Uncharted board member Jill Randall and we’re asking questions like: What does it look like to be taking care of your soul? How do you balance taking care of yourself with living, sometimes sacrificially, for others? And how can we start practicing it today?

RESOURCES:

Ruth Haley Barton: Sacred Rhythms - https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Rhythms-Arranging-Spiritual-Transformation/dp/0830833331

Henri Nouwen: The Way of the Heart - https://henrinouwen.org/read/the-way-of-the-heart/

Ruth Haley Barton: Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership - https://www.amazon.com/Strengthening-Soul-Your-Leadership-Crucible/dp/083083513X

Bill Randall: Jesus Made Possible - https://www.amazon.com/Life-Jesus-Made-Possible-Embracing/dp/1493717235

We’re constantly seeing the worst of the worst, from every corner of the world. And we respond in a lot of different ways, ranging from despair, to compassion, to cynicism, to apathy.But then, the news cycle moves on as the injustice and tragedies continue.

At Uncharted, we’ve dealt with this a lot in the past year, with war and tragedy in 2 of the countries where we work dominating the news cycle, stirring up support and sympathy and criticism, and then getting dropped for the next big story.

So, what are we supposed to do about it? Is there a ‘right’ response to have when people overseas are suffering? How can you stay informed without being overwhelmed? And what is there to do, other than offer thoughts and prayers?

Resources:

Praying for Peace when it Feels Useless w/ Fr. James Martin: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/02/24/prayer-ukraine-242464

Write to Uncharted Partners: https://www.unchartedinternational.org/write

Give to Uncharted ministries: unchartedinternational.org/give

Organizations helping Ukraine:

https://novo.org/

https://www.omusa.org/

For a lot of people, the idea of ‘global missions’ can seem big, vague, and distant. Especially when there is so much need to be connected to a local church and community. It can feel like you have to choose one over the other, local vs global. In this episode, we’re talking to Jeremy Lalk, Uncharted’s new Engagement Director, which is a new role for him and for us. And we’re going to be asking questions like: Is there actually a choice to be made between local and global? And how can you be engaged in both at the same time?

The second part of our conversation with Scott Klaudt from Zootown Church, where we talk about the day-to-day implications of different beliefs of hell.

Recommended Resources:

“Across the Spectrum” by Gregory A Boyd and Paul R. Eddy

“Flexible Faith” by Bonnie Kristian

“Her Gates will Never be Shut” by Brad Jersak

“Jesus Undefeated” by Keith Giles

“Christ the Conquer of Hell” by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

Zootown’s Hell Series:

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hell…i=1000512171399

Hell is an incredibly evocative and divisive topic, and what we believe about it can impact our lives in surprising ways. On this episode, we’re talking with our friend Scott Klaudt from Zootown Church and we’re asking questions like: what does the Bible actually say about hell? How do our views of hell impact the importance of international missions? And if universal salvation is possible, why does anyone bother with missions?

Resources:

“Across the Spectrum” by Gregory A Boyd and Paul R. Eddy

“Flexible Faith” by Bonnie Kristian

“Her Gates will Never be Shut” by Brad Jersak

“Jesus Undefeated” by Keith Giles

“Christ the Conquer of Hell” by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

Zootown’s Hell Series:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hell-ology-episode-1-a-history-of-hell/id910329390?i=1000512171399

Resource on John Stott’s views: https://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/documents/death/judgement-hell.php#.YbYJe_HML0o

It’s an adjustment to go from seeing ‘short-term mission trip’ as a youth group service project to seeing it as an opportunity for learning and relationships. It takes another adjustment to think of mission trips in developed nations, in modern cities and more comfortable places. One of Uncharted’s Communities is Belgrade, Serbia, which is beautiful and fun and a genuinely lovely place to visit. The Orthodox church has a strong presence. So what do we do there?

On this episode, we talk to Ben and Shelby about their recent visit to our partners in Belgrade, and ask questions like: What is the point in doing missions in a place that appears to be reached? What do you ‘do’ when you do a trip like this? And why should you get involved in a place like Belgrade, Serbia?

Resources:

The Future of World Religions - https://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/