Life After Perspectives

Introduction 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Finding Your Niche Mobilizing Prayer Sending Welcoming Going Business As Mission APPENDIX Self Assessment for Aspiring Cross Cultural Workers Growth Guide Mission Mentoring World Christian Fellowship Pilot Session Standard Application for Mission Service A Story about Prayer Support Advocacy Missionary Myths 77 87 113 119 129 145 149 155 Page # 3 5 15 27 33 41 55 69

IS THERE LIFE AFTER PERSPECTIVES?

If Perspectives is about catching the vision, life-after-Perspectives is about running with the vision: Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to whats coming.
Habakkuk 2:2-3 The Message

Post-Perspectives Study-Training Units

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Find Your Next Step Mobilize Pray Send Welcome Go Do Business As Mission

e alumni of Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course have picked up a vision that will ruin us for the ordinary. And we want to run with it. But whats next? Sometimes its as if were waiting for further instructions from our course coordinatorsas if they can divine our next step after all this life-changing information. Or weve been overwhelmed with the theme of reaching the remaining unreached peoples of the worldand get a creepy feeling that unless we go as churchplanters to the Hutsulis of the Carpathians, weve failed the course. No worries. Lets work together through a simple menu of postPerspectives study/training units. Follow the progression below or start wherever you choose. Were in this together, and can help each other nd our places in the Kingdom...for now! Brian Barr

Alumni Director, Perspectives Study Program

A great starting point after your Perspectives experience

Run With the Vision How to Find Your Niche

Further Resources Links

Mobilization: Make a Difference How to Mobilize Mission Vision

Further Resources Links

Prayer: Rebelling Against the Status Quo Prayer is your niche...for now.

Serving as a Sender Youve got a specic backup role...for now.

Welcoming Youre a crosscultural worker here at home... for now.

Going All Out Youre a crosscultural worker in a foreign setting... for now.

Business as Mission Your ministry platform is business...for now.

FINDING YOUR NICHE

CHAPTER 1

Finding Your Niche

Page 7

RUN WITH THE VISION Find your Niche

Whats God going to say to my questions? Im braced for the worst. Ill climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. Ill wait to see what God says, how hell answer.... And then God answered: Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to whats coming. It aches for the comingit can hardly wait! And it doesnt lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. Its on its way. It will come right on time. Habakkuk 2:1-3 (The Message)

NELSON MALWITZ (pale guy on right), founder of The Finishers Project, is working on a book called Passages That Dont Preachabout the hard sayings of Jesus. Jesus didnt pander to our selfseeking instincts: He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall nd it. Matthew 10:37-39 And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him, and said to him, One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. Mark 10:21 And another also said, I will follow You, Lord; but rst permit me to say good-bye to those at home. But Jesus said to him, No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is t for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:61, 62 So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Luke 14:33 If these passages dont describe your current stance before God, not to worry: Throw your hands up in the air, confess your lapse of self-control and sin, rend your clothes and toss ashes on your head if you need to repent the serious Old Testament way. (Just kidding.) And state once again, Whatever whenever and wherever, Lord.

or most of us, Perspectives was a like a grenade tossed into our predictable, normal Christian lives. Weve been ruined for the ordinary because, amazingly, our worldviews have changed. Worldview Change Lifestyle Change Panic

Once that began happeningfor some of us, in Lesson One!we all sensed some lifestyle changes were also coming. Made us all a little edgy because the more drastic the possible changes, the more were desperate to know precisely our part in this biblical, historic, megacultural and strategic plan of God. What does He want? Whats next? That query, of course, slides into the well-worn question of What is Gods will for my life? (Check the sidebox beginning on page 7.) But before we gure out the niggly details of our next step in Gods unchangeable purpose, God wants us to clearly understand the general basics that Hes already revealed. In fact, He probably wont get specic about where we t now until we position ourselves in what the Word teaches about the following steps. We wont even deal with the primero question of the Lordship of Christ in our lives, all right? If were not in that simple, radical, living-sacrice posture, we can forget about trying to get some divine guidance on our next step. (Review the sidebar passages.) With that basic Lordship stipulation settled, work through the following to help clarify your next step in the Kingdom.

Finding Your Niche

See INSTRUCTIONS below.

Page 8

FINDING YOUR NEW NICHE

YOUR PRIESTHOOD Wear your priest-collar! Remember Perspectives eye-openers about the responsibilitiesalong with the well-known privilegesof the priesthood of the believer? As a priest, your overall job description will always be 1) worship, 2) intercession and 3) service. Your next step ministry lies within the mandates of interceding for otherseven for whole nationsand then serving them. But you are a royal priesthood (Exodus 19:5-6 & 1 Peter 2:9). YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCE Know Thyself. Think through Gods design of your life. He uses everythingyour heredity, environment, experiences, temperment, strengths, passions, weaknesses, the good, the bad and the ugly. This is almost a useless exercise unless you write it down; so freewrite, not worrying about spelling, grammar or that anyone else will ever read this summary of your life! A helpful framework for thinking through this phase of nding your niche is the SHAPE acronym. (See sidebar page 3.) Seriously spend some time on this; its possibly the most revealing exercise to clarify your role in the Kingdom! In Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me (Psalm 139:13-16); You are His handiwork... (Ephesians 2:10). YOUR GIFTING Study the spiritual gifts and determine yours. The giftsthe original Greek wording is spirituals comprise people gifts, speaking gifts, serving gifts and sign gifts (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 27-30; Ephesians 4:7-13; 1 Peter 4:7-11). Work through this helpful Spiritual Gifts Inventory at www.buildingchurch.net/g2s-i.htm or, for the 23 gifts and DISC personality inventory, go to www.uniquelyyou.net There are varieties of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4). YOUR MINISTERING Practice your gifts in various types of service. Example: Your intercession-service as a priest + life experience of abuse and empathetic personality + an encouragementexhortation gift (the paracletos gifting meaning one called alongside to help) could mean a ministry counseling abuse victims or presenting parent training seminars or .... Youll recognize your area of service as you test out various ministries by volunteering, interning, short-terming before committing yourself to one opportunity. There are varieties of service (1 Corinthians 12:5). YOUR IMPACT Explore various settingsincluding other culturesfor your ministering. This is where the effects (NASB) of your ministry might prove to be most powerful in another culture. Your afnity for befriending and enjoying other cultures can be easily explored as you attend events or volunteer with local/regional groups ministering to international students and immigrants. (See Welcoming.) Its at this point you then begin contacting organizations and agencies about longterm opportunities in Welcoming or Going. Or youll nd your ministering is more effective in your own culture, so you focus on world-Christian roles such as Mobilization, Sending or Prayer. There are varieties of effects (1 Corinthians 12:6). YOUR ASSIGNMENT...FOR NOW! Grab the opportunity that God sets before you. Its easier to steer a rolling car, and at this point youve been praying, studying, serving and God will get specic. Be alert to recognize what He has already planned for you to do next. But dont let your niche become a rut.* ...Created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10) * Dont let your niche become a rut! Philip was a deacon in Jerusalem, then an evangelist in near-culture Samaria, then a missionary to the Ethiopian in Gaza, thenapparently for the rest of his lifea godly family man at home in Caesarea (Acts 8:4-5, 26; 21:8-9). If you announce a divine call to a lifelong role and then choose or are forced to switch to Gods new assignment for a new season of your life, youll have to appear to disobey the rst call to move into the second! God can move His servants around as He chooses whenever He chooses. So when you nd your niche, add the qualier ...for now! Broad to Specic The more carefully and honestly you work through these steps, the more your thousands of options as a world Christian narrow down to a specic assignment....for now!

Finding Your Niche

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR FINDING YOUR NEW NICHE

Youre a grownup and a wise Perspectives grad as well, so you can use this exercise any way you choose: The QuickStart Simply work through the above levels in one sitting! Perhaps youve already investigated some or most of these steps. (Although beware of jumping to conclusions about yourself: For example, if you studied spiritual gifts and took a gifts assessment years ago, dont presume that a dormant area of gifting wont now appear for a new phase of ministry.) For feedback, surround yourself with world Christians perhaps by initiating a Pilot World Christian Fellowship among your mission-minded friends. Next, nd out the best ways and the bloopers of raising others mission vision in our mobilization unit: Make A Difference: How to Mobilize Mission Vision in Your Fellowship. The Six-Month Plan Want to be amazingly condent about your next step? First, read over the steps above. Then begin working through our mobilization unit: Make A Difference: How to Mobilize Mission Vision in Your Fellowship. And consider launching a Pilot World Christian Fellowship. But come back to this Finding Your New Niche exercise and take literally a month to cover each of the six steps listed above. It might sound ridiculous for a one-page exercise, but taking six months to discern Gods leading for the next major season of your life is a wise investment of your time and energy. Heres your schedule: Month 1: Your Priesthood Wear your priest collar! Fast at least twice this monthfor as long as God suggests each time. Focus your fast on worship, not on getting answers. (If you have food issues, you can fast other recurring, favorite thingsvideo games, TV, etc.) Also, spend the month seriously intercedingmaking a listfor your family, Christian and pre-Christian friends, your church, your nation, another reached nation and at least one unreached people. (See JoshuaProject.net if you need suggestions.) Month 2: Your Life Experience Know thyself. Free-writing your life story takes time, so let yourself take weeks to pray for insight and actually wade through and write out who you are. Once youve taken a self-assessment such as the SHAPE (See sidebar.) prole, let a close friend see your responses and talk with you about what she/he sees differently about you. Consider doing the self-assessment in our Going All Out and Welcoming units, where you can then plunge ahead into a discipline that will change your life: asking a mentor to keep you accountable to work on weak areas.
(Continued)

Your SHAPE
Spiritual gifting Heart Abilities Personality Experience
The momentum of the PurposeDriven ministrys PEACE Plan (PurposeDriven.com) has mandated that millions of ordinary believers get good at guring out who they are and, therefore, where they t in the advance of the Kingdom. Use this local churchs Web outline of SHAPE to help you pray and think throughand write outthe story of who you are as Gods poema (the original Greek of masterpiece or workmanship in Ephesians 2:10).

(Thanks for posting this, North Way Community!)

Finding Your Niche

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR FINDING YOUR NEW NICHE

(Continued)

Month 3: Your Gifting Study the spiritual gifts and determine yours. Use a full month to not only study and determine your areas of spiritual gifting but to also get feedback. Ask a friend to review your gifts inventory; sometimes others can sense capabilities we dont see in ourselves. And, again, consider securing a mentor who will encourage you, pray for you and keep you accountable to be using your giftings. This is also a good point at which to pull in your pastor/church leader who needs to know whats going on in your life. Month 4: Your Ministering Practice your gifts in various types of service. Choose four of the ministry roles you feel most drawn to, and then devise a week-long exposure in each. Your advising friend, mentor and church leaders can help you arrange to volunteer/help in each type of service. For example, as much as your own schedule allows: Week 1: Help in as many of your churchs childrens programs as possible. Week 2: Shadow an international student ministry leader in her/his work. Week 3: Volunteer at an area homeless shelter. Week 4: Spend all your freetime assisting the mission/outreach leader or helping your church leadership do anything that will further the mission awareness of your churchsuch as hosting the Pilot World Christian Fellowship. Wherever you test out your ministry, let everyone you work with know what youre doing and why, and keep a list of their names and contact numbers. At the end of the month, talk over with your friend, mentor and pastor which of the four seems to match you. Then begin planning an extended time to work in that area as a volunteer, an intern, a short-termer. Month 5: Your Impact Explore various settingsincluding other culturesfor your ministering. By now you know what energizes you in ministry, so personally or as part of a group, implement your service among international students, immigrants andin short-term mission tripsin a setting thats foreign to you. Even with limited skills such as in language and cultural knowledge, youll sense whether another culture is where you long to serve. Spend this month: a) Intentionally interacting with internationals, b) Contacting organizations, agencies and mission-matching services (See Resources, below.) about upcoming short-term mission opportunities and long-term possibilities. Month 6: Your Assignment...for now! Grab the opportunity that God sets before you.

If God doesnt give light on His future role for you, its dangerous to invent your own lightyour own rationalization of what He wants, pretending that a twist of circumstances is His call. Sometimes God allows you to just step ahead into the unknown by faith. Dont push ahead of God in nding your route in His plan. Those who fear the Lord and obey the word yet who walk in darkness, who have no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on God. But now, all you who light res and provide aming torches... manufacturing your own light, guessing at your next step so you dont appear unspiritual or stupid will lie down in torment, tossing and turning, tormented by regret. (See Isaiah 51:10-11)

Finding Your Niche Okay, lets talk about...(drum roll with echo-reverb)

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THE CALL TO MISSIONS!

Often Christian organizations and churches talk of a call to certain ministriesalmost always the professional ministries of the pastorate, the evangelist, the missionary. But nowhere in Scripture do we nd that a dramatic call is a doctrine or a requirement to move out in vocational ministry. As Perspectives-savvy world Christians, its a good idea to be careful about conventions such as the call to missions. The place to begin evaluating traditions, of course, is the Word. If this elusive call is a hot-button issue for you, do an inductive concordance search of the term call in the New Testament. Heres a start:
Matthew 4:21-22 Matthew 9:13 Luke 5:32 John 10:3 Acts 2:39 Acts 13:2 Acts 13:9 Acts 16:10 Romans 1:1 Romans 1:5 Romans 1:6 Romans 1:7 Romans 8:28 Romans 8:30 Romans 9:24 Romans 11:29 1 Corinthians 1:1 1 Corinthians 1:2 1 Corinthians 1:9 1 Corinthians 1:24 1 Corinthians 1:26 1 Corinthians 7:15 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 Galatians 1:6 Galatians 1:15 Galatians 5:8 Galatians 5:13 Ephesians 1:18 Ephesians 4:1 Ephesians 4:4 Philippians 3:14 Colossians 3:15 1 Thessalonians 2:12 1 Thessalonians 4:7 1 Thessalonians 5:24 2 Thessalonians 1:11 2 Thessalonians 2:14 1 Timothy 6:12 2 Timothy 1:9 Hebrews 3:1 Hebrews 5:4 Hebrews 9:15 1 Peter 1:15 1 Peter 2:9 1 Peter 2:21 1 Peter 3:9 1 Peter 5:10 2 Peter 1:3 2 Peter 1:10 Jude 1:1

In the Old Testament, Isaiah 6 has prompted thousands of great old missions sermons with the Who will go for us? Whom shall I send? Here am I, send me theme. But God was talking about sending a herald of judgment to Isaiahs own people, not to the nations. Was that a call to missions? If you did that New Testament search, you found a few passages that could be construed as calls to a particular ministry. But Bob Sjogren in Run With the Vision says in his research of all the cross-cultural workers mentioned in the book of Acts: Its sobering to note that 99% of the people serving God cross-culturally were there for one reason: persecution.... How about the other 1%? In Acts about 74% of that 1% serving God cross-culturally were doing so because Paul asked them to go. Beyond that 74%, 18% were there because their church sent them.... Finally, 7% of the Acts believers involved in cross-cultural ministry [of the 1% not going because of persecution] were there because of their own zeal. There seems to be no other obvious reason. The typical proof-text that believers have to wait for a missionary call to explore cross-cultural ministry is Acts 13:2: Set apart for Me Barnabus and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Yet Paul and Barnabus were already ministering cross-culturally in Antioch when this directive came. Philip was already ministering cross-culturally in Samaria when God told him specically to go to Gaza (Acts 8:26). When His harvest workers are already moving out in ministry, God does often ne-tune their directions: Your ears will hear a word behind you, This is the way, walk in it, whenever you turn to the right or to the left (Isaiah 30:21). Some say that Peters vision to allow the Gentile house of Cornelius to hear the Good News was a call to missions. But Peter didnt go, then, as a missionary to the Gentiles. Actually, Peters vision was simply Gods vivid reminder to bless all the nations (Acts 10).
(Continued)

Finding Your Niche

Page 12
Paul himself is the one New Testament believer who at the point of salvation was told he would go to the nations (Acts 26:15-19). Not a specic call (Remember, there were maybe 59,999 Gentile nations at that point!)much like the Great Commission command that we all have about discipling all nations. But a supernatural call nonetheless. He later says that he was a called apostle (literally sent one). Yet Pauls spectacular salvation experience with its mandate to take the Gospel to the Gentiles isnt a biblical doctrine nor the way God leads every believer. Being struck with a glorious, literal vision, conversing audibly with the risen Christ about being a missionary and being blind for three days isnt exactly the norm for everyones salvation experience. (If thats your experience, follow Marys advice at the wedding in Cana: Whatever He says to you, just do it! John 2:5) Mission scholar Herbert Kane interviewed hundreds of missionaries and found that although most spoke of a denite call, upon careful evaluation most admitted that what they felt was a process of Gods leading. Very often, missionaries would say that, following a stirring message or a remarkable ministry experience, they considered that my Call to Missions. For most, Gods leading into missions took place over many years; for 80% of the interviewees, that leading began when they were between ten and twelve years old! Kane determined the process was: Curiosity: What is this people group like? Interest: I want to keep learning more. Understanding: Im beginning to get a heart for this people. Assurance: I believe God could use me in this group. Conviction: Im virtually designed to minister among this people. Commitment: As God leads, Im ready to engage in ministering to this people. Action: Im being conrmed as one to minister among this group. Being led by God is biblically accurate; not moving till we get an experience-based call is suspect. Insisting on a specic, supernatural call before engaging in global-scope ministry when Gods Word doesnt insist on itoften brings comparison, confusion, frustration and guilt. We as Gods people have been very clearly commanded and commissioned. We are to align our lives with Gods objective of making follower-learners disciplesof every people including our own. In Old Testament parlance, were to bless every nation, gracing them with the privilege of joining Gods family through redemption in Jesus Christ.

