Missio Alliance

06/22/2026

“The work of racial healing is not optional for Followers of the Way of Jesus. It is a way of being – a deeply raw, courageous, and redemptive process – that is essential to our formation into the likeness of Christ.”

Spiritual director, pastor, and author Afrika Afeni Mills asks and answers the question: how can true racial healing occur through spiritual formation practices?

Read Afrika’s insights at the link: https://missioalliance.org/an-invitation-to-racial-healing-as-spiritual-formation/

06/19/2026

This Juneteenth, we're offering two pieces worth reading slowly.

Natasha Robinson reminds us that the stories we tell — and the ones we avoid — reveal the kind of people and nation we truly are. And Joylanda Jamison invites the whole body of Christ to build stones of remembrance: to grieve what deserves grief, and rejoice in God's faithful interruption of history.

Take some time with both today.
🔗Origins Stories Matter: https://missioalliance.org/origin-stories-matter-on-juneteenth/?goal=0_3f37490002-cde8f0f151-99643718
🔗Stones of Remembrance: https://missioalliance.org/stones-of-remembrance-a-poem-for-juneteenth/?goal=0_3f37490002-cde8f0f151-99643718

06/15/2026

"Hungry and full people can't comfortably sit at the same table together, especially when the fullness of some results in the hunger and thirst of others."

Sociologist Dr. Oneya Fennell Okuwobi considers the state of race and equity in the Church and how the wisdom of 1 Corinthians 11 helps to answer the question: When will the Church finally bring about racial equity?

Read the full piece by Dr. Oneya Okuwobi at the link: https://missioalliance.org/hungry-people-and-full-people/

06/14/2026

We are proud to sign on to this pastoral statement in recognition of World Refugee Month.

Scripture calls us to remember the foreigner, protect the vulnerable, and practice radical hospitality. As followers of Jesus, we affirm that every person — regardless of migration status or journey — is made in the image of God and worthy of dignity, compassion, and love.

At a moment when public rhetoric can reduce people to abstractions, the Church is called to embody a different imagination: the way of Jesus.
This June, join us in praying for displaced peoples around the world, listening to their stories, and considering practical ways to extend the welcome of Christ in your community.

🔗 Read the full statement and access World Refugee Day resources at the link below: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A0dRctV4_w3fAjr4tj8L3dRoC1pX6QygyAqVonVdwfM/edit

“May the Church be known not for fear, outrage, or indifference, but for love, truth, hospitality, and courageous compassion in the way of Jesus.”

06/11/2026

Here’s what you can expect when you join our fourth cohort!

Session with gifted experts and facilitators to speak about helpful topics like:
📝 Your Voice as a Woman: Speaking, Preaching and Writing
📝 Leading and Working with men
📝 Confidence and clarification in calling
📝 Listening & discernment practices
& more!

Community connections that include:
💻 10 Zoom meetings (2 hours/month)
🗣️ 6 peer connection calls (30 mins./month)
🌵 1 in-person retreat in Scottsdale, AZ

As a diverse cohort of women leaders, you can expecet to build a community of trust with the same women over 6-months to listen, encourage, and exchange feedback.

The community we seek to support includes:
🌸 Women of all ages involved in work or ministry (full-time/part-time) in a church, non-profit org., or their community.
🌸 Those who feel alone or isolated in ministry and desire a supportive community of like-minded leaders.
🌸 Leaders who want to learn more with peers about calling, voice, leadership and formation.

If this sounds like something you or a friend would be blessed by, click the link below to be one of the 10 women or share this post with a friend! Applications are now open and due by August 5, 2026.

https://missioalliance.org/sustaining-women-in-ministry/

06/08/2026

"As we move toward Juneteenth, I am reminded that freedom is not merely an idea to affirm, but a reality to practice with one another."

Today, we honor the legacy of American minister and civil rights activist, Rev. Dr. John M. Perkins. Through this brave practice, Lisa Rodriguez Watson shares how Dr. Perkins inspired her and how we can know freedom as something to be embodied and shared.

Read Lisa's full brace practice:

We remember Rev. Dr. John M. Perkins, whose witness calls us toward the hard and holy work of embodying the whole Gospel together...

06/01/2026

"The pastor-gardener lives with this dual attention: attention to the environment of ministry paired with attention to our God who is present and acting within that environment. Kneeling in the field of ministry, the pastor-gardener engages with two open hands—one reaching out to God and the other reaching out to people."

Gardeners and farmers need to thoroughly understand the various factors playing into the environment in which they cultivate plants. Matthew Erickson believes that the pastor-gardener must also understand the current environment to fruitfully minister in a secular age.

Read the full piece at the link:

Matthew Erickson explores the concept of the pastor-gardener and the dual attention they must have with God and the environment...

05/26/2026

“It’s about being church in the marketplace. Being church in the office. Being church in the public square. Being church in a coffee shop. Across every layer of society — glowing forth, ‘shining like stars holding forth the word of life.’”

Author and church-planting pioneer Danny Sathydass () shines a light on the catalytic commitment to be the church at all times and in all places.

Sathyadass currently pioneers Citylight from Bangalore, India, focusing on training and instilling the importance of discipleship within the context of Christ-centered teams functioning as autonomous churches interdependent with one another.

Building God's Kingdom then becomes about, as Sathydass says, "... spreading a simple but dangerous idea, which Christ and the early disciples wholeheartedly embraced, that small is indeed big, and that houses can change the world."

Read the full piece:

"It’s about being church in the marketplace. Being church in the office. Being church in the public square. Being church in a coffee shop. Across every layer of society— glowing forth, 'shining like stars holding forth the word of life.'"

05/18/2026

"Commitment stands in tension with a culture shaped by convenience. We prefer relationships that are efficient, reciprocal, and comfortable. Yet many seasons of community invite unequal investment. They require patience, persistence, and care. By design, deep relationships disrupt our 'what’s in it for me' instincts."

Community made of real relationships is imperfect yet committed. When life is difficult and burdens become heavy, it is real intimacy that changes lives.

With a noticeable difference between attending Sunday service and finding Christian community, believers are longing for deep, Christ-centered community.

For some, small group is somewhere to truly belong. In places like micro-church and house church, it's an opportunity to prioritize loving one another and to reimagine the Church as a family again.

Read the full piece by Phil Smith, Jill Heisey, and Eva Pankratz IVP: https://missioalliance.org/community-without-commitment-isnt-really-community/

05/11/2026

Pentecost marks a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send the Spirit as helper and guide. But was it for the task of God’s mission, or does it indicate much more?

"Pentecost tells the truth: Mission is not something we accomplish. It is something we become."

A brave word and practice given by Lisa Rodriguez Watson. Read the full piece at the link below: https://missioalliance.org/formed-for-mission-the-truth-of-pentecost/