Mission Associations

by A. Scott Moreau and Mike O’Rear

In this installment of Missions on the Web we look at networks, fellowships, and associations of mission agencies around the world.

In this installment of Missions on the Web we look at networks,
fellowships, and associations of mission agencies around the world.
Missiopedia provides an initial overview of global, regional, and
national evangelical mission associations (www.missionmanual.com/wiki/Intermission_Networks).¹

Similarly, the
Mission Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance has published both
a brief list of regional and national associations in its December 2008
Agora newsletter
(www.worldevangelicals.org/commissions/mc/agora/122008.htm) and an
extensively annotated directory of national mission movements (www.worldevangelicalalliance.com/commissions/mc/mc_southafrica/
resources/NMM_directory_complete.pdf).

We focus here on evangelical mission associations that offer
significant online resources. (Some emerging mission associations do
not yet have their own website, and some choose not to have a website
for security reasons.) Naturally, many national mission sites are in
languages other than English; you might find it helpful to enter
non-English-language website text and/or URLs into a free computer
translation service such as Goggle’s Language Tools
(www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en). We’ve arranged the websites
below by the geographic region in which they are based or in which
their ministry is focused. Some sites of a more global membership and
focus are grouped under “global.” We encourage you to point your
browser to the accompanying MisLinks page
(www.mislinks.org/practical/assoc.htm) where you can click on links to
all the sites mentioned in this article.²

Latin America

• COMIBAM is the association of evangelical mission agencies in
Ibero-America (Latin America, Spain, and Portugal). Its website
(www.comi-bam.org; in Spanish) is a rich source of information for and
about missions in the region, including mission news, global
statistics, a document library, a directory of key contact people, and
extensive directories of the evangelical mission organizations and
associations of Ibero-America (www.comibam.org/catalogo2006/ing). A
number of countries have national COMIBAM chapters; perhaps the most
developed is the one in Mexico, COMIMEX (www.comimex.org; in Spanish).
This site has a wealth of information resources, including contact
people for each region, descriptions of various COMIMEX departments,
articles, and a link to the Etnopedia project that details unreached
people groups (www.etnopedia.org).

• The Brazilian Association of
Cross-Cultural Missions (www.amtb.org.br) and the related InfoBrasil
(www.infobrasil.org) sites, both in Portuguese, offer an extensive
directory of mission agencies in Brazil and vast amounts of valuable
missions-related information.

• The work of SEPAL, and especially Ted
Limpic, have helped the Brazilian Church offer some of the best, most
extensive information of any national mission movement. FEDEMEC
(Federación Misionera Evangélica Costarricense; www.fedemec.org; in
Spanish), a fellowship of mission agencies in Costa Rica, provides
descriptions of FEDEMEC programs, documents to download, and pages of
links.

Africa

• The Movement for African National Initiatives (MANI) is “a network of
networks focused on catalyzing African National Initiatives and
mobilizing the resources of the Body of Christ in Africa for the
fulfillment of the Great Commission.” The website (www.maniafrica.com)
includes information on each of the eight MANI regions and contact
people, the full country profile from Operation World for each African
country, videos, conference reports, and the extensive MANI Handbook.

• World Evangelisation Network of South Africa (WENSA) grew out of the
Missions Commission of the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa a few
years ago. Its website (www.wensa.org.za) includes descriptions of
WENSA events, processes, networks, and action points, as well as pages
of documents and links.

• Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association (NEMA) is “a networking
association and fellowship forum… of mission agencies, organizations,
and churches which come together under one umbrella to foster the work
of missions in Nigeria.” The NEMA website (www.nematoday.org) provides
information about the association, its programs (focused on research,
training, mobilization, and leadership development), conferences, and
initiatives.

• Ghana Evangelical Missions Association apparently does not
have its own website, but you can read about this significant mission
movement on Missiopedia
(
www.missionmanual.org/wiki/Ghana_Evangelical_Missions_Association).

Asia/Pacific

• India Missions Association is the national federation of missions in
India consisting of 220 member organizations. The website
(www.imaindia.org) includes extensive information about IMA’s leaders,
programs, networks, projects, and publications, as well as research
information on the country and peoples of India. (You will need to
register and log in to view some of the information.)

• For nearby Sri
Lanka, the mission section of the National Christian Evangelical
Alliance of Sri Lanka website (nceasl.org/NCEASL/missions) provides
valuable information about its programs and services.

• Korea World Missions Association (KWMA) has as its goal “to achieve
effectiveness in world mission through a reciprocal cooperative and
unified effort in all mission-related activities…” The website
(kwma.org) provides information about the association’s programs,
consultations, services, and related networks, along with valuable
documents and directories available for download. The English language
site (kwma.org/eng) will be more accessible for many of our readers; it
includes a list of member organizations with links to their respective
websites.
Japan has two major mission associations.