GLADYS AYLWARD said, I wasnt Gods rst choice for what Ive done for China. I dont know who it was. It must have been a mana well-educated man. I dont know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasnt willing. And God looked down and saw Gladys Aylward. And God said, Well, shes willing. As the PreparingToGo.com site says, Just because someone is dead doesnt mean they cant still mentor you!

Finding Your Niche

If God leads you into an assignment of ministering cross-culturally, super. If not, its still crucial to realize that a supernatural call isnt required to align every facet of your life with Gods purposewhich happens to involve every culture on the planet! If were training our children to expect that they will never do anything signicant in the Kingdom unless they receive some zap of a special professional call, maybe were misleading thousands or millions of potential goers, welcomers, senders, intercessors or mobilizers. This is not about special Christians getting called; its about all of us being led. Its about nding our life-purpose in the biblical, historical, cultural and strategic plan of God. But lets pause and clarify: Listening for very specic guidance from God is denitely scripturalonce were already moving in obedience. The follower who isnt following, the servant who isnt serving probably wont hear Gods voice. But those who are already on the eld of battle seem to be the ones biblically who receive specic ne-tuning direction from the throne room of God. Dont argue with believers who insist on these special calls to go into professional ministry roles. Dont argue with agencies and organizations whose acceptance requirements list having a specic call to a ministry. Just open your ears for the very voice of God, constantly conde to God that youll go anywhere and do anything at any time, grab the opportunities He sets before you...and dont wait for a call!

Page 13 Hung up on How to Know Gods Will for Your Life?

Dont feel alone: A Google search gives you 3,080,000 references on the Web that deal with that blockbuster question! Determine Gods will by when things fall into place? This is usually the exact opposite of what happens when you choose to obey God in the context of this world-system counter-kingdom. Obeying Gods will usually brings chaos, risk, stress, wounds...(yet incredible joy). In this world-system, Jesus promised, you will have tribulation [literally pressure] (John 16:33). All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). Doesnt sound like everythings supposed to work out. Jesus, in the very core of the will of God, got crucied. Determine Gods will by what gives you peace? See above. Determine Gods will by whatever happens? (Hmmm: Is there any intelligent, biblical way of answering this method of nding Gods will for your life?) Its such a common question, youd think the Bible itself used the phrase Gods will for your life. No, but it does refer often to Gods will. So: 1. Study all the passages in which Gods will is mentioned. 2. Step into this revealed will of God for your life. 3. Do what you want. Bible expositor John MacArthur is often criticized for this unorthodox statement of How to Know Gods Will for Your Life: Obey God fully and then do what you want. Because what you want will be what He wants. This, amazingly, keeps all extremes of various systematic theologies happy: If what you do is then sovereignly pre-determined by God, great. If what you do is your own freewill choice that God foreknows and will use for His purpose, super. Just give up on the guilt-ridden, confusing, vague school of one Perfect Will and if you miss it youre a loser living only His Permissive Will the rest of your life. Yes, there are consequences for disobeying God; you then live with them till heaven. But that doesnt mean youre banished from a life of living out His will. It just means you need even more counsel from godly fellow saints, you visit 1 John 1:9 very often, consistently walk in your new nature under the control of the Holy Spirit, and then do what you want.

See the Find your Niche Resources on the Next Steps section of the Perspectives website. www.perspectives.org

The word leading is usually more appropriate than the loaded word calling when it comes to Gods specic role for you in His grand purpose.

Finding Your Niche

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MOBILIZING: MAKE A DIFFERENCE

CHAPTER 2

Mobilizing

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MOBILIZATION: MAKE A DIFFERENCE

How to mobilize mission vision among your fellowship The proven dos and donts of sharing mission vision mobilization skills that every World Christian must master.

ace it: Every one of us world Christians have got to learn how to mobilize regardless of our specic role since we all want to help raise mission vision.

The point isnt to get everyone to go as missionaries; its to be realistic and facilitate wholechurch awareness, education, involvement and deploymenta process that in North America takes at least 3-5 years in a non-mission-minded fellowship!

100% of a group of mobilized believers such as a churchcan become aware of Gods heart for every people.

About 50% of that group will want to learn more.

About 10% of a mobilized group will get involvedmost often in short-terms. Typically less than 1% of the group moves into cross-cultural ministry as a vocation.

What weve learned about mission mobilization over the past couple decades is: The old ways dont work anymore. For example, the next time you share about what you learned in Perspectives, you might avoid the dreaded M word. The word missions has lots of preconceived and usually inaccurate baggage in our culture. Instead of missions, consider tossing into your conversation phrases such as:
The worldwide move of God Extending the Kingdom throughout the earth Gods call to this generation Gods global plan for all peoples The global cause of Christ The Kingdom move of God Gods plan through the ages Joining God in what Hes doing in our world Gods unchangeable purpose Finding our place of signicant service Strategic global impact Our life-purpose & Gods big picture Cross-cultural effectiveness Reaching all peoples locally & globally

Mobilizing

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DONTS: HOW TO NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Youve caught a grand, scriptural, historic, global, strategic vision in your Perspectives studies. And youre almost compelled to share it. Heres how not to mobilize new mission visiontactics youve possibly already found to blow up in your face:

Dont push.

Pair up with a friend. Place the palm of your right hand out in front of you against the palm of her/his left hand. Begin to talk to the friend about your mission vision and push. Push harder as you continue. What does the friend naturally do in response? If you keep pushing and your friend either backs off or falls overyouve just lost a friend. And some people think pushing others to Great Commission commitment is a powerful mobilization tactic. Hmmm.... Action-step: Relax. (You not going to make somebody catch a vision.)

Dont blast.

Youve gleaned so much exciting information from your Perspectives course that you simply blast zeal and energy at your friends, your home group, your pastor, at anyone wholl listen. Imagine a pale whiteskin getting severely sunburned; the last thing hell want is to run back out into the sunshine. Will your friends throw on dark glasses and dive for the shadows when they see you coming?

Action-step: Take it from mobilizer Amy Stearns who after her rst Perspectives course, blasted her pastor with, John! Were doing everything wrong! In a word: Apologize.

Dont plead.

Tugging at peoples heartstrings used to work marvelously in our North American culture. (Just watch a few maudlin movies from the 30s or 40sreallyto accentuate how much our sense of sentimentality has changed.) But showing FOB (ies-on-babies) photos now only provokes a knee-jerk reaction to send money instead of sending ourselvesor a reaction of turning a blind eye to all the insurmountable suffering in the world. (Disturbing, pathetic situations are rampant in our real world; its just that exploiting them as motivational props is an ineffective mobilization tactic in our current culture.) If your goal were to raise money, pleas for compassion still work in the short term. But they dont work when your goal is to sustain a churchs long-term vision of Gods heart for every people. Action-step: Go watch an old 40s movie! They worked during The Greatest Generation days; their sentimentality just doesnt cut it today. Weve changed as a culture, and weve got to be realistic about the sensibilities of those we want to mobilize.
(Continued)

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DONTS: HOW TO NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE

(Continued)

North Americans are incredibly adroit at avoiding guilt. We all runmentally, emotionally or literallywhen polyestered missionaries hint, Shame on you. You probably have one of those new i-Phones and ate out last week and spent more on dog food than on missions while the whole world is going to hell! Etc.

Dont shame.

Our hair-trigger barricades against the long pointy nger of guilt mean that even simple comparisons backre. So in polite company where you want to raise mission vision, dont bother trying to make people feel guilty. (Never mention, for instance, that we North Americans spend more on storage units to store our extra stuff than a total of 29 countries spend on everything. The mission world is full of this kind of shame-inducing trivia. Dont. Dont. Dont.) Guilt is effective in shame-based cultures, but guilt as a motivational weapon is counterproductive in our North American culture. Action-step: Activate 1 John 1:9confession. (Since usually working to induce guilt in others = judgmentalism = arrogance. Ouch.)

Dont think one-size-ts-all.

Dr. James Engle some years ago developed the Engle Scale of Evangelism. He simply pointed out that different people are at different levels of readiness to accept the Gospel message. The same is true of Christians openness and understanding of the dynamics of the Great Commission. Study the chart on the next page. Determine where your friends or whole fellowship is on this scale of mobilization. Then use the Do list below to customize your approach. Avoid one-size-ts-all, cookie-cutter mobilization.

Mobilizing YOUR RECIPIENTS READINESS TO CATCH, BUILD AND ACT ON THE VISION Act On the Vision
Level 6: Well go, stay, do anything for His great global Cause. Level 5: Were working to integrate a vision of Gods heart for every people into our lifestyles and our fellowship.

Page 20 YOUR ROLE AS A MISSION MOBILIZER

Help others act on the vision by suggesting options for strategic involvement short- and long-term, local and global. Considerable commitment is required on their part since abandonment to discipleship always has a cost.

YOUR MESSAGE AS A MISSION MOBILIZER

Youre ready to act on the vision of Gods heart for every peopleyour own people included. Here are several options for involvement that match your interests and resources.

Key Question suggesting a group is moving to the next level: The prevalent question among our congregation is: What do we do now? Youre curious about exploring scriptural patterns youve never before noticed surprisingly obvious themes of Gods unchangeable purpose in history. Youre eager to see more of what God is actively orchestrating in our world today. Youre intrigued that Gods strategy for today pointedly involves your personal destiny. Here is how you nd out more.

Build the Vision

Level 4: Wed like to be more active in cross-cultural ministry. Level 3: Were getting a new perspective on Scripture, on creative ministries and on the realities of our part in this world. Were feeling burdened now to pray for other peoples.

Help others build the vision by researching for them: 1) educational tools and 2) exposure experiences particularly shortterm vision/outreach opportunities. Some commitment is requiredbut not much beyond a typical churchgoing commitment to Christ, commitment to study, learn more and pray.

Key Question suggesting a group is moving to the next level: My question and a prevalent question among our congregation is: How can we nd out more about these things? Help others catch the vision by dripping into the normal life of the church Gods breakthroughs and the reality-slaps of Scriptures that emphasize Its not all about me. No commitment is required. The response may be as passive as, Huh.

Catch the Vision

Level 2: Im starting to learn that God is amazingly active in the world out there. Im disturbed that Ive never noticed some clear Scriptures on Gods historic plan. Level 1: Im a believer, committed to Jesus Christ.

I know you feel that missions is just one of the hundreds of ne ministries a Christian can be involved in. Yet when youre shocked to learn that God has a clear, overarching purpose for us and that Hes breaking through in miraculous ways all over the planet, you feel jealous to get in on it! Your heart cries for a compelling vision of the Kingdom of God and your signicance in it. Heres what God is doing in His world todayand has been doing throughout history!

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DOS: HOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Help Them Catch the Vision
Ninety percent of believers in North America are nonmission-minded. That means the majority of most congregations are at a Level One on the Mobilization Scale. And that means most of your inuence as a world Christian needs to be focused on helping others catch the vision. Thats where most of the following resources hit, since after helping people catch a vision, their natural questions (How do I nd out more?) pull you into the upper levelswhere there are plenty of resources. How do you help believers catch a vision of Gods heart for every people? Most raise-mission-vision advice doesnt work because it presumes a congregation to be at the Build or Act On Levels:

Put up missionary bulletin boards, maps, unreached peoples posters? Wheedle small groups into adopting a missionary? Try to get them to read mission books? Do whizbang mission conferences during which they hear missionaries talking about missions and eat raw sh? Send as many as possible on as many short-term trips as possible? Ortrickiest of alltry to get them to take the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course?
Those efforts work with believers and congregations who are at least at Levels Three/Four; theyre mostly about education and a bit of exposure. Even viewing a compelling unreached-people video or watching a missions skit leaves at least 90% of a congregation feeling, Im glad the missions people are doing their thing. A few primed individuals here and there will catch the vision in these efforts. Yet even that outcome suggests that a few super-spirituals are supposed to be missionaries while the rest of us watch. Actually catching the vision, as we all know, is the life-changing dynamite of Perspectives. So instead of jumping to education/ involvement, you weekly, monthly, year after year drip into the normal life of these believers the Scriptures and current-event breakthroughs that lead to a change in worldview. Shake up status-quo thinking by using the following elements at every opportunity:

In casual conversations During the typical minute for missions announcements On-screen before services In church service programs In regular church newsletters When prayer requests are asked for In anecdotes offered to speakers Yes, on bulletin boards, etc.

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DOS: HOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

(Continued) Be the encouraging resource to point out what God is doing in His world todayand has been doing all along!

Drip key Scriptures. For example:

Be still, and... Whats the rest of Psalm 46:10? How would you summarize the Bible? Jesus summary is in Luke 24:44-47 (P.S. The word nation is literally ethnic group.) God bless us, be gracious to us and make His face shine upon us.... But whats the rest of the sentence? (Psalm 67:1-2)

out there. For example:

Drip provocative exercises that suggest maybe our worldview is not letting us see whats really

What Are You Looking At? This is a famous photograph of melting snow by a photographer who, when he saw the image in it, came to faith in Christ! Add a prayer: God help us to keep from so much distraction that we dont see You in our world. (Hint: By turning the graphic 90 counterclockwise and blacking-in the distracting corner trivia, youll nally see an image.)

Read this and count the number of Fs in 15 seconds, then look away. How many Fs? One, two, three, four, ve, six, seven, eight? If in a group, offer them even a second chance of 10-15 seconds to count the Fs. About 90% will have wrong answers. If were all looking at the same thingsuch as Scriptureare we all seeing whats really there? (Especially effective in a large group as a PowerPoint slide or overhead transparency.)

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDIES COMBINED WITH THE EXPECTATIONS AND EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS OF EXPERTS.

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DOS: HOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

(Continued)

Drip breakthroughs of Gods wonderful works among the children of men. Use mostly positive breakthroughs. Dont feel youre peddling PR or trying to put a positive spin on current events. Instead, youre obeying some very clear commandments:
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Isaiah 12:4-5 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. Psalm 145:4-5 Expect responses such as Huh, Whered you get this information? and I dont believe that. Habakkuk had the same responses: Look among the nations. Be astonished, wonder, observe. For I am doing something in your day you would not believe if you were told! Habakkuk 1:5

Here are some examples of the incredible things that God is doing around the world
Christian researchers at Ethne 06 in Indonesia report that 4,500 new churches open globally now every week. Momentum Worldwide, the Gideons now hand out more than one million Scriptures every week. Gideons Galcom globally distributes radios pre-tuned to Christian broadcasts. Last year in one Estonian prison, 200 prisoners with Galcom radios came to faith in Christ. .Galcom, IBRA, World By Radio It is estimated that more than 55,000 Christians will be martyred this year for the cause of Christ. COMIBAM Think nobodys sharing their faith? Every day 166,000 people hear the good news of Jesus Christ for the rst time. World Christian Database This Saturday, pray for the 700,000 believers gathering in worship in Nepal-since they meet on Saturdays, the national day off! The number of believers in Nepal has quadrupled in the past 10 years. Assist News Service Nigeria has a church building that seats 50,000. At a Nigerian Christmas celebration last year in Lagos, two million ve hundred thousand believers showed up. World Pulse, pielgrzym.org With 5,200 Nigerian missionaries already serving in 56 countries, the Nigerian Evangelical Mission Association network has committed to mobilize 50,000 more missionaries over the next 15 years to take the Gospel through the North African Islamic nations back to Jerusalem. World Pulse, pielgrzym.org Since 1979, the JESUS lm has been translated into 932 languages and shown in 228 countries. More than 42 million video copiesmostly pirated!are in circulation worldwide. Over these 27 years, more than 201 million viewers have indicated their commitment to Christ as a result of the lm. The Jesus Film Project If they had to choose a religion, 37% of Japans youth say they would choose Christianity. 80% of Japans brides choose a Christian wedding. REAP, Tokyo (Continued)

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DOS: HOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

(Continued) And you thought God was losing: Every year another 27 million people profess faith in Christ. -- Barrett & Johnson, World Christian Trends If Jesus doesnt come back before 2025, the 81 million believers in China are expected to increase to 135 million. -- Barrett & Johnson, World Christian Trends In Romania, Norwegian missionary Andreas Nordli says, Everywhere I go, I meet young Romanians who have on their heart to go to countries like Turkey, India and China. Romania has already sent out 50 career missionaries. -Andreas Nordli, Constanta, Romania A Bible school in Algeria trains leaders among the 50,000 Berbers who have come to Christ since 1984a movement fueled by miracles, dreams of Jesus...and persecution. Sources withheld In Pakistan in September 2006, 45 churches held open-air meetings in front of a mosque. About 10,000 attended the meetings. In the following six months, 14 new churches sprang up, and nearly all the churches doubled their memberships. -- Friedhelm Holthuis, christuskirche.holthuis@t-online.de

NEXT: Help Them Build the Vision

In the huge Perspectives Reader, David Bryant calls this phase Keeping the visionmaking it your own. But keep sounds as if youre keeping it to yourself. So were bucking the party line and insisting that its Build the Vision. How do you help believers build a vision of Gods heart for every people? Heres where great resources are available for you to use and suggest to your fellowship: If you are denominationally connected, check with your denominations mission department for mission education resources. Recommend Perspectives-based curriculum for your fellowships adult Sunday School classes and home groups from the Perspectives Family of Resources: Operation Worldview Video Series and Study Guide Gods Heart for the Nations Bible Study The Condensed World Mission Course Encountering the World of Islam Browse more resources below and in our Resource Library. Host a World Christian Fellowship using our sample session. See who is interested in gathering regularlymonthly or quarterly to encourage and challenge each other as world Christians.

