Missions in Focus: An Interview with Author Andrew Jit
At the recent ICOM Conference, we interviewed Andrew Jit about his newest book: Missions in Focus. Here are some insights he shared about the book and how it can be used to prepare yourself or others for the mission field.
College Press: What is Missions in Focus about?
Andrew: How do we send people [into the mission field] well? We didn’t write just to individuals, but also to churches so that churches can know how to be involved in missions.
My coauthor Chris Irwin and I have a combined 25 years of experience in the mission field. We also have both the mission field perspective and the church perspective. There are a lot of books on missions that are either from church or missions perspective, but not a lot that are from both. We wanted churches, students, and potential missionaries to have a go-to book that defined missions, engaged in missions, and unwrapped the whole idea of being sent out.
Missions in Focus is a practical go-to guide that looks at 10 issues in the missions world from both the missions perspective and the church perspective.
College Press: Why did you write Missions in Focus and what do you hope it accomplishes?
Andrew: A lot of churches want to be involved in missions, but they may not know how to. As a result, we wanted to provide the perspectives and information they need to be involved. Chris and I both have a deep well of experience and wanted to provide a Biblical understanding of missions, why we do them, and how to mobilize people for missions.
The missing piece we saw in the genre of missions books – looking at things from both the church and missions perspective – brings a unique voice to the table. Ideally, we want to hear people from the field reading this book and saying “Oh I never thought about it like that!”
College Press: Who is this book for?
Andrew: Missions in Focus is for churches that are looking to send missionaries out, maybe for the first time. It’s also meant for individuals who are about to be sent out, especially if it’s their first time. This book is also well suited to be used in a college classroom setting, potentially as a textbook for students studying missions.
For all of these types of readers, we were trying to hit the most important topics so that they could have a complete understanding of missions from the two different perspectives – the church and the missionary.
To build the missions mindset in your church or ministry, click here to order Missions in Focus.