• Japan Evangelical Missionary
Association (JEMA; www.jema.org; in English) offers information on its
programs and commissions, an online list of member organizations, a
calendar of upcoming events, and document archives. In addition, it
offers for sale its magazine Japan Harvest; the book Operation Japan,
and the JEMA Directory listing Protestant missionaries currently
working in Japan.

• Japan Overseas Missions Association (JOMA;
www.joma.mydns.jp; in Japanese) is the Department of Overseas Mission
of the Evangelical Church of Japan. The website includes a description
and brief history of the association, a directory of member
organizations, and some publications for sale.

• Several associations
focus on the Chinese world. The Chinese Coordination Centre of World
Evangelism (CCCOWE; www.cccowe.org; English language site at
www.cccowe.org/eng) was “established to mobilize Chinese churches to
spread the gospel to nations all over the world.” The website provides
information about the organization, its leaders, conferences, and
publications.

• Taiwan Missionary Fellowship (www.tmf.org.tw; in
English), offers a variety of online forums and a resource center that
includes extensive research work by TEAM missionary George McFall: a
report on trends in the geographic distribution of Protestant churches
along with 135 maps of Protestant church distribution comparing
education and income with population per church for every township in
Taiwan.

• The Hong Kong Association of Christian Missions site
(www.hkacm.org.hk) includes information about the association’s
programs, events, and publications.

• The Malaysian Center for Global
Mission (Malaysia Missions Network) is dedicated to “networking the
Malaysian Church for Cross-Cultural Missions.” The website
(www.mcgm.net.my; in English) includes descriptions of the network’s
tracks (training, mobilization, tent-making, youth, and information), a
calendar of events, and a small archive of downloadable articles.

• For
Singapore, check out the Singapore Centre for Evangelism and Missions
(SCEM; www.scem.info); its website includes a news and events section,
newsletter and article archives, and links to other resources.

• Philippine Missions Association is a partnership of evangelical mission
agencies, churches, denominational mission commissions, and mission
training institutions focused on mobilizing “the global Filipino Church
in evangelizing the nations, including our own unreached people
groups.” The website (cybermissions.org/pma) provides information about
the Philippines and the mission environment within the country, an
annotated directory of member organizations, resources for sale, and
two surveys to fill out (one on overseas Filipino churches, and the
other on career and tent-making missionaries).

• Australia and New Zealand have Missions Interlink websites. The
Australia organization functions as a Commission of the Australian
Evangelical Alliance. Its website (www.missionsinterlink.org.au) is
focused on engaging people in missions; there are networks, forums,
event calendars, state-by-state information, a news page, and prayer
calendars.

• Missions Interlink in New Zealand (formerly the New Zealand
Evangelical Missionary Alliance) has as its purpose “to network and
serve all involved in cross-cultural outreach in, from, and to NZ so
that NZ participation in world mission is maximized.” The website
(www.missions.org.nz) is focused on helping people make connections:
with member organizations, with work in a particular country of
interest, with opportunities to use particular skills, with practical
resources for missionaries (e.g., car, computer, accommodation, etc.),
and with training opportunities.

Europe
The European Evangelical Missionary Association (EEMA) works closely
with the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA) to be “an alliance of
national mission movements and missionary task forces of all countries
of Europe.” The website (www.europeanema.org) has links to member
websites, other organizations, and resources.

• The website of the
European Student Missionary Association (ESMA; www.esma-info.net;
also
see (www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37358398853) is partially in German
and partially in English, and focuses on mobilizing students in
theological schools for prayer for world missions.

• Global Connections (formally the UK Evangelical Missionary Alliance) is
a “network of mission agencies, churches, colleges, and service
agencies with a passion for the world.” Its website
(www.globalconnections.co.uk) offers a wealth of valuable mission
information, including an extensive mission issues library of
downloadable documents, a directory of members, various discussion
forums, descriptions of upcoming events and papers from previous
events, codes of practice, book reviews, media library, support
services, online store, and regional prayer guides.

• Nearby, in Northern
Ireland, you will find the Mission Agencies Partnership (MAP), “a group
of about 45 mission agencies who work together to promote the challenge
of world mission and the opportunities for people to become involved in
the mission mandate to the church.” The partnership’s website
(www.mapmission.org) provides a search feature that enables people to
find various service opportunities.

• In northern Europe, there is the
Icelandic Mission Council (Samband íslenskra kristnibo_sfélaga (SÍK), a
member of the European Evangelical Missionary Association. It obviously
has a substantial website (www.sik.is); unfortunately, our Icelandic
illiteracy prohibits us from providing any description of the site’s
content.