Sources for Breakthroughs Neutral (from non-sending groups) breakthrough sources: Mission Catalystnews breaks: missionscatalyst.org MomentumStrategic Networks momentummag.org Joel NewsA Europe-based anecdotal newsletter: joelnews.org BrigadaUpdates on mission resources: Brigada.org Global ReportA quarterly compilation: BillAndAmyStearns.info

Okay, so if mobilizing your own church to new mission vision is only part of your mobilizing niche for now, consider the deal we have for you: Mobilize dozens of churches at the same time! Join a Perspectives Task Force and/or take Perspectives Coordinator Training! Learn more....

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DOS: HOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

(Continued)

Consider mobilization as your career ministry focus!

FINALLY: Help Them Act On the Vision

David Bryant in the Perspectives Reader uses the term obey the vision. Whether its actualizing or obeying, this is the easy phase of mobilizationsince a congregation knows whats its doing to join in Gods global program. This is the stage during which a church strategically sends out its goers, networked with other churches and partnering with agenciesand with a support team in the church that every missionary longs for. There are advanced levels of info and tools for a fellowship to actually move out and act on the vision: networks of agencies and churches, books, consultations and more. Browse the full resource lists in the Resource Library.

Why? Because you have... The paraclete (called alongside) spiritual gift of encouragement/ exhortation. Abilities in teaching. A heart for place after place, people group after people group (which worries you as if youre ighty). Actually, you have a heart for the whole world. A love for networking. Youre energized by connecting people and opportunities, and are totally happy letting others have the credit for accomplishments. Persistence. Your world Christian zeal doesnt need to see immediate results. A desire to minister to the church in your own culture. Youre most effective on the homefront among Christians. Why not? Because... Its a largely unrecognized, non-traditional ministry. You cant get a degree or even certication in mobilization; friends think if youre interested in missions, you should just give in and go as a missionary. Unless youre recruiting missionaries for a sending agency, there are few measurable results to raising mission vision. Its hard to belong: You can count on one hand all the neutral (non-sending) mobilization organizations in the world. It is challenging to raise support as a mobilizer. You live in your own culture, your work is vague to most Christians, and you belong to no renowned organization. How? Excellent question. There are no Mobilizer Certication programs, very very few neutral (non-sending) mobilization organizations and very little literature on this new ministry. But if this is your niche for now, get started anyway, yes? If youre okay with a mobilization ministry that encourages goers to sign on with a specic sending agency, check with your denomination or favorite agency for their mobilizer training materials. If you want to stay neutral as a mobilizer, work through the resources listed belowparticularly The Ten Modules: Equipping You To Mobilize by The Traveling Team. Itll refer you to still more mobilization wisdom: http://www.TheTravelingTeam.org

For more resources for Mobilizing go to the Next Steps section of the Perspectives website. www.perspectives.org

magine: After a year, two years of weekly, constantly hearing of Gods wonderful works, more and more believers in a group are getting jealous to be in on what God is doing. And they begin asking, How do we nd out more about this? (See Resources for the Mobilizer on the Perspectives website.)

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PRAYER: REBELLING AGAINST THE STATUS QUO

CHAPTER 3

Prayer

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PRAYER: REBELLING AGAINST THE STATUS QUO

I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest.... Isaiah 62:6

Prayer Quotes
The battle we face is a spiritual conict. It must be fought and won by men and women of God who are willing to intercede for missionary families as they invade enemy territory held uncontested for centuries. Satan does not meekly give up his prey. He counterattacks ercely in many unexpected ways. The missionary must have intercessors who stand alongside, praying on a regular and systematic basis. - David Wang History belongs to the intercessors who believe the future into being.... These shapers of the future are the intercessors who call out of the future the longed-for present. - Walter Wink We will only advance in our evangelistic work as fast and as far as we advance on our knees. Prayer opens the channel between a soul and God; prayerlessness closes it. Prayer releases the grip of Satans power; prayerlessness increases it. That is why prayer is so exhausting and so vital. If we believed it, the prayer meeting would be as full as the church. - Alan Redpath The whole idea of the prayers of the saints is that Gods holiness, Gods purpose, Gods ways may be brought about irrespective of who comes or goes. Oswald Chambers It is true that Bible prayers in word and print are short, but the praying men of the Bible were with God through many a sweet and holy wrestling hour. They won by few words but long waiting. - E. M. Bounds I believe it will only be known on the Last Day how much has been accomplished in missionary work by the prayers of earnest believers at home...I do earnestly covet a volume of prayer for my...work -- but oh! for a volume of faith too. Will you give this? - James Fraser

emember David Wells arresting essay in the Perspectives Reader about prayer as rebellion? What is the nature of petitionary prayer? lt is, in essence, rebellion rebellion against the world in its fallenness, the absolute and undying refusal to accept as normal what is pervasively abnormal. It is, in this its negative aspect, the refusal of every agenda, every scheme, every interpretation that is at odds with the norm as originally established by God.

This is not the way life is supposed to be. It makes me angry, but I personally can do something about it: pray! If your passion has focused on intercessionserving the Body of Christ as a watchman on the walls, you know there are a ton of very good prayer resources out there. We dont need to run through yet another Bible review of all the reasons and keys to powerful prayer. (See the rudimentary resource list below.) Whether its straight from the Book or in the thousands of great pamphlets, articles, messages or books on prayer, we know prayer isnt so much about exhortation, information or technique. Its about the supernatural. So settle back for a good global story about the power of intercession. A good, true story. Then well suggest a few ironsharpening exercises, mention some key resources and let you get on with your intercessory role in the Kingdom...for now. A Story Somewhere in Western Sahara. Okay, so you feel a little vertigo: You have no idea where you are. You casually ask Robert, the Brit who organized this trip and is driving your big Toyota Land Cruiser. He sticks out his lip, looks at the at dirtsand to the horizonand says, Havent a clue. (Click here for the rest of the story....)

Prayer
Lord, Teach Us to Pray Even prayerless Christians know we should pray for our missionaries. Paul set an early example of missionaries pleading for prayer: I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Romans 15:30 You can Google over three million references on the Web with the query How to pray for a missionary/missionaries. Many of the citations have surprisingly good and even creative ideas. So the quandary in global intercession isnt about how to pray for missionaries. Its more complicated than thatas in: how to pray for the whole world. Its praying for the nations and against the enemy Satanwhose hordes steal and kill and destroy these captives Every prayer warrior longs to: who are without God and 1) see the results of prayer and without hope. For your priestly, global intercession, youll need prayer friends and prayer fuel.

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Make time for the quiet moments as God whispers and the world is loud. - Anonymous We never know how God will answer our prayers, but we can expect that He will get us involved in His plan for the answer. If we are true intercessors, we must be ready to take part in Gods work on behalf of the people for whom we pray. - Corrie Ten Boom I have felt the impact of your prayer in these past weeks. I am certain now that nothing has had a more powerful inuence on this life of mine than your prayers. - Jim Elliot Be much alone with God, and take time to get thoroughly acquainted. Converse over everything with Him. Unburden yourself wholly -every thought, feeling, wish, plan, doubt- to Him...He wants not merely to be on good terms with you, but to be intimate. - Horatius Bonar ...to pray in the Spirit, to speak words that reach and touch God, that affect and inuence the powers of the unseen world - such praying, such speaking, depends entirely upon our hearing of Gods voice. - Andrew Murray Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all pray. - R.A. Torrey The motive is this, Oh! that God could be gloried, that Jesus might see the reward of his sufferings! Oh! that sinners might be saved, so that God might have new tongues to praise him, new hearts to love him! Oh! that sin were put an end to, that the holiness, righteousness, mercy, and power of God might be magnied! This is the way to pray; when thy prayers seek Gods glory, it is Gods glory to answer thy prayers. C. H. Spurgeon

2) feel the power of prayer both of which occur when praying for the nations!

Find Friends to Pray for the Nations (Note: If you havent run through it already, work through our Make A DifferenceHow to Mobilize Mission Vision in Your Fellowship unit.) Comrades in global prayer are sometimes tough to nd in the typical fellowship. Yet nurturing the prayer skills of the nonmission-mindedthe non-Perspectives prayer warriors in your churchis wonderfully simple since we get to see history-changing results! That is, much prayer rises like incense before our God, and well never know till heaven how He has answered. But in praying for the unreached peoples of the world, we can virtually measure the effectiveness of our prayers. For example, if you began interceding for the exotic, legendary Halkh Mongolian people just two decades ago, youd be praying for an unreached people group in which there were no known believers. Then there was one. Then eight. Today youd be praising as well as pleading in your prayers since there are now more than 30,000 young Mongolian believers, with strong Mongolian-led churches sending more missionaries per Christian than any other country in the world!

(Continued)

Prayer
Another compelling reason your praying friends will be intrigued to join you in interceding for the nationseven though theyre not Perspectives-savvyis that praying for unreached peoples is totally unselsh and is therefore divinely powerful. We know that very often when we pray, we ask amiss or with wrong motives (James 4:3). When you pull down the strongholds over an unreached people, you have absolutely no personal stake in the outcome; any results are purely for the glory of God. So the global prayer weapons of our warfare have an efcacy, a power that our domestic and personal prayers may not have. Actually seeing in your lifetime the historic results of your prayers plus experiencing a new power in prayer is incredibly motivating to intercessors. You can use these remarkable factors to recruit friends wholl be comrades-in-arms for the spiritual battles youll wage for the sake of His Name among the nations. Exercise 1. Get praying friends addicted to intercession for the nations. If your prayer list doesnt already read like Gods Registry of the Peoples (Psalm 87:6), consider taking on this memorable unreached people in Mali among whomat last reportthere is one lone follower of Jesus Christ: The Bozos. Yes, with big red noses, wild orange hair, oppy shoes. No, seriously, they are called the Bozos! Recruit a few comrades to intercede with you (Who can resist praying for the Bozos?) by emphasizing that there will be Bozos in heaven (Revelation 5:9). And were not talking about your brother-in-law or neighbor. You and your friends can pray and measure Gods response as, through the coming years, more Bozos come to faith in Christ! Go beyond your local connections of intercessors and explore the various global prayer networks to nd new friends to pray with. A good starting point for networking is the Web site of Operation World. (See below.)

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I wonder what would happen to most churches and Christian work if we awakened tomorrow, and everything concerning the reality and work of the Holy Spirit, and everything concerning prayer were removed from the Bible. I dont mean just ignored, but actually cut out disappeared. I wonder how much difference it would make? - Francis Schaeffer We all have to wait until the astonishing discoveries will one day be made, and nd out whose faithful prayer in hospitals, prisons, jungles, wheelchairs, crowded city apartments, cabins in the woods, farms, factories, or concentration camps has been a part of a specic victory in snatching someone from a circle of death, or in breaking chains so that there seems to be an ease for that one in stepping into new life. I feel sure that well be surprised beyond measure to discover who or how many will receive the rewards for their part in taking literally and with simple faith and trust the responsibility to intercede, to pray, to make requests day in and day out. -Edith Schaeffer Prayer is not a preparation for the battle; it is the battle! - Leonard Ravenhill Almost everyone believes that prayer is important. But there is a difference between believing that prayer is important and believing it is essential. Essential means there are things that will not happen without prayer. - Dee Duke

Find praying friends particularly among the elderlyin your fellowship, in nearby elder-care facilities, in your extended family. Empower them with purpose; they have the time and wisdom to pray for the nations. Perhaps God is giving them these extended years on earth precisely to change history. You supply the prayer fuel and updates; they will pray!

(Continued)

Prayer
Find Fuel to Pray for the Nations How do you get specic in your prayers for the nations? How can you tell when your prayers are taking effect? Both questions are answered by gathering the people group information already researched by the Body of Christ. More than 300 Christian research organizations around the world are now sharing their ndings. This rare information ne-tunes your intercession, and it gives you benchmarks to measure the results. For example, among the Bozos there is no church whatsoever according to The Joshua Project information. Noting that benchmark of zero churches will make it obvious when your prayers are kicking in as one church fellowship, then two, then a church movement erupts among the Bozos. Get an idea of how to nd prayer fuel on a people group by glimpsing some Web information on that oneof-a-kind ethnic groupthe Bozos. Of course, you can follow this process to nd out more about nearly any unreached people on the planet! Exercise 2. Gather prayer fuel for intelligent intercession. a. Ask God for wisdom in praying what He wants among the Bozos. b. Go to JoshuaProject.org c. Insert in the Search box Bozos. d. Jot down everything you feel is signicant about the Bozos. e. Follow the links to nd out more. f. Duplicate your ndings for your fellow intercessors. g. Pray. Free-Falling in Prayer Is a world Christian supposed to only pray for the unreached ethne of the world? We might get so focused on our favorite people group that our times of intercession slide back into our own desires to see results. Feel free to regularly pray through your own fellowships prayer requestseven if it only seems to be a repetitious rundown of all the ailments of church members. Check with your churchs denominational or network afliations for prayer items. Visit the Mission America Coalition site <MissionAmerica.org> particularly the Lighthouse sectionfor prayer points and national prayer networking. Remember that, in our

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Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den...Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for: Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission. - John Piper (Read through John Robbs stunning article Prayer as a Strategic Weapon in Frontier Missions Are unreached peoples resistant to the gospel or has so little prayer gone up for them that they are effectively held in check by the enemy?)

Perspectives emphasis on the worlds unreached peoples, your own nation is also one which God is longing to bless. Further, heres an exercise to keep you openminded about who and what to pray for regardless of your own interests: Intercede for the individuals and pray against satanic attacks in a random string of Web searches regardless of where you land: Exercise 3. Pray through the Web. a. Ask God for insight. b. Use your usual Web search engine (Yahoo.com, Google.com, etc.) to enter the following, and then pray about what catches your eye and heart:
American church. Remember that without a vision, the people lose focus (Proverbs 29:18). World political leaders. Praying for these gures is a command (1 Timothy 2:1-2)! Disaster. Often when the god of this world ravages a city or people, its an indicator that God is moving behind the scenes. Poorest of the poor. Remember the poor (Galatians 2:10). Street kids. Look after the orphans and widows in their distress. (James 1:26-27).

Add your own free-form search terms. And be jolted into specic prayer on topics you never thought youd be praying about!

For more Prayer resources check out the Next Steps section of the Perspectives website. www.Perspectives.org

SERVING AS SENDER
CHAPTER 4

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SERVE AS A SENDER

ts pretty much the duh verse of the New Testament: And how shall they proclaim unless they are sent? Romans 10:15 Maybe your niche...for now...is sending!

God seems to be raising up a whole new army of homefront believers whose lives are saturated with a passion for His global cause. With nearly 80,000 graduates of the Perspectives course mobilizing others in their fellowships, North American-based world Christians are increasingly catching a vision of their part in sendingmuch as in todays military, where every frontline combat soldier is backed up by nearly 100 support personnel. Some senders focus on a personal missionary. Others sending ministries are more general, serving the larger Body of Christ. Still other senders have taken on vocational roles in mission organizations, and as professional administrators, trainers, researchers and caregivers to send hundreds and thousands of missionaries. Finding your niche in the sending teams of global missions might be as simple as reviewing your spiritual giftings and your SHAPEspiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality and experience. If you didnt work through those exercises in the Find Your Niche unit, consider taking now a quick Spiritual Gifts Inventory (www.buildingchurch.net/g2s-i.htm). Is your sending ministry to befor nowpersonal, more general or vocational?

A PERSONAL SENDING TEAM

Senders team up to form the support base for a specic missionary with behind-the-lines backup in at least 10 areas of specialization: Financial Supporter Moral Supporter Logistics Specialist Prayer Coordinator Communications Specialist Financial Advocate Short-Term Teams Coordinator Seasonal Assistant Researcher Re-Entry Coordinator

Lets think through the practicalities of these roles:

Many of the roles of a missionarys sending team are carefully described in Neal Pirolos excellent study Serving As Senders (see Resources). The point of the Serving As Senders study is simply that these sender-specialists are involved in crucial mission work as is a frontline missionary--although the homefront senders most often are involved on a parttime, volunteer basis.

