Our thanks to all who shared their favorite missions books for this year’s list. Here are new titles for your personal benefit and to pass along to your missions team and workers. Many readers loved books we had featured in prior years, so you will want to also check out our ‘14 and ‘15 lists.

Scatter: Go Therefore and Take Your Job with You by Andrew Scott

Scott recognizes that 99% of believers don’t feel called to go, but everyone gets to be a full-time follower of Jesus. So a good portion of this book focuses on the kind of people we need to be in order to have influence wherever we are. Scott wants believers to live with conviction and use their work as an arena for ministry. Then they can scatter on purpose and with impact.

The Year without a Purchase by Scott Dannemiller

After a year of simple living as missionaries in Central America, the Dannemillers returned to the US and slid back into an American consumeristic lifestyle—that is until they decided to live one full year without a purchase. Told with humor and down-to-earth applications, this story will help anyone, regardless of missions role, to rethink lifestyle choices for Kingdom benefit.

Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis by Bauman, Soerens & Smeir

Seeking Refuge answers many questions and provides the resources to help your congregation understand and reach out to refugees. Stories describe all kinds of congregations making a difference. World Relief provides a free, downloadable small-group discussion guide. Moody Press offers churches and non-profit organizations a 50% discount. No minimum order. Email or phone: 800.678.8812.

Assimilate or Go Home: Notes from a Failed Missionary on Rediscovering Faith by D.L. Mayfield

This first-person story recounts how a young Bible college student comes to love and live with Somali Bantu refugees in Portland, OR. Mayfield’s journey is honest, at times sad, and challenging, Her story is a reminder to local church leaders that it is essential to send people into hard places at home or abroad well prepared and as part of a team with church support.

First 30 Daze: Practical Encouragement for Living Abroad by Larry & Susan McCrary

This manual is a combination cultural guidebook, first-person narrative, and place to journal someone’s first month abroad. The book is great for anyone who is relocating into a new culture—exchange student, business person, or missionary.

Returning Well: Your Guide to Thriving Back “Home” after Serving Cross-Culturally by Melissa Chaplin

Here’s another intensely practical guidebook/workbook. Consider providing a copy for anyone returning to their sending country after an extended period in a cross-cultural setting. A short chapter at the end addresses how to be a companion for those returning.

Running on Empty: The Gospel for Women in Ministryby Barbara Bancroft

A missionary herself, Bancroft  is a mentor and encourager to women in all types of ministry. She tackles tough topics like ministry readiness, spiritual battlegrounds, relationships, cultural adjustments, and much more. This book would be a great gift to your women missionaries but also a valuable read for those who coordinate churches’ missionary care.

Praying Together: The Priority and Privilege of Prayer in Our Homes, Communities, and Churches by Megan Hill

Hill is a pastor’s wife who has grown up with traditional practices such as church prayer meeting and family prayer. But she understands that younger generations have little training in prayer or how to practice it together. This is a great introductory guide for group study or for a mentor who wants to lead someone to a deeper intercessory prayer life.

The Storyteller’s Secret: Why Some Ideas Catch on and Others Don’t by Carmine Gallo

The mobilizer who recommended this book said, “not a missions book but a book on the power of story that I would recommend to every global worker who has to communicate their vision.”

The 3-D Gospel: Ministry in Guilt, Shame, and Fear Cultures by Jayson Georges

Called “a ministry primer,” this book takes the honor/shame concepts and puts them into practical ministry contents. Helpful for diaspora ministry here as well as around the world.

Innovation in World Mission: A Framework for Transformational Thinking about the Future of World Mission by Derek Seipp

Seipp shares concrete steps to help ministries analyze how to change more quickly. This book delves deeply into organizational theory and would be of interest to churches that want to engage significantly in field strategy or who are thinking of establishing their own organization.