• For Norway, there is NORME (Norwegian Council for Mission and
Evangelism; Norsk Råd for Misjon og Evangelisering), a merger of the
Norwegian Lausanne Committee and the Evangelical Alliance. Its website
(www.norme.no; in Norwegian) has mission news, articles, a member
directory, and descriptions of related networks.

• The Swedish Mission
Council (SMC; Svenska Missionsrådet) is “an association of 36 Swedish
denominations, mission organisations and other Christian
agencies…that works for a just and reconciled world.” The website
(www.missioncouncil.se) has a helpful “English” tab in the lower left
corner; click it to view the English language website. Here you will
find relevant news items, publications to download, and links to member
websites.

• The Danish Mission Council (Dansk Missionsråd; www.dmr.org;
in Danish) offers information about the council, a directory of Danish
mission organizations, a calendar of events, downloadable articles and
reports, and a link to mission training courses.

• The Finnish Mission
Council (Suomen lähetysneuvosto; www.lahetysneuvosto.fi; in Finnish)
includes a directory of its thirty-one members with links to their
websites, news, reports, links to training opportunities, annual
statistics on Finnish missionaries, and links to other organizations
and associations. Germany has three sites of particular interest.

• The
Alliance of Evangelical Missions (AEM; Arbeitsgemeinschaft
Evangelikaler Missionen) is an association of ninety Protestant
missionary societies and training institutes. Its website (www.aem.de;
in German) includes a member directory, lists of openings and service
opportunities, information on upcoming events, fundraising principles,
and links to associated networks and partners.

• The Association of
Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany (EMW; Evangelisches
Missionswerk in Deutschland) is closely related to the WCC. The English
version of its website
(www.emw-d.de/en.root/index.html) includes
substantial information about the association, articles and
publications (in German), a searchable catalog of its reference library
of 29,000 volumes and 375 periodicals, and links to related resource
sites and projects.

• The Association of Pentecostal and Charismatic
Missions (APCM; Arbeitsgemeinschaft der pfingstlich-charismatischen
Missionen) consists of fifty-three Pentecostal and charismatic
missionary societies and communities. The website (www.apcm.de; in
German) includes a member directory, links to other societies and
websites, and downloadable documents.

• Moving on to Western Europe,
there’s the Evangelical Mission Alliance (EZA; Evangelische
Zendingsalliantie) in The Netherlands. The website (www.eza.nl; in
Dutch) includes mission news items and prayer points; a calendar of
upcoming events; a free newsletter; a member directory; information
about its Missionary Kid network; a document download page; and links
to training opportunities, projects, and other resources.

• In
Switzerland, the Alliance of Evangelical Missions (AEM;
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Evangelischer Missionen) is a part of the Swiss
Evangelical Alliance and consists of forty-five mission agencies and
training institutions. Its website (www.aem.ch; in German) provides
information about the alliance, links to member websites and other
resources, information about upcoming events and training courses, and
a section dedicated to member care.

• AEM’s sister organization,
Fédération de Missions Évangéliques Francophone (FMEF), is primarily
focused on missions in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. Its website
(www.temanet.org; in French) has a page of links to member websites,
brief information on the countries of the world, and links to other
resources. The Portuguese Evangelical Alliance has a webpage of
information about its Mission Commission
(www.portalevangelico.pt/ass_missao.asp).

North America
Most EMQ readers will be familiar with the two leading associations of
North American evangelical mission agencies: The Mission Exchange
(formerly EFMA)³ and CrossGlobal Link (formerly IFMA).

• The Mission
Exchange (themissionexchange.org) offers a variety of online services
to its members: webinars, book reviews, video blogs, online directory
of members, access to its professional services network, and
information about its events and conferences.

• CrossGlobal Link
(www.crossgloballink.org) offers extensive information about the
association, an online directory of members, a calendar of upcoming
events, a database of service opportunities, and a newsletter archive.

• The Fellowship of Missions provides “a biblical ministry outreach for
fundamental, premillennial churches in North America” and consists of
twenty-nine independent member agencies. The website
(fellowshipofmissions.org) provides information about the organization,
an archive of its newsletters, a section of news and views, book
reviews, and a page of links to member websites.

• The Association of
Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations (AERDO; www.aerdo.net)
provides links to member websites, information about its affinity
programs (HIV/AIDS, Gifts-In-Kind, and Global Relief Alliance), and
sets of standards (doctrinal, financial, gifts-in-kind, and principles
of practice).

• The Coalition on the Support of Indigenous Ministries
(COSIM) is “a fellowship of evangelical organizations with a common
interest in the support and development of Majority World ministries.”
Its website (www.cosim.info) includes a directory of members and a
valuable resource center with documents, audio recordings, and
PowerPoint presentations from COSIM members and previous COSIM
conferences.