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A Financial Supporter: Over 70% of North American missionaries are faith based, which means they must develop a team of nancial supporters to partner with them in prayer and nances for the work that they do. This is the easiest way to get involved in a sending ministry BUT DONT STOP HERE! There are may more ways to get involved than just through nancial gifts. Keep reading about other ways to serve in the vital role of sending. A Moral Supporter can: Send random messages of encouragement to a missionary via snail mail, email, in a video, during a phone call, with a cake.... Learn all the tiny details of the missionary/missionary familybirthdays, other special days, favorite foods, movies, books, hobbies, areas of interest, likes and dislikes. Then communicate these details to the rest of the sending team to surprise the missionary with exactly those special things on exactly those special days. Serve as an empathetic listener, a condante, the one who sincerely and regularly asks, How are you today? A Logistics Specialist facilitates practical arrangements. He or she (or a team) can: Pack a missionarys goods as she or he heads for the eld. Arrange a missionarys travel to, from, and within the target area, including planning and handling contingency plans for emergencies. Locate, get specs and costs of needed equipment and supplies, and then pack and ship the items. Arrange travel for visitors or short-term groups to the target area. Research communication options for the missionaryphone connections, Internet capabilities, etc. Train other churches sending teams to handle logistics. A Prayer Coordinator can: Pinpoint spiritual targets for intercession from information provided by the team researchers, mission agencies, and the missionary. Inform prayer groups of these prayer points regarding the people group. Enlist specic prayer warriors to intercede for the personal needs of the missionary. Offer training in how to pray on a global scale. Promote regular prayer for the missionary and the people group through announcements, takehome items, family devotional reminders. Set an example of consistent prayer for the missionaries. Promote periodic prayer events on behalf of the people group and the missionary. Train other churches sending teams to coordinate prayer. The sending team Communication Specialist(s) can: Establish lines of communication with the missionary on the eldvia letter, fax, phone, amateur radio, e-mail, Internet audio/video, courier. Work with the prayer coordinator to communicate to prayer groups and the entire fellowship the essentials of prayer requests, praise and the missionarys concerns. Regularly produce or edit and distribute a news-prayer letter on behalf of the missionary. Promote regular and special opportunities for various ages of church members to communicate with their missionaries. Communicate with other churches, mission societies, and missionaries who are working among (Continued)

WHAT DO SENDERS DO?

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WHAT DO SENDERS DO?

(Continued) that same people group. Submit articles, news releases, and prayer publicity to local, regional, or widespread Christian media to promote awareness of the targeted people group. Train other churches sending teams to communicate.

The sending teams Financial Advocate(s) can: Help plan the details of support raising, help present a nancial plan to the church, organize advocates to network for the missionarys support. See the article Support Advocacy for an eye opener on how sending advocates can help missionaries beat the challenges of support raising. If the missionarys agency doesnt provide these nancial services, the advocate can monitor or initiate plans for appropriate insurances medical, life, property, etc.and taxes as well as retirement or re-entry nances. Handle any of the missionarys nancial matters while he, she or they are on the eld. Evaluate personal and ministry expense patterns, and advise on wise nancial action. Raise funds for the mission effortpursuing grant funding, exploring secular nancial sources, mounting an ongoing support appeal to the church. Train other churches sending teams to help with missionaries nances. A sending teams Short-Term Teams Coordinator can: Communicate with the missionary as to the need of any short-term teamsthe number of individuals needed, the types of skills needed, the timing, etc. Promote the recruitment of short-termers to assist the missionary. Orient and arrange training for the short-termers. This ministry is especially vital when short-termers come from different churches. Work with the other sending team members to efciently equip and send short-term teams who will enhance the missionarys long-term ministry objectives. With the re-entry coordinator, guide the short-termers as they returnto not only process their own experiences but to mobilize others to pray, give, go, and/or join the sending team! Train other churches sending teams to coordinate their missionaries short-term teams. A sending teams Seasonal Assistants can join the missionary periodically. Many world Christians health, family situations, nances, job requirements, etc. mandate that they stay in their home culture. Yet they long to be ministering in a missionary role. These are not simply short-termers who contribute as they can to the work; these are people who regularly travel to assist the missionary in specic tasks. Perhaps a recurring training program needs extra hands. Or a camping ministry needs trained workers only for a few months. Or annual bookkeeping must be done. Or missionary children must have additional supervision during school holidays. Whatever the task, these seasonal workers spend weeks or months as part of the actual missionary teamand bring back full reports regularly to the homefront sending team as well as the home church. Of course, one extra job description for the seasonal assistant is to train others to assist in a similar way, and to help train other churches to consider sending seasonal assistants to amplify their missionaries ministries. (Continued)

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(Continued) A sending teams Researcher can look to the elds. If a fellowship or the Church at large knows nothing about a particular corner of the harvest eld, there wont be much prayer to thrust forth laborers into that area and its people group. Knowing little or nothing is the starting point for one of the most crucial and yet unnoticed roles in mission work: research. Often the missionary on the eld is immersed in the language, local customs, and personalities of local contacts in a people group. But he or she may have difculty gaining accurate information about demographics, about the actual history of a people (sometimes contrasted with the local legendary versions), about the overall culture itself, as well as current news. A home-front researcher can often glean this valuable information and provide it to the missionary, to the rest of the sending team, to sending churches and, if appropriate, to mission agencies and networks. A researcher trains new researchers for the sending team, of courseto assist and/or serve as substitutes. Researchers also train other churches sending teams to recruit and train their own researchers. A sending teams Re-Entry Coordinator(s) can Discuss with missionaries before they go the expected dates and events of the missionaries return--for visits, rests, and/or a permanent return. Regularly update the missionaries on the eld as to developments in the homefronts popular cultureincluding what teenagers are wearing, what issues are in vogue, whats happening in Christian circles. Work with the missionary to carefully plan the personal aspects of any homecomings, and implementing and/or coordinating the work of such homecomings. Plan and arrange events at which returning missionaries can, in a reasonable schedule, share what God has been doing in and through them. Arrange for furlough housing and transportation. Keep updated, and inform the missionary of schooling, employment, and ministry opportunities that are possible when the missionary returns to his or her passport culture. Plan and arrange for the ongoing roles of returned missionaries within the fellowship. Arrange for any necessary counseling for returning missionaries and family members. Train a substitute to take on these jobs whenever necessary. Train other churches sending teams to handle missionaries re-entry challenges. Every missionary moving into cross-cultural ministry should have such a team on the homefront. After all, how shall they proclaim unless they are sent?

WHAT DO SENDERS DO?

SENDERS FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST AT-LARGE

Some senders move into a ministry that goes beyond partnering with one missionary. They simply use their SHAPE (Did you work through this exercise in the Find Your Niche unit?) to support The Cause of Christ generallyby: Offering hospitalitymeals, lodging, retreatsfor missionaries Giving discounts on equipment or services to mission workers Tithing their business prots to missions (See Business As Mission.) Using their creativity to further the Kingdom of God in fresh ways

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One businessman in Seattle, Washington, developed the www.MinistryHome.org web site to help hundreds of missionaries connect with new supporters. A mom organized a ministry of nannies to serve missionary families. The creative approaches to serve the mission cause are as individual as the individual sender. Heres a great story of a newspaperman whos launching into a unique ministry serving as a sender:

GET INVOLVED WHERE YOU ARE The newsletter from a local childrens ministry brought a smile to my face, although it had nothing to
do with what the newsletter actually said. I smiled before reading a word of it; indeed, I never read the entire letter. I smiled, in fact, because it was so difcult to read that I gave up on it. One of my daughters, produced the letter. And in her attempt to be creative, shed chosen a combination of colored paper and colored type that, frankly, made my eyes spin. As a writer and editor with several years of experience with newspapers, magazines and newsletters, I felt I could offer professional, as well as fatherly, advice. So we had a discussion about the challenge of staying creative without losing your readers. Later, it dawned on me how I wished I could have a similar discussion with some of the missionaries who sent us newsletters. Many of them, I realized, were ineffective because they were poorly written or poorly designed or both. The implications: Less prayer, less nancial support, less fruit for the Kingdom of God; more frustrations for God-hearted, well-intentioned missionaries. Fast-forward a few years to 2005. Im taking Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. As I began to examine and pray about my role in the Great Commission, I kept coming back to some basic beliefs. Yes, I might go from time to time. And, yes, our family will send by nancially and prayerfully supporting The implications of poorly specic missionaries. But what about this new phrase Im hearing written or poorly designed equipping? newsletters: Less prayer, less nancial support, less fruit Perspectives gave me a deeper understanding of the role some for the Kingdom of God; more believers play in the Great Commission middle-of-the-road frustrations for God-hearted, moneymakers like me who dont feel called to leave the country well-intentioned missionaries. but still feel called to participate. It took two years for me to gure out a specic and intentional plan for putting my skills as a writer and editor to use equipping others who are involved in Great Commission work. But earlier this year, in partnership with The Body Builders, we launched WordBuilders Communications Services. The idea is to help as many missionaries and missions-related groups as I can with their communications. Right now, its a spare time ministry; I still work full-time as an editor for a statewide newspaper. And clients pay nothing for the service. God has provided all the spare time Ive needed for all the clients Hes sent my way. And if it grows, I know Hell provide the resources, either more time for me or more writer/editor types who want to do the same thing. In a few short months, God has proven Himself. Things I believed are now things Ive seen in action: God provides for those who step into His work.
Note: For more information on WordBuilders, go to www.thebodybuilders.net/wordbuilder

Sending VOCATIONAL SENDERS

Sending specialists may serve the whole Body of Christ as, for example: Mission organization workers Researchers Missiologists, mission teachers Missionary trainers Missionary pastors/counselors Administrative personnel

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The crucial signicance of these roles is, frankly, tough to communicate to typical churches. That is, the typical thinking is that if youre devoted to a missions career, you ought to live in some overseas location and minister cross-culturally. Support in prayer and nances is often a challenge. And so, contrary to what we learned in Perspectives, these workers often have to call themselves missionaries in their church relationships. The blurring of this termsometimes stretched into suggesting We are all missionariesactually does a disservice to mission understanding and particularly to these unsung heroes who keep global mission efforts running smoothly. Most organizations who hire you on as a vocational sender, however, are very good at clearly communicating to churches and supporters the importance of your role. Thinking through the Find Your Niche exercise might let you consider that, with your compelling interest in missions, God is leading you to a vocation in sending!

WORLD CHRISTIAN SENDERS

Meanwhile, whatever sending role you explore, serious sending means living a lifestyle with world Christian characteristics such as Noting how culturized my Christianity may be. Seeking to understand how weve been blessed and how we can use that to bless other nations. Maintaining personal purity for the sake of His name and for the sake of demonstrating His grace to the principalities in the heavenlies (Ephesians 3:10-11). Going out of my way to learn about and meet people of other cultures. Afrming all the God-given ministries of the church as part of what He is doing in the big picture. Diligently mounting my part in the spiritual battles in the heavenlies as I intercede in disciplined prayer. Fellowshipping with believers to encourage and be encouraged. Sharing the great news of what God is doing. Constantly submitting to the supervision of God as to where I go and what I do in ministry--with no reservations. Serving the church. Becoming more and more of a student of the Word. Passing on a world vision to those around us we are allowed to inuence. Developing all the qualities of a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

You dont have to minister cross-culturally to live a holy, focused, streamlined, effective life that impacts whole people groups for Jesus Christ. You can rejoice as a sender.

WELCOMING
CHAPTER 5

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WELCOMING!
You, missionary to the nations on our doorstep In Christ there is not East or West, In Him no North or South; But one great fellowship of love Throughout the whole wide Earth.

elcomers are cross-cultural missionaries in their home countries who welcome international students, refugees, immigrants, tourists and diplomats in the name of Christ. If welcoming is your post-Perspectives volunteer role or if youre exploring a vocation in welcoming, browse through: 1. Your Pop Quiz 2. This Is Not Easy! 3. Get Missiological 4. Volunteer or Vocation? 5. Self Assessment

Each year over 120,000 new international students and scholars begin a four year sojourn in American universities and other institutions of higher learning. While these students often come to America with specic goals and plans, most of them are unaware of a personal divine plan from God. As caring committed Christians come across their paths and offer friendship in Him, they learn about the greatest friend of all Jesus Christ. Tom Phillips and Bob Norsworthy The World at your Door Perspectives Reader

How well do you know the world of welcoming ministry? Read through the good news and bad news below, the answers might suprise you.

1. YOUR POP QUIZ

The Good News: Advantages of a Welcoming Ministry

1. Your Role: You can serve cross-culturally as a missionary without the added expense, risk, travel and foreign-culture stress of missionary life in another country. So whats the downside of this role? Think through your own ideas of the disadvantages of this role; see how it compares with our response below under THE BAD NEWS. 2. Your Ministry: A fruitful ministry among internationals is relational. Events and information are helpful, but its genuinely befriending and responding to the needs of internationals that guides them to Christ. (Continued)

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YOUR POP QUIZ

Continued So whats the downside of this ministry? Think through your ideas and then consider ours under THE BAD NEWS (below).
Welcomers are realizing the impact of their ministries among unreached peoples. One Canadian welcomer meets refugee families from Kosovo as they arrive in Canada. He helps them nd jobs and furniture for their apartments. Then he invites them to a meal and tells them, I am your pastor, like your imam. How can that be? they respond. Were Muslim and youre a Christian. I just am, he says without explanation, and begins to lead them through the Messianic Psalms. Over the two years of this welcoming ministry, two extended family groups of Kosovar Albanians have come to faith in Christ!

3. Your Ministry Environment: You get to stay in your home culture. So whats the downside? Think through your own ideas and then consider ours under THE BAD NEWS (below). 4. Your Sending Team: Youre living among your sending team including potential nancial supporters, so you can consistently keep in touch. So whats the downside of this advantage that overseas missionaries dont have? Think through your own ideas and then consider ours under THE BAD NEWS (below). 5. Your New Student Believers: Internationalsespecially studentsare more open to new ideas, new behavior, and are more open to the Gospel than they would be on their home turf. New believers realize the signicance of their coming to Christ, and often speak of getting training and serving Christ full-time. So whats the downside of this chance to minister unhindered to international students? Think through your own ideas and then consider ours under THE BAD NEWS (below). 6. Your New Immigrant Believers: Its legal to openly share your faith here. Extended families and whole neighborhoods can be introduced to Jesus Christ! You can see a people movementa church-planting movement among an unreached people right here in North America! So whats the downside of seeing churches of immigrants or refugees form in North America? Think through your own ideas and then consider ours under THE BAD NEWS (below). 7. Your Impact: Students return to their home countriesoften in positions of leadership and inuence. Immigrants have extended family ties that reach back into the relational networks of their people group in their homeland. A changed life here as you welcome these foreigners can impact the nations! So whats the big challenge in seeing foreigners come to Christ in North America? Think through your own ideas and then consider ours under THE BAD NEWS (below). (Continued)

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YOUR POP QUIZ

Continued

The *Bad News: Disadvantages of a Welcoming Ministry

*(Well, not really bad news. Just...challenging news. Nothings actually bad about following Gods commands to honor the foreigner in our midst!) 1. Your Role: You are serving cross-culturally as a missionary, but most church people dont think youre a real missionary because youre not on a foreign eld or overseas. 2. Your Ministry: Because its a relational ministry of befriending internationals, its a timeintensive work. (Putting on an eventa North American ministry standardis time-specic. Sitting and talking, eating together, talking on the phone, enjoying recreation and talking, intentionally building a friendship is open-ended and takes timea rare commodity in our culture.) Other cultures views of friendship, and of possessions and wealth further complicate ministry to internationals as they expect deep attachments, and can depend too much on your efforts to respond to their needs. 3. Your Ministry Environment: You constantly have to apologize for much of your home culture and resist its bad inuences on your international friends. 4. Your Sending Team: Youve living among potential nancial supporters, so they sense no urgency in committing to your support team since you dont have some impending date to go! 5. Your New Student Believers: Seeing students come to Christ apart from their oikos extended familiesand away from their home culture proves difcult and sometimes dangerous for the individual, her/his family and any church movement among their people when the student returns home. Thus many new student believers immediately begin trying to stay in North America permanently rather than risk being salt and light in their own culture. 6. Your New Immigrant Believers: Immigrants and refugees are sometimes uneducated, limited in English and typically are low-income earners. And so the strategy of a churchplanting movement among this group is almost as much a challenge as a movement in their homeland would be. These challenges require that a welcoming ministry is fully prepared to go way beyond befriending and helping out these foreigners as it moves into the missiological realm of fostering a church-planting movement. 7. Your Impact: The new Christian international student returning home usually faces a loss of the spiritual support he or she has enjoyed in a campus ministryplus the resistance of family, culture and Satan himself. Among an immigrant people in North America, nearly every family will resist going back to their homeland with the Gospel. They made it to North America, and nearly two more generations will need to grow up before some will return to their people as missionaries with Good News. Again, an effective welcoming ministry needs a solid missiological core in order to overcome these what-happens-aftersalvation challenges.

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2. THIS IS NOT EASY

ometimes those in welcoming ministries, as they mobilize churches to participate in reaching the internationals in our midst, tend to minimize the effort required. Its true that any believer can invite a foreigner over for a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal. Anyone can help set up an international dinner to welcome new foreign students. But as noted in our BAD NEWSno, the CHALLENGING NEWS about a solid welcoming ministry, this is not easy.

