It's Global Sunday season. Most churches here in the U.S. set aside one Sunday, or sometimes a whole series, to highlight the nations and get the congregation thinking about their neighbors and the nations, both across the street and around the world.

I'm speaking this Sunday (or by the time this airs, I already will have) at a church running a series called Go Across the Street and Around the World, based on my book. So I wanted to hand you a whole episode of ideas, some of my own and some I've picked up from other churches, for how to make your Global Sunday, series, or even a whole Global Month memorable.

Here's what I cover:

Start with what you're already doing. Look at your church's current global and local work, refugees, international students, short-term trips, and build your message and worship around it. This one Sunday isn't the only thing you do all year. It's a chance to shine a light on it.

Build it around a book. A book gives you a built-in outline, and it gives people something to take home and keep growing with. I share the story of a church that went all out with my book, yellow and blue everywhere, even marshmallow peeps and a wrapped mini bus, and I mention my free sermon series outlines (one Sunday, four Sundays, and eight Sundays) on my website.

Move it into small groups. A book series works best when it becomes a small group study afterward. I talk about the free book series guide I created for Across the Street and Around the World, simple enough that a group doesn't even need a designated leader.

Do something creative and interactive during the service. Get people out of their seats, interview a cross-cultural worker or someone heading overseas, or bring in a family from a refugee or immigrant background to share their story. I tell you about interviewing an Iraqi refugee family on video, and about interviewing a short-term trip team live over Zoom during a service.

Get the whole church involved with a challenge. I talk about my Refugee Rations Challenge, Prayer Pathways, and Discover by Doing resources, all free on my website.

Use scripture you haven't already used ten times. If you want a fresh angle, go listen to last week's episode on Joseph. I don't think I've ever heard a Global Sunday message built around him, and there's a lot there.

Eat together. Potlucks are back, even in big churches. Our church did an international potluck last year, and it was one of the best parts of the day.

Host a nations night of worship. Give people space to emotionally connect with the three billion people who have the least access to Jesus, with resources like Joshua Project's videos and maps.

Don't forget who's already in your city. I tell the story of my dad discovering a Bengali family in a small town in Kansas, and Bengalis are the largest unreached people group in the world. I also tell you about calling a faith-based international student ministry at ASU years ago and inviting our whole church to host students for Thanksgiving. Suddenly they weren't statistics anymore. They were people.

A personal note: the next few episodes are recorded ahead of time, because my husband and I are headed to Italy soon to celebrate our 35th anniversary (we Travel Hack)! If you don't hear a new episode right away, that's why. And if this episode was helpful, I would love it if you left a review wherever you listen. It helps people find the show.

Resources Mentioned:

Across the Street and Around the World:
www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/book

Free Sermon Series Outlines (1, 4, and 8 Sunday versions):
www.jeannie-marie.com/sermon-leads

Free Small Group and Book Series Guides:
www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/smallgroupguides

Global Challenges (Refugee Rations Challenge, Prayer Pathways, Discover by Doing):
www.jeannie-marie.com/global-challenges

Joshua Project:
www.joshuaproject.net

Last week's episode on Joseph

Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com

Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

Email: hello@jeannie-marie.com

I've been doing a deep study of the life of Joseph in Genesis, and I've realized he's my favorite Old Testament character. He's the one I want to revere. We admire Moses, but he murdered someone. David committed adultery and murder. Joshua killed babies and pregnant women in war. Joseph is the one who entered another culture, not by his own choice, and held himself up with righteousness the whole way through.

In this episode I'm sharing six lessons I've learned from studying Joseph's life, all about what it looks like to enter another culture well:

He became Egyptian. He took a new name, an Egyptian wife, and Egyptian customs, and he never asked to go home. My line for this is, if it's not sin, do it their way. And Joseph lived that out, except for the one line he wouldn't cross.

He didn't look for the exit. He never tried to escape or plan his way back home, even when things got hard. I tell on myself a little here about my own first months in India.

He learned humility. He wasn't born humble. He was pretty arrogant as a teenager, bragging to his brothers about his dreams. Egypt is where that got stripped out of him.

His view of God was solid. He trusted God before he ever got an explanation. Two full years in prison, no answers, and he never got bitter.

He was emotionally healthy. He wept, openly and often, even as the second most powerful man in Egypt. That's health, not weakness.

He had a heart for the nations, just like God does. Joseph's success fed his own family, and Egypt and the surrounding nations too.

If you are in another culture right now, or wrestling with whether to go, or feeling betrayed by the people you're trying to reach, I think Joseph has something for you.

• Free Video Training: Three Ways to Share Jesus Naturally with Your Neighbors and the Nations: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/freevideotraining
• Book: Across the Street and Around the World:
  www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/book

Coming up next time, I'm talking about what to do as a church for your Global Sunday or your Global Series of the year!

Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com

Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

Email: hello@jeannie-marie.com

A few years ago I met a red-haired American named Sarah at the Perspectives 50th anniversary in Chicago, with a baby strapped to her chest. We connected instantly. Turns out she was living in India, married to a Bengali filmmaker with tattoo sleeves who does raids to rescue trafficked children and spends the rest of his time filming secular documentaries in vulnerable communities across India.

In this episode, I'm telling you about an experiment I just ran using one of his newest documentaries. It's called How We Are Tempered and this episode is called Pneumatophores. It takes you inside a Bengali Muslim community in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, a place with almost no long-term cross-cultural workers and less than 0.1% believers among 3 million people.

I watched all four hours of it in one sitting, and it changed how I think about getting to know a people group before you go. Instead of stats or a one-page profile, this is ethnographic storytelling. You watch real people, in their own homes and community, telling their own story in their own words.

I walk through what I loved about it, including an unforgettable interview with a gunan, a local witch doctor, and what I think we can learn about entering a community with welcome, understanding root causes of systemic issues, and seeing how worldview shapes behavior long before we ever try to bring change.

I also tell you about the Deep Dive Round Table experience I built around this documentary, so you can watch it yourself, gather your team or small group, and work through discussion questions and strategic prayer together.

1. The documentary and Deep Dive Round Table experience at jeanniemarieacademy.com/24parganas
2. My Afterwards video with my own thoughts and observations after watching, unlocked on that same page
3. Create a Deep Dive Round Table. Watch it, gather people, and let's think, pray, and strategize together about what it would take to bring the Kingdom to this district.

Next week: Lessons from the life of Joseph, how he engaged with another culture in surprising and insightful ways

Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com

Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

Email: hello@jeannie-marie.com