Global
Several long-standing, broad umbrella groups (though not explicitly
associations of mission agencies) focus on world evangelization.

• The
Mission Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance
(www.worldevangelicals.org/commissions/mc) provides an online journal
(Connections) and newsletter (Agora), and a link to the International
Missionary Training Network (www.theimtn.org).

• The Lausanne Committee
for World Evangelization (www.lausanne.org) offers online newsletters,
blogs, information on Lausanne gatherings, and a host of Lausanne
documents to download.

• The Commission on World Mission and Evangelism
(CWME) of the World Council of Churches is composed of twenty-five
members and includes Roman Catholics, evangelicals, and Pentecostals.
Its website
(www.oikoumene.org/en/who-are-we/organization-structure/consultative-bodies/
world-mission-and-evangelism.html)
has minimal information; it is focused on the history of the CWME and
its conferences, and the run-up to the Edinburgh 1910 centennial.

• There is a relatively new Global Network of Mission Structures (GNMS)
functioning as a global rather than national or regional association of
mission agencies. The website (www.gnms.net) is quite minimal: a couple
of descriptive articles and a list of founding delegates. You can read
excerpts of an interview with GNMS international director Dr. Yong Cho
in the January/February 2009 issue of Mission Frontiers

(
www.missionfrontiers.org/pdf/2009/01/13-14%20Cho%20Interview.pdf).

• The
Third World Missions Association (New World Missions Association),
founded in 1989, apparently does not have its own website; however, you
can read about the association on founder David Cho’s website

(www.davidcho.or.kr/list.php?boardid=E3_2) and read about its tenth
anniversary congress in a 1999 Mission Frontiers article titled
“Preparing for the ‘New World Missions Congress for the Third
Millennium’”
(www.missionfrontiers.org/pdf/1999/0304/articles/newsf.htm). The
association’s constitution is available at

www.davidcho.or.kr/download.php?uid=56&boardid=E4_3.

• The Micah
Network is “a group of 300 Christian relief, development, and justice
organisations from 75 countries.” It aims to build capacity, encourage
integral mission (“to proclaim and demonstrate the love of Christ to a
world in need”), and advocate for “the rights of the poor and oppressed
and rescue the weak and needy.” The website (www.micah-network.org/en)
includes a member directory and excellent learning resources (on
forums, partnership, peer mentoring, community development, HIV/AIDS,
and disaster management). In particular, the site provides a valuable
introduction to Integral Mission (www.micahnetwork.org/en/integral-mission).

• Ethne is “a global network focused on serving the 28% of the world’s
people without access to the good news” (unreached peoples). Its
website (www.ethne.net) contains valuable information, documents, and
links focused on four areas: a crisis response network; recruiting,
training, and deploying long-term cross-cultural workers; member care;
and prayer strategies.

Three other broad-based global networks are more activist in nature.

• Call2All is “a worldwide movement calling the Church to a renewed,
focused, collaborative effort to fulfill the Great Commission.” Its
website (call2all.org) has information on its networks (pastors,
pastors’ wives, and businesses), member organizations, resources (on
evangelism, unreached people groups, orality, church presence, 4K
mapping, and prayer), and upcoming events.

• Transform World
(www.transform-world.net/new) offers relevant articles, links to
Transform World events in various countries, and an online newsletter
archive.

• Second Billion (Billion Soul Network) is a pastor-led movement
to reach a billion people for Christ; its website (www.billion.tv)
features an online newsletter, links to member websites, and
information about upcoming global summits.

Conclusion

As the world of evangelical missions continues to expand—especially in
the developing world and among specialized networks—we expect to see
more association websites appear. We encourage you to check back with
MisLinks in the future to see what additional resources we have
discovered. And if you are aware of a site that should be included,
send us an email with the information so that we can consider including
it on the MisLinks page.

Endnotes
1. All websites begin with http:// unless otherwise noted.

2. MisLinks has a page on academic and missiology societies
(www.mislinks.org/research/societies.htm); however, they are not
covered in this article.

3. The Alliance for Missions Advancement (a subsidiary of AIMS;
Accelerating International Mission Strategies), the association of
North American Pentecostal and charismatic mission organizations,
recently merged into The Mission Exchange.

….

A. Scott Moreau is editor of EMQ and a professor in the Intercultural Studies department at Wheaton College Graduate School (Wheaton, Ill.). His email address is A.S.Moreau@wheaton.edu, and the Wheaton Missions Department web address is www.wheaton.edu/intr.

Mike O’Rear is the president of Global Mapping International (Colorado Springs, Colo.), which is dedicated to providing access to information for church and mission leaders, especially in the Two-thirds World. His email address is mike@gmi.org, and the GMI web address is www.gmi.org.

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