Its complicated by: The number of cultures involved The clashes among cultures and between other cultures and the North American culture The difculty of long term follow-through North Americans avoidance of highly relational and therefore timeand energy-intensive ministry. Why is something so obvious and seemingly simplewelcoming the foreigner actually such a challenging ministry? Because its important! In fact, its crucial in the grand, unchangeable purpose of God.

The alien living with you must be treated as one of your nativeborn. Love him as yourself.... God loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens. Leviticus 19:34 Deuteronomy 10:18-20

Caring for the Alien

Gods rag-tag Christian army is made up of ordinary, everyday people. We live all over the world and have been given two great commands. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. But who is our neighbor? When a lawyer asked that question in Luke 10:25-37, Jesus told a story about the man who was mugged by robbers along the road. As a priest passed by, he did nothing to help the man. A Levite likewise did nothing. It was only a Samaritan (half Jew/half Gentile) who showed kindness to the man and ministered to him. In Jesus days on earth, the Samaritans were despised half-breeds in the minds of the average Jew. The animosity was so great that Jews avoided Samaritans at all cost when traveling between Galilee and Judea. Tensions ran high (Luke 9:52-54; 10:25-37; 17:11-19; John 8:48). But Jesus broke through those hostilities with a double-barreled response to the lawyers question. After telling His story, Jesus asked, Which of these three proved to be a neighbor...? A knee-jerk reaction to this familiar tale is: Love my neighbor? Well, my neighbor is even a stranger beaten on the roadside. I should love anyone and care for him or her. But Jesus asked which of the threethe priest, the Levite or the Samaritanproved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers hands? (Luke 10:36). Then He nodded at the lawyers correct answer: The one who showed mercy (10:37). The neighbor was the Samaritan! As usual with Jesus, He was layering His simple stories with disturbing meaning: Yes, the Samaritan was a neighbor to the beaten man, who then was a neighbor of the Samaritan. And the Samaritan demonstrated a love for that beaten neighbor. But the wilder meaning for His Jewish audience was this: Which of the three is the neighbor? The Samaritan is your neighbor! You are to cross-culturally love the half-breed as you love yourself! (Continued)

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THIS IS NOT EASY

Continued Our neighbors are people from other cultures, many of whom we dont naturally like, those who are different, who dont dress like we do, who dont speak the same language. Were to love these as we love ourselves. Jesus wasnt simply suggesting a kind stance; He was summarizing in this Love your neighbor a series of Old Testament laws about our treatment of the foreignerthe neighborin our midst.

The Heart of God

God defends foreigners and tells us to do likewise: The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:34 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve Him. Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name. Deuteronomy 10:1820 Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow. Then all the people shall say, Amen! (Deuteronomy 27:19). Not only are we to love them and give them food and clothing, but God ordered His Old Testament people to tithe to them: When you have nished setting aside a tenth of all your product in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satised. Deuteronomy 26:12 In fact, there are more than 40 references in the Old Testament alone to looking out for the foreigners among us. Why is God so concerned about them? Because He loves them just as much as He loves us. Gods radical love extends to all peoples on the face of the earth equally. In His love, He often shifts peoples around the globe to locations where they are primed to meet Him. He moves thousands of Kurds to Berlin to form the rst Kurdish churches. He moves Bawean Island workers from Indonesia to Singapore to meet Christians for the rst time. He allows the government of the Peoples Republic of China to forcibly relocate Tibetan Buddhists to cities where Han Chinese Christians introduce them to Jesus Christ. He moves Mongolian students to Moscow to meet Tanzanian believers who welcome them into the Kingdom. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and nd him, though he is not far from each one of us. Acts 17:26-27 Through the evil propagated by Satan, his emissaries, and even human beings, and through curiosity, illness, famine, business opportunities, tourism, family relationships and hundreds of other means, God moves people who need Him to your doorstep. Unfortunately, much of the Church hasnt learned that lesson. Around 80% of all international students who study in North America never make it into a North American home.

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3. GET MISSIOLOGICAL!
Remember The Power of an Integrated Vision essay in our Perspectives Reader? It presented a rocket illustration of the four dynamics of what God is doing in blessing His people to bless every people. Nothing profoundly missiological here, but isnt it obvious that Reached Peoples and Unreached Peoples occupy very different positions in the overall mission of the Church? So they require different approaches as to how we can bless them with the blessing of God. Sometimes welcoming ministries treat every foreigner as simply another foreigner from a geopolitical countrywithout taking into account whether the person is from a reached or an unreached people group. If a welcoming ministry is only about befriending, evangelizing and personal discipling, then its missing the Perspectives kind of long-term missiological strategies of people-group thinking. Your challenge as a welcomer: Get good at missiology. (See Resources below.)

4. VOLUNTEER OR VOCATION?
Will welcoming be a volunteer role for now? Envision yourself... Meeting a Malaysian at the airport and taking her to her apartment. Teaching a Tajik the difference between a penny, a nickel, a dime, and a quarter. Helping an Azeri from Iran set up a bank account. Driving a Cambodian Khmer woman to the store and showing her how to grocery shop. Listening to a Jordanian Arab share about his poor grade in a basic engineering course. Hurting with a Mapeche girl from Chile as she tells you about her mother back home who has cancer. Having a Hausa couple from Nigeria over for tea and playing a board game with them. Sitting at a table and hearing all about the brothers and sisters of a Kazakh student. Taking an Aceh from Indonesia to see the tourist sights of your area. Having three Zhuang Chinese students over for Thanksgiving dinner. Listening to a Japanese student share about roommate problems.

Is welcoming a potential area of vocational ministry for you? If so, you need to line yourself up for almost all the knowledge-skills-character prep any missionary serving outside her/his own culture must consider. (Continued)

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VOLUNTEER OR VOCATION?
Continued And a good place to start in preparing for vocational cross-cultural ministry is a good old intimidating Self-Assessment Prole. If you havent already, be sure to review the Run With the Vision: Find Your Niche unit. Take the time to actually study through the Scriptures and discussion under Different Settings and Knowing Gods Will. The primary areas of competence in serving cross-culturally include character, skills and knowledge. Character demands spiritual formation. Skills call for instruction and practice. And knowledge means weve got a lifetime of learning ahead of us. The following self-assessment hinges on these three emphases of competence as a missionary. The assessment is not scientically constructed; its only for your own use. Take your time praying through these factors to assess your readiness to serve cross-culturally as a learner, trader, storyteller to foreigners in your own culture. You can simply print off a copy of this prole and work through this assessment on your own. Or you can accentuate its effectiveness by printing extra copies for: 1. A very close friendanyone who knows you well. This person is to ll out as much as she/he can on the assessment form and then hand it back to you. You compare what this friend perceives about youas contrasted or conrming what you perceive about yourself. (Were all very good at fooling ourselves.) By comparing the two versions, youll have a more accurate appraisal of your character, skills and knowledge. 2. A mentor. If you want to develop a serious personal preparation plan, youll follow the suggestions under Plot Your Preparation, where its explained that a mentor can simply be a friend who helps keep you accountable to your preparation plan. If you plan on following a personal preparation plan, take the assessment nowand then about six months from now to trace your development in each area. For now, relax your personal defenses, pray for clarity and assess your readiness for a cross-cultural career.

If you have unshakeable condence that you are qualied to serve crossculturally, you might not be dependent enough on God to be used. If youre fearful and feel inadequate, God may be declaring, Youre ready! (See Exodus 3:7-10 where God refers to Himself 9 times and to insecure Moses just once. This is 90% about God and maybe just 10% about you! Relax.)

For more Welcoming resources, check out the Next Steps section of the Perspectives website. www.perspectives.org
(Continued)

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FOR PROSPECTIVE CROSS-CULTURAL WORKERS

The key ingredients in your ongoing immersion in Gods Word, His work and His world.

SELF-ASSESSMENT PROFILE

The purpose of the assessment is to help you identify your strengths and areas in which you may need improvement.
Spiritual Formation Character Instruction & Practice Skills in ministry and in the practicalities of life in another culture.

Lifelong learning Knowledge of Gods Word & His work in His world

This in no way suggests you need to be perfect in every area in order to move into missionary service as a welcomer. Self-evaluation can be unsettling; were always our own worst critic. But dont give in to the enemys ploys of discouragement and depression about not right now measuring up to an imaginary missionary ideal. Click here for the Self-Assessment Prole.

PLOT YOUR PREPARATION

PREP 101
Develop a solid sending base: Serve and build relationships with leaders in your home church. Begin now developing a list of people who trust you, are interested in your ministry aspirations and will pray for you. Explore ways to minister to them nowproviding big-picture news, listening, praying specically for them, etc. (See the unit on Serve As a Sender to begin developing your core team.) Sharpen skills in resolving interpersonal conicts. (North American Christians are famous for avoiding the people we dont get along with and for simply switching churches when the relational going gets tough.) Ministry is dealing with people. Working with a team is dealing with people. There will be interpersonal conicts! Get good at cross-cultural friendships. Hone your cross-cultural skills nowskills that comprise sitting down and eating and talking with international students and immigrants. Adjust to the world Christian wartime lifestyle we studied in Perspectives. Live as frugally as possible with few frillswhile generously budgeting funds for Kingdom priorities. Avoid or get out of debt. (Continued)

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PLOT YOUR PREPARATION

Continued Go on short-term vision or ministry trips to the cultures most common to the internationals youll work with. (Among international students, for example, detailed data is available from universities as to which countries their students come fromalthough, unfortunately, not which people group.) Get informal training. (See Resources.) Consider formal training. Your local Christian college will offer cross-cultural courses. But unless you commit to a welcoming ministry that requires a degree in Bible or missions, dont presume you need to pursue a full degree. Every reputable organization will have its own suggestions for pre-candidate training and, after your appointment, will provide training and orientation. Take time to study all the mission agencies working among ethnics in North America or, if your interest is campus ministry, all the international student ministries. Just because one is familiar to you or its one of three you know about doesnt mean thats who youre destined to work with. Its one thing to take actionstudy and call an organization, sign up for a short-term, send out an email to friends about your aspirations. Its another thing to, well, grow. Again, cross-cultural preparation is knowledge, skills and character. And the greatest of these is character. Anybody can learn skills and acquire knowledge. Not everybody does a good job of impersonating Jesus. Q. How do you work on your character? A. Make yourself accountable to a mentor.

CROSS-CULTURAL WORKER MENTORING

Welcoming preparation is about Gods Word, His work in His real world. Readiness is a process of growing in knowledge about each of these areas, a process of practicing skills in each of these three areas. And its about character: No international wants the Good News of Gods Kingdom to be communicated by a jerk. The Real Deal This Cross-Cultural Worker Mentoring Program guides you into your own customized Welcomer Prep Plan that emphasizes knowledge, skills and character. So this isnt just an elementary step in cross-cultural readiness. Its the real deal: the beginning (or acceleration) of the process of ne-tuning your role in the Great Commissiona lifelong exploration. Which always brings up questions like: Is there a call to missions involved in welcoming? How do you know where to serve? Where do you get training? What organization do you go with? If you commit to welcoming, do you have to make it a lifelong commitment? Whats the deal with raising support? What about resistance from family? How do I know Im qualied? What about debt? Etc.

Big questions with lots of answers. So dont presume too much, dont play to your own or other peoples conventional expectations. Dont pretend to know all the answers in the process of getting from here to there. Just take it one step at a time.

(Continued)

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CROSS-CULTURAL WORKER MENTORING

Continued
COMMENTS FROM CROSS-CULTURAL WORKERS ABOUT MISSION MENTORING In a recent survey of missionaries, DualReach (DualReach.org) found that every respondent who had received mentoring or counseling during missionary preparation listed it as highly benecial. Missionaries made these specic comments: Make sure individuals have someone discipling them to have a deeper walk with Goda walk which doesnt rely on outside spiritual nurturing. Pastoral encouragement was very signicant in afrming my giftedness for ministry. Encourage local churches to show an interest in future missionaries by holding them accountable. Sending a person through a preparation process shows the churchs interest. I would like to have had several ministry options and counsel on how my gifts matched up with those options. Help prospective missionaries be involved in a small group of people who care about each others spiritual well-being and the direction each one is going in life. Ideally they will continue to care even when someone departs to train or to serve the Lord somewhere else. I wish the pastor and missions committee had taken an interest in me. I would have liked the pastor to have taken more of a role in meeting with me and for the missions committee to have provided direction and been more proactive. It is extremely benecial to feel like you are supported and encouraged by your church at home. Nurture relationships between missionary and missions leaders in the church prior to departure.

The Program The process is: Complete the Self-Assessment Prole. Ask a close friend or relative (not a spouse) to evaluate you in a secondopinion Prole. Meet once with a person from your churchs mission team/committee or church staff. Find someone wholl serve this year as your mentor-encourager. (Relax. Its easier than you think.) Meet a second time with the mission team or staff person and your mentor. Embark on your personalized Welcomer Prep Plan. If you opt-in for this process, youll use: A Growth Guide for aspiring CrossCultural Workers to follow up the SelfAssessment Prole. The Guide gives you directions for growth in each area where you want to developwhether in knowledge, skills or character. A Welcomer Prep Planone of the authors of which is youto plot an individualized action plan that will guide you through systematic steps to develop the character, skills and knowledge to succeed in any area of mission work including welcoming. Accountability to meet every other month (or more often) with your mentor, who prays for you and keeps you accountable to actually work on the growth steps youve chosen. Accountability to meet twice a year with the team, committee or person responsible for missions in your church. A free trip to Paris, Rio de Janeiro or the South Pacic island of your choice. (Just kidding on that last one. We wanted to make sure you were tracking.)

(Continued)

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CROSS-CULTURAL WORKER MENTORING

Continued Immediate Steps to a Mentoring Experience 1. Ask God to guide you as you complete the Self-Assessment Prole. This self-check is not turned in to anybody ofcial to be led in any way; you keep a copy and your mentor keeps a copy. It is seen only by you, your mentor and the church mission or staff person you consult with. Make an extra copy of the Prole. As objectively and honestly as possible, grade yourself in each area. In the last section, indicate three areas where you want to focus your initial efforts for growth. You can work on more areas later, but it is important to concentrate on a few at a time in order not to be overwhelmed. Ask someone who knows you wella friend or relativeto evaluate your character and skills by completing a second copy of the Assessment without having seen your version of it. If married, ask someone other than your spouse to complete this second-opinion assessment. Compare your answers. If you dont understand his/her assessment of certain areas, talk it over. This in itself could be a huge growth-step for you. (How often do we give good friends/relatives permission to critique us?) Ask God to help you not to be defensive or discouraged! 2. Establish a time to meet with someone from your church staff/mission team to discuss how she/he can help you grow. If married, you should meet as a couple with this person after both of you have completed the Assessment. Give this person a copy of both your own and the second-opinion assessments to review prior to your appointment. Talk with this person about several people who might be a mentor for you. (Each person in a married couple will connect with her/his own mentor.) A mentor doesnt need to have vocational ministry or mission experience, doesnt need to be older than you, doesnt need to generate the content of your preparation process. She or he simply needs to care about you and agree to keep you accountable as you work through a plan to explore the possibility of a missions career. Set a tentative appointment when this church staff/mission team person will meet with you and your mentor to talk over objectives, roles and expectations. If married, you, your mentor and the mission team person will meet separately from your spouse. Ask the church staff/mission team person to check with you and your mentor at least every six months to evaluate your progress. 3. Pray for a mentor. Ask believers of your own gender if they would consider a one-year commitment to: Meet with you at least once every two months. To Regularly by email or phone ask you how youre doing in your welcomer ministry exploration plan. To Pray for you. Your mentor must be a believer you know to be spiritually healthy, must be of your own gender, must be local enough to meet with you in-person at least every other month. This person does not have to be a member of your own church, does not have to have any vocational ministry or missions experience and does not have to be older than you. 4. Give your mentor a copy of Directions for Cross-Cultural Workers Mentor-Encouragers.

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CHAPTER 6

GOING

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GOING ALL-OUT!
You, Missionary to the Nations Shall we stand by and allow these millions to continue under the curse and snare of a false religion, with no knowledge of the saving love and power of Christ? Of course it will cost life. It is not an expedition of ease nor a picnic excursion to which we are called....It is going to cost many a life, and not lives only, but prayers and tears and blood. Samuel Zwemer (See the Welcoming unit if your niche is cross-cultural ministry within your own culture. If your interest in cross-cultural ministry is only in short-term involvement, note the Different Settings discussion in Find Your Niche and then just go! Since the following pertains to those considering at least a 2-year commitment to a missionary role.)

