Develop your competency in the inspiring yet challenging work of making disciples in other cultures
We’re a team of seasoned missionaries sharing hard-earned wisdom and insights with the next generation of cross-cultural workers so they can multiply disciples using biblical, reproducible, and culturally effective approaches.
How do we come alongside you?
Transformational Virtual Courses
We offer three virtual courses centered on multiplying disciples using biblical, reproducible, and culturally effective approaches that avoid mission-generated unhealthy dependency. Our trainers facilitate the courses on Zoom, guiding participants to unpack the material using reflection, discussion, and application. To get started, connect with a Five Stones Global trainer to ascertain your needs and discuss logistics (e.g., the best virtual course for you, scheduling, time zone considerations, and potential learning cohorts).
Post-Course 2- to 3-Day In-Person Immersive Gatherings
After taking our courses, participants often want to go deeper with their team or organization on a desired topic in a practical sense (e.g., how to encourage localized, reproducible compassion). In this case, Five Stones Global will host a co-learning experience through the Art of Hosting techniques, such as circle conversations, world cafes, and open spaces. This will give the group space to harvest the wisdom in the room and walk away with fresh ideas and practical steps.
Follow-up Coaching and Cohort Groups
When completing our courses, some participants request practical coaching as a spin-off. In this case, Five Stones Global will coach them in setting goals and action steps to help them turn theory into practice and practice into impacts within their specific context. Additionally, some participants desire to keep meeting for mutual encouragement with those they bonded with during the course. We will set a rhythm in motion for this type of community.
Sharpen your methods
Reduce unhealthy dependency
Promote long-term impact
Even best intentions often result in unhealthy dependency
As missionaries ourselves, we know how important, nuanced, and difficult your work can be. The ultimate goal is inspiring local disciples to multiply organically, but it’s so easy to unwittingly export a Westernized version of Christianity that neither preserves the beauty of their own culture nor reflects the biblical model. We help you avoid these common pitfalls of missionary service that erect barriers to reaching the unreached.
How can we serve you?
I want mission coaching and training.
We coach and train mission workers serving across the globe.
I want to support this ministry.
Our funding community doesn’t just give money. They’re strategic partners who invest in our shared mission.
Meet Five Stones Global
The name of our organization paints a picture of what global missions can stand for, aim for, and produce. Much like David opted to use his slingshot and five smooth stones over Saul’s bulky armor in his battle against Goliath, we train and coach mission workers to encourage indigenous people (the Davids) around the globe to use their own “five stones” to thrive and multiply, such as their own local vision, expressions, resources, interdependence, and reproducibility.
We Are Not The Hero Book
Our Executive Director, Jean Johnson, shares her experience in missions as a motivation for Western Mission Workers to share Christ without creating a culture of unhealthy dependency.
Go Light! Go Local! Workbook
This organization has changed my life, approach, and impacts
“Five Stones Global’s competent and passionate coaching and training have helped me stay in my country of service and have revolutionized my approach. Their tried-and-true biblical wisdom has helped me to avoid invisible landmines—to evade wasteful (dare I say destructive?) years of fruitless labor. Also, their signature book, We Are Not The Hero has released me of the desire to be the hero and has allowed me to lead from low places. This book has saved my missions life!”
~ Michael, S. E. Asia
How it works
1) Get in touch
Meet our team to explore what virtual course or courses are best for you.
2) Receive practical coaching and training
Learn principles and practices from experienced mission workers to multiply disciples using biblical, reproducible, and culturally effective approaches that avoid mission-generated unhealthy dependency.
3) Produce long-term impact
Be inspired by the birth and spread of biblically-faithful and culturally-effective communities of faith that multiply throughout a people group.
How can we serve you?
Pre-field training positions you for success
Almost any individual, couple, or family preparing for missionary service receives some degree of basic training, which is a necessary foundation. But oftentimes, the missionaries we speak to recognize an important gap. No one equipped them to unpack their western view of Jesus, the Church, and the Gospel and re-package it for their new community. This is our sweet spot. You’ll gain the insights you desperately need—but never knew were so essential.
On-field training ensures you reach it
When you first arrive, you will be hit with so many things. It is so easy to drift from best practice. That’s where we come in. We will help you chase down the practical, stick with you for the long haul, wildly cheer you on, and assist you in building a culture of dignity, sustainability, and multiplication.
You need a trusted voice who’s been there
As missionaries, our pre-field perspective is often clouded by a uniquely western view of the world. It informs everything we’ve lived and learned. Our team of experienced missionaries is dedicated to helping you transition away from traditional, Westernized approaches of discipleship. We’ll help you define or redefine your method so it positions indigenous communities to sustainably multiply the Gospel with dignity and confidence.
The We Are Not the Hero Blog
Review a collection of helpful resources designed to empower mission workers across the globe to avoid being the hero by creating a culture of local dignity, sustainability, and multiplication.
Testimonials
Hear from others
A clear voice for the future of mission work
“Five Stones Global’s engaging communication style, actual stories from the field, and winsome personality challenged our leaders with practical cross-cultural principles colorfully illustrated through a variety of personal experiences and case studies. They are one of the clear voices in our day that holds high the banner of sharing Christ, not our own culture or a culture of dependency as we go to the ends of the earth.”
~ Hal Lehman, International Church Multiplication Director, Fellowship of Evangelical Churches
This organization is a breath of fresh air
“I have volunteered with Five Stones Global for 20 years. This organization is a breath of fresh air! As a businessman, I have concluded that it is a wise use of my funding to invest in Five Stones Global because they are catalysts who powerfully impact the overall effectiveness of missions.”
~ Doug Funk, Donor
Free Guide
The Ripple Effect: Unpack the Impacts of Foreign Funds in Global Missions Across 4 Realms
In our efforts to be generous in our cross-cultural mission work, we often gauge success by visible results. Before offering support to a local individual, entity, or initiative using foreign resources, consider evaluating the broader effects of your giving across these four key realms in cross-cultural contexts.
Get the First Chapter of the Book We Are Not The Hero
Get the Free Guide
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