MISSIONARY MYTHS
Besides the many eye-opening insights about cross-cultural ministry we gained in our Perspectives courses, going as a missionary also has quite a few urban legends. And, yes, it sometimes takes some rather irreverent debunking to get real about a missions careerinstead of continuing to parrot conventional myths. Instructions: 1. Scan the bold-faced headings and check those that, honestly (No ones watching except Jesus.), you tend to believe. 2. Go back to each and read the irreverent debunking. 3. Argue, comment or just talk about these topics with your fellow Perspectives classmates or missionaries that you know. MISSIONARIES ARE SUPERSPIRITUAL. In reality, lots of dysfunctional people are attracted to missions because it grants them instant importance and admiration. Insecure believers need to feel signicant, and theres not a more sure-re way to exude signicance than to become a missionary. If a missionary actually believes this myth, he/she is one of those famous holier-than-thous, the kind that should never go around the world representing Jesus. But, then, sometimes the myth is true: Many missionaries are incredibly, deeply spiritual people.
(Continued)

We Perspectives alumni are all grownups here, so we dont need to coddle each other with platitudes and noble inspiration about going beyond your own culture as a missionary. There are too many topics, too much urban-legend lore (See the irreverent sidebox list of Missionary Myths.) to cover on this huge topic in this format. Yet there are also too many disturbing facts about becoming a missionary from North America to take it all lightly: Its usually 7-10 years from a point of commitment to missions until deployment. The threat of terrorism against American missionaries is very real in most regions of the spiritually destitute 10/40 Window. Many family members and friends ask, But is it safe out there? and the answer is No. 70% of North American missionaries must raise their own support. It now takes an average of 2-3 years for missionaries to raise support to go. (Although with proper training, the time frame can be drastically reduced.) Supporting missionaries is such a rare discipline in our churches today that even among those exploring mission service, only about 5% personally support a missionary! Each year, one of every 20 North American missionaries quit. (For several years, the Korean annual attrition rate was one of every two missionaries quit.) So a typical mission agency loses almost half its people every decade. Nearly 3/4 of the reasons for quitting are preventablewhich accentuates the importance of training-preparation and missionary care. In the past few years, it is estimated that 40,000 North Americans have made a commitment to go. Yet, says Perspectives developer Dr. Ralph Winter, They will never make it to the eld due to ignorance, indifference..., detachment, school debts, etc.
(Continued)

FIRST, THE DISCLAIMER

Going THE DISCLAIMER

Continued Sobering facts. Why be so negative as we launch into our postPerspectives look at the wonderful adventure of becoming a missionary? Because in most circles, its impolite to remind each other that such a career, like all radical discipleship, carries a cost: Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not rst sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to nish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, This fellow began to build and was not able to nish. Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not rst sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. Luke 14:28-32 Frankly, the last thing the Kingdom needs are missionaries who are naive about the costwho will quit or in some way surrender to the enemy when the going gets tough. So thats our upfront disclaimer: This is going to be tough. But eternally worth it. The next consideration, of course, is how do I get there from here?

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MORE MISSIONARY MYTHS

MISSIONARIES GET THE CALL TO MISSIONS. Why not the Mobilization Call? The Intercessor Call? The Call to Provide IT? Apparently only professional clergy (with the traditional Call to the Pastorate) and missionaries get these supernatural Calls? Surveys tell us that missionaries who say they denitely have been called to missions stay on the eld longer than others; so agencies often insist on your having this mysterious Call. Lots of ne aspiring missionaries sort of make up their Call so they can check the right box on an application. If you havent already, review the Call discussion in our Run With the Vision: Find Your Niche unit. Sometimes, however, the myth is true: A person literally hears Gods call to mission ministry.
For more Missionary Myths visit the Next Steps section of the Perspectives website. www.perspectives.org

Yes, there are lots of missionary resources available (See basic list below.), so lets focus here on the stuff thats hard to pull together onyour-own. Work through the following sections one after the other, or simply click on a highlighted item to jump to it in any order you wish: Assessing My Readiness to Go All-Out! 1. Do a Self Assessment: Strengths? Weaknesses? 2. Scan What do they want? A comprehensive, standardized version of agency applications. Planning My Preparation 3. Determine Your Framework: Suited more to a reached or an unreached setting? 4. Plot Your Preparation: Knowledge, skills and character. And the trickiest of these is character. So get a mentor. Well then highlight key Resources for Going and turn you loose to pursue your whatever wherever of serving cross-culturally in Gods global, unchangeable purpose.

GETTING THERE

OUTTA SIGHT OUTTA MIND? Thats the way going used to be: Youd see your family and friends maybe once every ve years. Now, they come to you on short-terms. Youd have to communicate via slow-boat snail mail. No longer. Weve even got satellite hookups in the uttermost parts of the earth. A new missionary landing into a very remote spot on the other side of the planet emails: So, I have DSL, which means I should have my phone hooked up tomorrow and we can talk on it for free! Just try to use wise words when you talk (mainly avoiding the M and CH words). We can keep connected with family and friends like never before!

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You can simply print off a copy of this prole and work through this assessment on your own. Or you can accentuate its effectiveness by printing extra copies for: 1. A very close friendanyone who knows you well. This person is to ll out as much as she/he can on the assessment form and then hand it back to you. You compare what this friend perceives about youas contrasted or conrming what you perceive about yourself. (Were all very good at fooling ourselves.) By comparing the two versions, youll have a more accurate appraisal of your character, skills and knowledge. 2. A mentor. If you want to develop a serious personal preparation plan, youll follow the suggestions under Plot Your Preparation, where its explained that a mentor can simply be a friend who helps keep you accountable to your preparation plan. If you plan on following a personal preparation plan, take the Assessment nowand then about six months from now to trace your development in each area. For now, relax your personal defenses, pray for clarity and see if you think youre ready for a crosscultural career.

1. A SELF-ASSESSMENT
If you havent already, be sure to review the Run With the Vision: Find Your Niche unit. Take the time to actually study through the Scriptures and discussion under Different Settings and Knowing Gods Will. The primary areas of competence in serving cross-culturally include character, skills and knowledge. Character demands spiritual formation. Skills call for instruction and practice. And knowledge means weve got a lifetime of learning ahead of us. The following Self Assessment hinges on these three emphases of competence as a missionary. The Assessment is not scientically constructed; its only for your own use. Take your time (Remember, you might have 7-10 years before actually stepping into career missionary work.) praying through these factors to assess your readiness to serve crossculturally as a learner, trader, storyteller.

Instruction & Practice The key ingredients in your ongoing immersion in Gods Word, His work and His world. Spiritual Formation Character Skills in ministry and in the practicalities of life in another culture.

Lifelong learning Knowledge of Gods Word & His work in His world

SELF-ASSESSMENT PROFILE
FOR ASPIRING CROSS-CULTURAL WORKERS
The purpose of the assessment is to help you identify your strengths and areas in which you think you need improvement. This in no way suggests you need to be perfect in every area in order to move into missionary service. Self-evaluation can be unsettling; were always our own worst critic. But do not give in to the enemys ploys of discouragement and depression about not right now measuring up to what you think is the missionary ideal. (And remember, this isnt some denitive, scientic evaluation; its what you think about each of these areas of growth.) Click here for the Self-Assessment Prole

If you have unshakeable condence that you are qualied to go, you might not be dependent enough on God to be used. If youre fearful and feel inadequate, God may be declaring, Youre ready! (See Exodus 3:7-10 where God refers to Himself 9 times and to insecure Moses just once. This is 90% about God and maybe just 10% about you! Relax.)

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2. FIND OUT WHAT THEY EXPECT

What if I: Have school debts? Am divorced? Dont have an actual home church anymore? Dont have a Bible education? Have worked through some issues with counseling? Am a fairly new Christian? Have a spouse who isnt sure about living in a foreign setting? Can go only part of each year?

Every denomination and independent mission agency has a sort of preliminary get-to-know-you questionnaire. Most you can access online at their Web sites. Thats usually the easy part. Then, if both you and the agency are interested in each other, you get to ll out a stunneran application form thats often 10+ pages. Plus references. Thats when the questions start feeling, well, intrusive. Seriously, no sending agency wants to spend time and energy recruiting someone who cant or wont answer some very personal questions about her/his history, character, nances, reputation, spiritual vibrancy, medical conditions, family issues, etc. Actually, the older you are, the more questions arise: School debts and credit reports? Divorce, remarriage, singleness? Kids? Elderly parents? Health concerns? An encyclopediac job history? In and out of vocational ministry? So its quite a chore to pray, think and work through these massive applicationsespecially if you apply to several agencies. The Finishers Project/MissionNext (See under Resources, below.) recently began proposing a standardized application form. (Each agency would of course add its own detailed questions in followup queries.) This form is a comprehensive document of what you will be asked as you apply to a typical sending agency. Praying and thinking through the questions will give you a very clear idea of what an agency expects of you in the application process. Browse the Application Form and jot notes on topics you realize youll need to research or add to your Plot Your Preparation checklist. Or actually ll out the Proposal to see if youre ready to apply to an agency; many will accept this standardized form by adding their own particular questions. Either way, this gives you an accurate picture of what an aspiring missionary lls out when it comes to formally signing on with an agency. Click here for the Standardized Agency Application Form.

3. DETERMINE YOUR FRAMEWORK

Are you planning to serve in a reached people or unreached? Your answer is one of the clearest signposts for the direction of your missionary preparation plan. A reached people has a church movement that is solid enough to evangelize its own people, right? An unreached group, of course, has no church movement at allalthough it may already have many churches.

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DETERMINE YOUR FRAMEWORK

Continued

Who you are, how youre gifted, what energizes you in ministry (If necessary, review the Run With the Vision: Find Your Niche unit.) all suggest where you might be most effective in the cross-cultural dynamics of Gods unchangeable purpose. Remember the rocket illustration from The Power of Integrated Vision in the Perspectives Reader? As God blesses His people to bless every people, there are two cross-cultural settings or frameworks for your personal ministry: You can be part of Gods blessing a reached people. You can be part of Gods blessing an unreached people. Discerning this macro-framework for your ministry can tell you tons about the preparation youll need as a goer. Serving Reached Peoples Do you have a sense of being led toward a reached people? Even though our Perspectives course emphasized mission to the unreached peoples, still nearly 95% of North American mission work is among reached peoples. So we ought to be good at serving other cultures established church movements, right? (Sigh.) If you sense God is leading you to a reached culture, your roles will be those of a servant and partner. Your very personality must be one which enjoys working under the leadership of others from that cultureothers who often wont even have the training or expertise you do. Youre not the up-front point person, the competent leader who tends to run everything. Youll be part of a team from your sending agency or church. (Not even Paul the Apostle ever went out by himself. Regardless of the adventures of Bruchko.) And your entire team must have that servantpartnering mentality to effectively minister in a reached people group. If you: Enjoy a relatively established church setting Appreciate knowing theres a set role for you to t into Are comfortable taking a supportive position Arent the strong personality pioneering type You might prepare yourself to be one of the reached peoples missionaries who excel in: *Bible teaching Caregiving to those in ministry Assistant roles Professional skills (publishing, computing, nance, medicine, media, engineering, literacy, Bible translation, etc.)

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DETERMINE YOUR FRAMEWORK

Serving Reached Peoples
Continued

*Training in entrepreneurship *Training missionaries Practical supportive roles (logistics, construction, etc.)

*Lots of Western mission efforts list training and particularly leadership training as their missionaries roles in reached cultures. The danger is that modeling Western styles of ministry, methods and concepts of leadership shape a non-indigenous, foreign church culture in a non-Western people. Bible teaching, yes. Ministry training? Be very careful that whats modeled is Jesus, not Western church culture. On the other hand, when it comes to facilitating business startups to produce revenue for the developing church, real-world business training is invaluable. Likewise missionary training, stripped of all culture, is vital!
How about evangelism and discipling, preaching and caring for the poor/oppressed? Arent those crucial ministries needed among the reached? Denitely. But those are the responsibilities of that cultures church. If you do it for them (and they usually want you to), youre demonstrating your superiority, youre virtually ensuring things will mimic your foreign Western ways, and youre frankly stealing their blessing. Selah. Pioneering Among the Unreached The remaining unreached peoples of the world were, of course, the emphasis in our Perspectives studies. Part of the reason for that emphasis is that the unreached map out the direction of Gods historic purpose: Each will be offered the blessing of redemption in Christ, and its only a matter of time. The other reason we emphasized unreached peoples was noted above: More than 90% of the personnel and resources of North American missions goes to ministry among reached peoples. North American missions still evidences a great imbalance. Which is why so many of us Perspectives fanatics are going to the unreached. Teams of Perspectives fanatics. (Remember, not even the Apostle Paul went solo.) If you and/or your team has: A strong personality A pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit Giftings particularly in evangelism and discipling Willingness to live in probably difcult circumstanceschiey in the 10/40 Window Patience to see the fruit of your ministry You might prepare yourself to be one of the unreached peoples missionaries who excel in: Pre-evangelism roles of every sortfrom business entrepreneurship to medical service to teaching English as a Foreign Language to community development projects to ghting injustice to youth work to anything that answers a local need with blessing and which demonstrates the character of God. These pre-evangelism roles usually evolve into the long-term platform for your ministry. Evangelism Discipling Ethnomusicology Bible teaching Facilitating church-planting movements

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DETERMINE YOUR FRAMEWORK

Continued

Your Framework for Preparation Its just that simple. You dont have to prepare for everything. One of those two dynamics in what God is doing sets up the basic framework for your missionary preparation. That is: Are you gifted in evangelism? Does it make sense to prepare as an evangelist-missionary to move to South Korea? Are you gifted in administration and have extensive training in the eld you most enjoy: accounting? Is it probable that God would want you doing healing meetings among the Fur of Sudan? In either cross-cultural dynamic, the setting itself might be a powerful indicator of how you need to prepare. That is, as God leads you toward a geopolitical countryin which He still will direct you more specically to a particular people...for nowit might be obvious that... ...Immigrant missions will be most strategic. Consider actually, permanently moving to and becoming a citizen of that country. (Much of Gladys Aylwards inuence in China came with her citizenship in that country.) This is a shocking concept to most North Americans, but Majority World missionaries from places like Brazil, Nigeria, China routinely go as immigrant missionaries. This stanceI choose to live here and raise my family for generations in your landis a statement of credibility that is powerful to locals, who sometimes see the Western missionary as a temporary visitor. ...Business as mission will be most strategic. (See our Business As Mission unit.) Most restrictedaccess mission elds virtually require that a team take a business approachand so it makes pretty obvious sense to prepare for business. Fake businesses propped up with funds from home become quickly suspect in any real-life setting. And poorly-run businesses mean a mission team wont be long on the eld. So getting business experience, starting your own business where its easiestNorth America is the most conducive marketplace on earth to launch a viable, protable businessis only rational. Launching and growing a Kingdom business in another culture is a massive challenge that requires careful, rational preparation. Of course, God can pull you into anythingeven irrational ministry opportunities. Thats why exibility is one of a missionarys most prized attributes. But more than likely, as your SHAPE (See Find Your Niche.) nudges you toward the reached or unreached, youll clarify the framework of your missionary service... for now!

4. PLOT YOUR PREPARATION

Prep 101
Launch a Pre-Candidate Fellowshipa setting in which you and other aspiring missionaries can network to nd answers, share info and encourage one another. Develop a solid sending base: Serve and build relationships with leaders in your home church. Begin now developing a list of people who trust you, are interested in your ministry aspirations and will pray for you. Explore ways to minister to them nowproviding big-picture news, listening, praying specically for them, etc. (See the unit on Serve As a Sender to begin developing your core team.)

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PLOT YOUR PREPARATION

Continued

Learn to derive your joy and spiritual nurturing from your relationship with Jesus, not from Christian groups and eventsservices, community groupsor from serving in ministry. Getting used to not doing church is one of the most unsettling of missionary adjustments. Concentrate on appropriately shoring up your self-image. Culture shock, the devil and cross-cultural life all gang up on goers who are the least secure about who they are as people and as believers. Sharpen skills in resolving interpersonal conicts. (North American Christians are famous for avoiding the people we dont get along with and for simply switching churches when the relational going gets tough.) Get good at cross-cultural friendships. This is where Welcoming is a powerful part of going; you can hone your cross-cultural skills nowskills that comprise sitting down and eating and talking with international students and immigrants. Adjust now to the world Christian wartime lifestyle we studied in Perspectives. Live as frugally as possible with few frillswhile generously budgeting funds for Kingdom priorities. Avoid or get out of debt. Go on short-term vision or ministry trips to the culture(s) youre interested in. Take one of these trips with your denominational mission department and/or each mission agency youre investigating. Then take an unsupervised short-termjust you and some friends. Learn practical skillsfrom rst aid to bookkeeping to even small-engine repair. Business skills are crucial regardless of the reached/unreached setting of your ministry. In a reached culture, new Christians and especially church leaders are often plagued by poverty, and your business coaching could be an answer. Among an unreached people, business knowledge may well form the infrastructure of your ministry. (See our Business As Mission unit.) Get informal training. (See Resources.) Consider formal training. Your local Christian college will offer cross-cultural courses. But unless you commit to an agency that requires a degree in Bible or missions, dont presume you need to pursue a full degree. Every reputable mission agency will have its own suggestions for pre-candidate training and, after your appointment, will provide training and orientation. Take time to study dozens and dozens of mission agencies. Just because one is familiar to you or its one of three you know about doesnt mean thats who youre destined to work with. Its one thing to take an action-stepstudy and call an agency, sign up for a short-term, send out an email to friends about your aspirations. Its another thing to, well, grow. Again, missionary preparation is knowledge, skills and character. And the greatest of these is character. Anybody can learn skills and acquire knowledge. Not everybody does a good job of impersonating Jesus. This is one of the very positive factors in what we mentioned early on: The average time it takes from the point of commitment to actually arriving on the eld is now 7-10 years. Youve got time to not only run through your action steps, but, frankly, to grow.

Going Q. HOW DO YOU WORK ON YOUR CHARACTER? A. MAKE YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE TO A MENTOR.

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MISSION MENTORING
Mission preparation is about Gods Word, His work in His real world. Mission readiness is a process of growing in knowledge about each of these areas, a process of practicing skills in each of these three areas. And its about character: Nobody will bother to receive the Good News from a jerk. The Real Deal This Mission Mentoring Program guides you from your Self Assessment Prole into your own customized Personal Prep Plan that emphasizes knowledge, skills and character. So this isnt just an elementary step in mission readiness. Its the real deal: the beginning (or acceleration) of the process of ne-tuning your role in the Great Commissiona lifelong exploration. Which always brings up questions like: Is there a call to missions? How do you know where to go? Where do you get training? What agency do you go with? If you go, do you have to make it a lifelong commitment? Whats the deal with raising support? What about resistance from family? How do I know Im qualied? What about all the risks? What if Im interested in missions but not going? What about debt? Etc.
COMMENTS FROM MISSIONARIES ABOUT MISSION MENTORING In a recent survey of missionaries, DualReach (DualReach.org) found that every respondent who had received mentoring or counseling during missionary preparation listed it as highly benecial. Missionaries made these specic comments: Make sure individuals have someone discipling them to have a deeper walk with Goda walk which doesnt rely on outside spiritual nurturing. Pastoral encouragement was very signicant in afrming my giftedness for ministry. Encourage local churches to show an interest in future missionaries by holding them accountable. Sending a person through a preparation process shows the churchs interest. I would like to have had several ministry options and counsel on how my gifts matched up with those options. Help prospective missionaries be involved in a small group of people who care about each others spiritual well-being and the direction each one is going in life. Ideally they will continue to care even when someone departs to train or to serve the Lord somewhere else. I wish the pastor and missions committee had taken an interest in me. I would have liked the pastor to have taken more of a role in meeting with me and for the missions committee to have provided direction and been more proactive. It is extremely benecial to feel like you are supported and encouraged by your church at home. Nurture relationships between missionary and missions leaders in the church prior to departure.

Big questions with lots of answers. So dont presume too much, dont play to your own or other peoples conventional missions expectations. Dont pretend to know all the answers in the process of getting from here to there. Just take it one step at a time.

(Continued)

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MISSION MENTORING
Continued

The Do-It-Yourself Program The process is: Complete the Self-Assessment Prole. Ask a close friend or relative (not a spouse) to evaluate you in a secondopinion Prole. Meet once with a person from your churchs mission team/committee or church staff. Find someone wholl serve this year as your mentor-encourager. (Relax. Its easier than you think.) Meet a second time with the mission team or staff person along with your mentor. Embark on your Personal Prep Plan. If you opt-in for this process, youll get: A Growth Guide for Aspiring CrossCultural Workers to follow up the Self-Assessment Prole. The Guide gives you directions for growth in each area where you want to developin knowledge, skills and character. A Personal Prep Planone of the authors of which is youto plot an individualized action plan that will guide you through systematic steps to develop the character, skills and knowledge to succeed in mission work. Accountability to meet every other month (or more often) with your mission mentor, who prays for you and keeps you accountable to actually work on the growth steps youve chosen. Accountability to meet twice a year with the team, committee or person responsible for missions in your church. A free trip to Paris, Rio de Janeiro or the South Pacic island of your choice. (Just kidding on that last one. We wanted to make sure you were tracking.)

Immediate Steps in Being Mentored for Missions 1. Ask God to guide you as you complete the SelfAssessment Prole. This self-check is not turned in to anybody ofcial to be led in any way; you keep a copy and your mentor keeps a copy. It is seen only by you, your mentor and the church mission or staff person you consult with. In the last section, indicate three areas where you want to focus your initial efforts for growth. You can work on more areas later, but it is important to concentrate on only a few at a time in order not to be overwhelmed. Ask someone who knows you wella friend or relativeto evaluate your character and skills by completing a second copy of the Assessment without having seen your version of it. If married, ask someone other than your spouse to complete this second-opinion Assessment. Compare your answers. If you dont understand his/her assessment of certain areas, talk it over. This in itself could be a huge growth-step for you. (How often do we give good friends/relatives permission to thoroughly critique us?) Ask God to help you not to be defensive or discouraged! 2. Establish a time to meet with someone from your church staff/mission team to discuss how she/he can help you grow. If married, you should meet as a couple with this person after each of you has completed an Assessment. Give this person a copy of both your own and the second-opinion assessments to review prior to your appointment. Talk with this person about several people who might be a mission mentor for you. (Each person in a married couple will connect with her/his own mentor.) A mission mentor doesnt need to have mission experience, doesnt need to be older than you, doesnt need to generate the content of your preparation process. She or he simply needs to care about you and agree to keep you accountable
(Continued)

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MISSION MENTORING
Continued

RESOURCES FOR GOING

The actual cross-cultural work were led toward is one thing; that alone takes a tremendous amount of orientation, training, preparation, study, prayer. But we all also have questions about the missionary lifestyle itself. Security, support-raising or working in a denomination on salary, cultural adaptation, kidsfamily life, schooling, Third-Culture Kids, communication with home, taxes, seasons of service, language-learning, team dynamics, home church relations, residency, travel, retirement options, etc., etc. If going as a missionary is such a noble, strategic role in the Kingdom, why is all this so confusing? And why dont we know the answers? Peter Armstrong of M-DAT asked in a recent Propel blog (See below): Where did all the missionaries go? A generation ago, the detailed questions about missions used to be answered around the dinner table by...missionaries! Nearly every church would have missionaries featured from time to timeshowing upside-down slides of their work, preaching, teaching in the Sunday School and Training Hour classes, speaking at the Sunday night and Wednesday prayer meeting services, being hosted in homes and dining with church families night after night. But churches in our increasingly helter-skelter North American culture began cutting back on missionaries presentationsknowing theyre not always the best speakers. Few Christian young Meanwhile, church schedules people today have started phasing out prayer grown up in a home meetings, training hours and where we always had sometimes Sunday school and Sunday evening services because visiting missionaries everyone in our society is so busy to ask the detailed and exhausted. So missionaries questions about a began getting a missions missions career. minute in a Sunday service. Or theyd be interviewed by a staff member since missionaries are notoriously boring or might give too long an answer if we let them hold the microphone. So, generally, few Christian young people today have grown up in a home where we always had visiting missionaries to ask the detailed questions about a missions career.
(Continued)

as you work through a plan to explore the possibility of a missions career. Set a tentative appointment when this church staff/mission team person will meet with you and your mentor to talk over objectives, roles and expectations. If married, you, your mentor and the mission team person will meet separately from your spouse. Ask the church staff/mission team person to check with you and your mentor at least every six months to evaluate your progress. 3. Pray for a mentor. Ask believers of your own gender if they would consider: A one-year commitment to meet with you at least once every two months. To regularly by email or phone ask you how youre doing in your mission exploration plan. To pray for you. Your mentor must be a believer you know to be spiritually healthy, must be of your own gender, must be local enough to meet with you in-person at least every other month. This person does not have to be a member of your own church, does not have to have any missions experience and does not have to be older than you. Use the Directions for Mission Mentor-Encouragers to give possible mentors a clear idea of what theyre committing to.

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RESOURCES FOR GOING Continued

Further, the world of missions has changed so radically in the past 25 years that many church leaders dont feel equipped to answer mission explorers questions. In a denominationally linked congregation, the quickest response to a question about being a missionary is, Good question to ask our mission department! In denominational and nondenominational churches alike, everyone knows theres a vast new roster of hundreds of mission agencies. And each probably answers our questions differently. Our best advice? 1. Study the generic resources such as those listed below; the more you know, the more youll know what and whom to ask. 2. Pray and explore till you feel God is narrowing down your agency choices to a top two or three. 3. Ask your questions to the agency mobilizer/recruiters, agency leaders, missionaries currently serving with the agency, andif this request doesnt give the agency a heart attackask your questions to a few missionaries that have left the agency.

Be sure to browse all our mission tools in the Resource Library. Check out the
resource lists at www.GoConnect.org and the resources for Goers from the Next Steps section of the Perspectives website. www.perspectives.org

BUSINESS AS MISSION
CHAPTER 7

Business as Mission

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BUSINESS AS MISSION
Using business in your sending, welcoming or going ministry hile missiologists and business experts sometimes wrangle over precise denitions of business as mission (See sidebar.), business and mission have always coincided in the Kingdom of God. Remember the accounts of the 18th-century Moravians in our Perspectives Reader and sessions on the History of the World Christian Movement Thousands of years ago, God told the alien Israelites, captive in Persia, to do businessand so get involved in local society and bring peace in His name: Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.... And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare. Jeremiah 29:4-7 Later Paul the Apostle explained the strategy of his tentmaking vocation in a church-planting setting (See Acts 18:1-4): Dont we have the right to food and drink? ...Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living? ...The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. But I have not used any of these rights. I Corinthians 9 Is your role for now Sending? Consider shaping your Marketplace Ministry business to contribute heavily to missionsproviding free or discounted services to Kingdom workers, arranging logistics or communication packages for goers, etc. Are you a Welcomer? Consider starting a business that provides some of your livelihood and allows you the natural connections of the marketplace with immigrants, refugees, foreign business travelers and tourists andby hiring part-timers or internseven international students. Are you Going as a missionary? This is the core realm of the latest business as mission (BAM) movement. There is plenty of dialogue, orientation, short-term opportunities, articles, books, advice and implementation of this long-term strategy for blessing the nations. And, frankly, we at the Perspectives Study Program ofce arent the experts! BAM seems simple, but is actually a highly complex topic since it involves all the disciplines of business, missiolgy and practical missions all in the context of the global market.

THE TERMS
Marketplace Ministry Inuencing your own home culture with business practices built on Christian ethics and Kingdom business principles is the focus of hundreds of effective new organizations across North America. Tentmaking The Apostle Paul often supported himself by his tentmaking business (Acts 18:1-4). Oddly enough, Westerners in the 1980s started using the term to describe believers who go to a foreign country and take a job in order to advance the Kingdom. Business for Missions Okay, its not really a termmore a concept as senders on the homefront push for prots in order to contribute funds for missions. One highly competitive industrial company in Memphis, Tennessee, for example, annually gives a million dollars to mission efforts. Enterprise Development Neal Johnson and Steve Rundle in Business As Mission (See Resources.) describe this as helping the worlds poorest people bootstrap themselves out of poverty by helping them create a business. Business As Mission Johnson and Rundle dene BAM as the utilitzation of for-prot businesses as instruments for global mission.

Business as Mission
The New Frontier of Business As Mission But we know the expertsand so present this unit of Post-Perspectives as a signpost pointing toward the best resources. (Quick start below.) One of our best resources, of course, is the founder of the US Center for World Mission and co-developer of the Perspectives course: Dr. Ralph Winter. In his blog at www.RalphDWinter.com, he spells out some BAM considerations in his exellent overview of Twelve Frontiers in Context:

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NEW FRONTIER: BUSINESS AS MISSION

et us now turn to what could be called a new frontier of thinking-the mere fact of the new swirl of books and conferences on Business as Mission. While the idea is not altogether new, the mounting discussion of it is, and thus at least in that sense can legitimately be called a new frontier in mission awareness and thinking. I will begin with some of my own experiences in what might exemplify business activities. During grade school I delivered papers early in the morning. I worked one high school summer in a heating company spray painting on the night shift. Another summer I worked as a mechanical draftsman for the Square D Electric company, in a huge plant, later in its quality control department. After the war I was hired to do a topographical survey of the Westmont College campus. While in seminary I worked as a civil engineer for several engineering companies. In Guatemala I initiated 17 small business endeavors allowing seminary students to earn their way in school and gain a portable trade after graduation (most pastors were tied down to the soil so all of these businesses were portable as with the Apostle Paul) the rst ever in which Indians were the registered owners. Two other missionaries (from other missions) and I started the InterAmerican School which is thriving to this day. I helped very slightly in the founding of an Evangelical university which today has 30,000 students, and has provided all the judges in Guatemala. At Fuller,while on the faculty, I was asked to set up a publishing activity which I called the William Carey Library. It has been operating for 35 years now and sells $1 million worth of books a year and is now part of the US Center for World Mission. I also helped set up the self-supporting American Society of Missiology, not to speak of the U. S. Center for World Mission, and the William Carey International University, both of which have essentially business functions. The history of missions is full of other examples. The Moravians went out to establish new villages with all of the necessary functions. They planted what is today the largest retail company (sort of a Sears Roebuck) in Surinam. Swiss missionaries planted a chain of hardware stores in Nigeria, which not only fullled a much-needed function but displayed an attitude toward customers that was a marvelous Christian testimony. And, of course, every church or school that is planted on the mission eld and is self-supporting, is like a business that renders a service and earns what it needs to function. If you added up all of such small businesses on the mission eld (churches and schools) it would run into millions.

Business as Mission
However, let us ask the question: What is business? Basically it is the activity of providing goods and services to others on the condition of repayment to cover the cost of those goods and services. This is not to say that businesses never do anything that does not at least indirectly assist their efforts in image building, public relations or something of that kind, but using prots in ways that add nothing to the business would seem to be very rare. Businesses, in fact, would run into conict with customers interests, employees interests, owners interests or stockholders interests if any considerable proportion of their gross income were diverted to private interests of no concern to customers, employees, owners or stockholders. Note that a business involves a concrete understanding between two parties, the customer and the company, and comprises what is essentially a two-way street: the company gives the customer something and the customer gives back something previously agreed-upon. Missionaries, by contrast, serve people from whom they do not expect to receive anything previously agreed upon. However, even mission work is in one sense a business. Donors, in this instance, are the customers paying for a service to be rendered. The missionaries are providing the services for which the donors are hiring them. An additional feature is that the ultimate beneciaries of the missionaries labors, and of the donors payments, are needy people in foreign lands who receive aid of some sort without paying for it. For those nal recipients to get something for nothing is hard for the recipients to believe-as with those healed by Jesus, who apparently did not charge for His healing services. Sooner or later it may dawn on the ultimate recipients that someone wants to help them without asking a price. How better can Gods love be communicated? Of course it is equally true that a hardworking businessman may be providing a very benecial service out of genuine love, not just as a means to earn a living. That is equally true but not equally obvious. What Types of Businesses? You can well imagine that some business missionaries will go overseas and start a business that will be owned and operated by citizens of that country. Others will plant a business or a branch of an international business, owned by the businessmissionary, that truly serves the people and is itself a type of ministry. Still others will not only plant a business but will expect to support other work from the prots. Others may not have the capital necessary or the required expertise to set up a business but will take a job in the foreign land. Not everyone can buy 20 tons of castor oil at a time as described in an excellent book I will mention below. Just getting a job in a foreign land is what is more often thought of when the phrase tent-maker is used.

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Others may not have the capital.... Not everyone can buy 20 tons of castor oil at a time!

Business as Mission

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Ironically, Paul the Apostle was not that kind of tent-maker. He essentially owned his own business. He likely supported both himself and others with him, although they, too, may have helped him in his leatherworking tasks. He also accepted gifts from churches so as to cut down on leatherworking. Thus, he ts all of these patterns except the one we most often associate with tentmaking, namely becoming an employee in a foreign country. How is the Business Viewed by the Customer? I rmly believe there is ample room for businesses owned by believers who work with Christian principles. Those principles may not always be clear. The hardware chain I mentioned that was founded by Swiss missionaries astonished people by the fact that if someone bought something that had the wrong specications or that did not work they would exchange it or get their money back. Thus a business to be effective mission needs to be conceived of by onlookers as a service, not just a way of making money, although most assumptions will tend to be the contrary. Here in America all businesses loudly proclaim their desire to serve the customer. We get used to that. We dont really believe it. In many overseas situations businesses dont even claim to be working for the customer. Neither the customer nor the business owner views the money being received as simply enabling the continuation of the service rendered but as a contest to see who gets the most. It is also true that no matter how altruistic an owner is, what pulls down many a business or ministry is the quality of the employees. The owner may have high purposes. The employees may not. Incidentally, if any business starts siphoning off prots overly to increase the owners wealth or even as gifts to Christian work, the business may, to that extent, be unable to withstand competitors who plow all prots back into the service to rene it or to lower their prices below what the Christian-owned business (with its extra drain on prots) can afford to offer. An excellent book, edited by one of our board members, Ted Yamamori, is entitled, On Kingdom Business, Transforming Missions through Entrepreneurial Strategies (Crossway Publishing). Several authors of chapters wisely question businesses run by missionaries as a front or disguise for mission work. And they should. To see through such disguises is not at all difcult for governments or private citizens. We also read that micro-enterprises have their problems. If one woman in a village gets a loan enabling her to employ a sewing machine she may produce more for less and be better off, but at the same time she may simply put a number of other women out of work in that same village, which is not a desirable witness. More New Frontiers discussion at www.RalphDWinter.com

Several experts wisely question businesses run by missionaries as a front or disguise for mission work. And they should.

For resources for Business as Mission, visit the Next Steps Section of the Perspectives website. www.perspectives.org

Life After Perspectives

APPENDIX Self Assessment for Aspiring Cross Cultural Workers Growth Guide Mission Mentoring World Christian Fellowship Pilot Session Standard Application for Mission Service A Story about Prayer

Self Assessment Prole

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A SELF-ASSESSMENT
For Aspiring Cross-Cultural Workers

The primary areas of competence in serving cross-culturally include character, skills and knowledge. Character demands spiritual formation. Skills call for instruction and practice. And knowledge means weve got a lifetime of learning ahead of us. The following Self Assessment hinges on these three emphases of competence as a missionary. The Assessment is not scientically constructed; its only for your own use. Take your time praying through these factors to assess your readiness to serve cross-culturally as a learner, trader, storyteller. You can simply print off a copy of this prole and work through this assessment on your own. Then you can browse the GrowthGuide for suggestions of action-steps for areas where you want to grow. Or you can accentuate its effectiveness by printing extra copies for:
Spiritual Formation Character

Instruction & Practice Skills in ministry and in the practicalities of life in another culture.

Lifelong learning Knowledge of Gods Word & His work in His world

1. A very close friendanyone who knows you well. This person is to ll out as much as she/he can on the assessment form about you and then hand it back to you. You compare what this friend perceives about youas contrasted or conrming what you perceive about yourself. (Were all very good at fooling ourselves.) By comparing the two versions, youll have a more accurate appraisal of your character, skills and knowledge. 2. A mentor-encourager. If you want to develop a serious personal preparation plan, youll follow the suggestions under Plot Your Preparation, where its explained that a mentor can simply be a friend who helps keep you accountable to your preparation plan. This person would get a blank copy of this Assessment for her/his own reference as you work through issues. Youll need to print off Instructions for Mentors. Even if you make these extra copies:

No one sees your completed Self-Assessment except you.

You can be totally open and candid about evaluating how you feel about each area. If you plan on following a personal preparation plan, take the Assessment nowand then about six months from now to trace your development. For now, relax your personal defenses, pray for clarity and see if you think youre ready for a cross-cultural career.

Self Assessment Prole

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SELF-ASSESSMENT PROFILE
FOR ASPIRING CROSS-CULTURAL WORKERS
The purpose of the assessment is to help you identify your strengths and areas in which you think you need improvement. Note, Welcomers: If your cross-cultural aspirations are in the role of a Welcomer welcoming other cultures to your own countrysimply adjust or ignore items if they only apply to cross-cultural ministry in a foreign setting. Assessing your strengths and weaknesses in no way suggests you need to be perfect in every area in order to move into missionary service. Self-evaluation can be unsettling; were always our own worst critic. But do not give in to the enemys ploys of discouragement and depression about not right now measuring up to what you think is the missionary ideal. (And remember, this isnt some denitive, scientic evaluation; its what you think about each of these areas of growth.) Your so/so and needs help ratings should give you some red-ag areas to grow. Your okay and mostly okay areas should be encouragements to strengthen your strengths. You can average each segment as a benchmark for that areaand then compare the totals the next time you complete the assessment. Just remember this is a totally subjective assessment. You can fool yourself, so consider having a very close friend complete one about you as well. Also consider sharing this Assessment with a mentor-encourager to help you be accountable in working on growth areas. (See MISSION MENTORING.) Spouses each complete a separate assessment.

Your Name _________________________________________________________________ Address ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Home phone ____________________ Cell phone _________________________________ Email ____________________________ Date Assessment completed _________________

Self Assessment Prole

Being as honest and objective as possible, evaluate and jot a comment if desired:
This area of my life is ...okay ...mostly ...so/so ...needs okay help 1 2 3 4

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1. SPIRITUAL
1. Assurance of personal salvation Comment: 2. An intimate, daily relationship with God Comment: 3. Commitment to Gods will (whatever, wherever, whenever?) Comment: 4. Prayer life and practices such as fasting, meditation on Scripture Comment: 5. Commitment to the local church Comment: 6. Personal accountability to another/other believers Comment: 7. Healing and freedom from old wounds and negative life-baggage Comment: 8. Spiritual and emotional stamina to endure hardship Comment: 9. Knowledge of the principles of spiritual warfare Comment: 10. Moral integrity in all areas of life Comment: 11. A lifestyle evidencing fruit of the Spirit Comment: 12. Stewardship: personal giving; support of a missionary Comment: 13. Knowledge of basic Biblical doctrines Comment: 14. Knowledge of the Bible in general Comment: 15. Memorization of Scripture Comment: 16. Knowledge of various Bible study methods and tools Comment: 17. Knowledge of other churches and Christian denominations Comment:

x1

x2

x3 +

x4 = 17

Totals Add how many you checked in each column + + Multiply (Go ahead: Grab a calculator!) Total these Divide by 17 (the number of questions) The answer tells you whether you think this area of spirituality isgenerally (1) Okay! (2) Mostly okay. (3) So/so. (4) Needs help!

Self Assessment Prole

This area of my life is ...okay ...mostly ...so/so ...needs okay help 1 2 3 4

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2. PERSONAL
1. Willingness to work hard even without supervision Comment: 2. Ability to multi-task Comment: 3. Personal organization and time management Comment: 4. Setting and reaching goals Comment: 5. Physical tness Comment: 6. Management of money Comment: 7. Handling of failure or disappointed expectations Comment: 8. Freedom from compulsive/addictive behaviors Comment: 9. Self-esteem Comment: 10. Handling of anxiety and fears Comment: 11. Handling of anger Comment: 12. Honesty Comment:

x1 +

x2 +

x3 +

x4 = 12

Totals Add how many you checked in each column Multiply (Go ahead: Grab a calculator!) Total these Divide by 12 (the number of questions) The answer tells you whether you think this area of spirituality isgenerally (1) Okay! (2) Mostly okay. (3) So/so. (4) Needs help!

Self Assessment Prole

This area of my life is ...okay ...mostly ...so/so ...needs okay help 1 2 3 4

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3. INTERPERSONAL
1. Family relationships with parents and siblings Comment: 2. (If married) Marriage relationship Comment: 2a. Regular prayer together and times alone with spouse Comment: 2b. Spouses attitude toward cross-cultural ministry Comment: 3. (If children) Relationship with child/children/grandchildren Comment: 3a. Quality time together as a family Comment: 4. (If single) Acceptance of single status; open to change Comment: 4a. (If single) Relationships with opposite sex and with families Comment: 5. Comunication to family about mission aspirations Comment: 6. Understanding of how his/her own personality affects relationships Comment: 7. Friendliness among strangers Comment: 8. Friendships with non-Christians, ability to relate to non-Christians Comment: 9. Christian friendships Comment: 10. Listening skills Comment: 11. Reactions to others in stressful situations Comment: 12. Ability to admit error and laugh at own mistakes Comment: 13. Hospitality Comment: 14. Flexibility Comment: 15. Openness to constructive criticism Comment: 16. Willingness to confront friction or problems with others Comment: 17. Practice of Biblical conict resolution Comment:
Totals Add how many you checked in each column Multiply (Go ahead: Grab a calculator!) Total these Divide by 17 (the number of questions) The answer tells you whether you think this area of spirituality isgenerally (1) Okay! (2) Mostly okay. (3) So/so. (4) Needs help!

x1 +

x2 +

x3 +

x4 = 17

Self Assessment Prole

This area of my life is ...okay ...mostly ...so/so ...needs okay help 1 2 3 4

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4. INTERCULTURAL
1. Awareness of whats Biblical and whats cultural in your own North American Christianity Comment: 2. Ability to adapt quickly to new people, places, activities Comment: 3. Freedom from racial prejudice Comment: 4. Experience of being with people from other cultures Comment: 5. Respect for people of other religions Comment: 6. Language-learning aptitude; open to life-long language learning Comment: 7. General knowledge of world geography and people groups Comment: 8. (If children) Development of plan for cross-cultural orientation/ training for children, knowledge of options for schooling Comment: 9. Knowledge of culture shock issues Comment: 10. Awareness of the various scenarios of a missionary lifestyle Comment:

x1 +

x2 +

x3 +

x4 = 10

Totals Add how many you checked in each column Multiply (Go ahead: Grab a calculator!) Total these Divide by 1o (the number of questions) The answer tells you whether you think this area of spirituality isgenerally (1) Okay! (2) Mostly okay. (3) So/so. (4) Needs help!

Self Assessment Prole

This area of my life is ...okay ...mostly ...so/so ...needs okay help 1 2 3 4

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5. MINISTRY
1. Condence about Gods leading so far into missions Comment: 2. Interest in a particular people group/ministry approach toward which God is leading Comment: 3. Awareness of spiritual and natural gifts Comment: 4. Concern about the eternal destiny of the lost Comment: 5. Ability to share Christ in culturally appropriate ways Comment: 6. Apologetics: Ability to defend the faith Comment: 7. Ability to disciple new believers Comment: 8. Leadership skills as a servant-leader Comment: 9. Communication skills in group settings Comment: 10. Enjoyment in ministering as a team, in being a team player Comment: 11. Faithfulness in current ministry tasks Comment: 12. Experience in ministering outside of church meetings Comment: 13. Counseling skills Comment: 14. Interest in the ght against poverty, disease and injustice Comment: 15. Ability to fuse personal work (such as business) and ministry Comment: 16. (If applicable) Knowledge about missionary support-raising Comment: 17. Awareness of formal mission education Comment:

x1 +

x2 +

x3 +

x4 = 17

Totals Add how many you checked in each column Multiply (Go ahead: Grab a calculator!) Total these Divide by 17 (the number of questions) The answer tells you whether you think this area of spirituality isgenerally (1) Okay! (2) Mostly okay. (3) So/so. (4) Needs help!

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This area of my life is ...okay ...mostly ...so/so ...needs okay help

6. ORGANIZATIONAL/PROFESSIONAL
1. Commitment to a home churchs core values and doctrinal statement Comment: 2. Relationship with mission leaders of the home church Comment: 3. Ease in accepting authority, working well under others leadership Comment: 4. Knowledge of various missionary approaches (business-as-mission, medical missions community development, church-planting, etc.) Comment: 5. Awareness of mission agencies Comment: 6. Credentials that have credibility in secular circles Comment: 7. (If tentmaking/doing business as mission) Development of realistic employment strategy or business plan Comment: 8. Skills to communicate mission vision and mobilize others Comment:

x1 +

x2 +

x3 +

x4 = 8

Totals Add how many you checked in each column Multiply (Go ahead: Grab a calculator!) Total these Divide by 8 (the number of questions) The answer tells you whether you think this area of spirituality isgenerally (1) Okay! (2) Mostly okay. (3) So/so. (4) Needs help!

Self Assessment Prole

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There are possibly other areas of growth that werent listed, areas you thought of while completing the Assessment. Jot below any that came to mindareas that you feel are strengths or weaknesses in your readiness for cross-cultural work:
This area of my life is ...okay ...mostly ...so/so ...needs okay help 1 2 3 4

After completing this Self-Assessment evaluation, list the three areas where you believe you need the greatest amount of growth. (Dont generalize that youll work on an entire categoryfor example Spiritual or Intercultural. Instead pick specic numbered areas within a segment to plot out your growth plans.) 1. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 3. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Only work on three areas at a time. See the list of ideas and resources for each area in the GrowthGuide for Aspiring Cross-Cultural Workers. Then plan your growth regimen in the Personal Prep Plan chart attached to the Growth Guide. And turbo-charge your cross-cultural preparation with a mentor-encourager.

Adapted with permission from Send Me! (see Web site listing in Resources), World Evangelical Alliance Missionary Training Network resources, Recommended Reading from ACMC and Readiness Guide by DualReach www.dualreach.org.

Self Assessment Prole

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Growth Guide

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GROWTH GUIDE
For Aspiring Cross-Cultural Workers
Adapted from Assessment Tools from DualReach www.DualReach.org

This chart suggests action-steps to be taken to grow in a particular area of missionary preparationwhether in welcoming foreigners in your home culture or serving in another culture. The setting for this kind of preparation is your local church. You can use the Growth Guide on-your-own. But it will be far more effectiveif you really want to grow toward ministry readinessto let a mentor-encourager or a leader in your church keep you accountable in your preparation plan. (See INSTRUCTIONS FOR MENTOR-ENCOURAGERS.) Remember that this process is not formal missionary preparation; its far too subjective for that. Its just the solid rst step of your character-building readinesswhile still at home in your local churchto take on the formal/nonformal training your mission agency will require. How long will you work on these Growth Guide action-steps? Thats totally up to you, depending on how many areas you want to work on, depending on how in-depth you feel you need to go. (Don't even think about working on all of them as a prerequisite to cross-cultural ministry!) What were outlining is chiey growth in charactera lifelong process. So be patient with yourself and with the suggestions of your mentor and church leaders. This is about growth, not about wrapping up a to-do list. Work on just two or three areas at a time. Not whole sections such as "Spiritual" or "Interpersonal" but one or two numbered items. Choose from the suggested action steps, make up your own, do them all for that item or only what you feel is needed. But be specic: Plot your objectives on the attached Personal Prep Plan. QUICKSTART TIPS Get connected. If you dont have full access to the Internet, nd a way. Nearly all the mission-related information you need is on the Web. Budget now for crucial resourcesparticularly the books you just have to study through in cross-cultural preparation. (See Resources, below.) Find a mentor-encourager. Itll be easier than you think. See INSTRUCTIONS FOR MENTOR-ENCOURAGERS. Pray for a counselor who will work with you on some of the deeper issues of personal growth. A counselor might tithe his/her skills and offer counseling at no cost to you as you prepare for crosscultural service. Ask your church leaders to suggest counselors and advocate for you if you choose to ask for no-fee counseling.

Note: Make at least 3 photocopies: for you for your mentor-encourager for your church mission leader/ staff member Each of you can now and later add, edit, expand ideas for building/strengthening each area of your knowledge, skills and character.

Dont even think about working on all of these areas as a prerequisite to cross-cultural ministry! Just pick a few hot-button areas for now.

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Enroll in another Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course in your area, or take the course again online. Its amazing what youll catch a second time, and besidesPerspectives alumni attend free! Join with a few other mission-minded friends to experiment with: A Pre-Candidate Fellowship, a regular peer-to-peer gathering of friends exploring a missions career. You can track each others Growth Guide progress. A Monthly Mission Fellowship for all mission-minded believers in your churchor in several area churches.

GROWTH GUIDE for Aspiring Cross-Cultural Workers

1. From your Self Assessment Prole results, pick an item or three to work on. 2. Follow some or all of the suggested action-steps, come up with your own, and ask your pastor, counselor and mentor-encourager for more ideas (See instuctions for Mentors). 3. Fill in the Personal Prep Plan with those action-steps. Share your plans with anyone wholl keep you accountable friends, mentor-encourager, pastor, spouse, counselor, Jesus.

AREA OF GROWTH SUGGESTED ACTION-STEPS & RESOURCES

1. SPIRITUAL
1. Assurance of personal salvation Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Memorize Romans 10:9-10 and carefully study every phrase. Write out your testimonythe unabridged version of how you came to connect with God through Jesus Christ. Freewrite. that is, dont worry that anyone (other than your mentor) will see this rough version; dont worry about spelling, grammar or continuity. Just blurt it out on paper. Later you can use this rough draft to craft something that will communicate your story to others. Go to www.BibleGateway.com and click on Topical Index to enter assurance. Study every one of those passages! Talk with your pastor about everything! 2. An intimate, daily relationship with God Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Get real: Do you mean the things you say when you sing worship songs? If not, write out a tell-all letter to God about how you really feel; God loves an honest heart. Sometimes an on-again off-again relationship with God stems from not really trusting Him, not really knowing Him. Tell Him about all that. Walk in your new nature (Eph. 4:22-24) by practicing spiritual breathing: confession, submission to the control of the Holy Spirit, confession, submission to the control of the Holy Spirit, confession. Ask several mature Christians what they do in their personal devotions. Keep a journal about your devotional time for at least one month. Read a devotional classic such as Knowing God or The Pursuit of God. (For all book recommendations, see Resources, below for author, publisher, etc.)

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3. Commitment to Gods will (whatever, wherever, whenever?) Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Memorize Romans 12:1-2. Think through your role as a living sacrice. What kind of sacrices are you willing to make in following what God wants? Ask two or three mature Christians how they discern Gods will and ask them to pray with you for Gods leading. Discuss with a missionary how he/she deals with fears about what obeying God may require. Locate that mentoring missionary on your home churchs missionary roster, or nd a missionary at www. FindMissionaries.org. Remember that in restricted access locations, you must observe security principles (not using Christian terms, words such as Christian, missionary, prayer, etc.) Read Experiencing God. Read Decision-Making and the Will of God. Browse the answers at www.AskAMissionary.org and www.Urbana.org 4. Prayer life & practices such as fasting, meditation on Scripture Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Subscribe to Global Prayer Digest (www.Global-Prayer-Digest.org) for daily prayer points of the worlds remaining unreached peoples. Read Touch the World Through Prayer. Daily visit the Web site of Operation World (www.OperationWorld.org) or purchase the book Operation World for country-by country prayer points, stats and updates on people groups within each country. (See Resources.) For the next six months, keep a record of your prayer requests and how God answers them. Set aside one day a month of solitude for prayer, fasting and meditation and the development of your spiritual life. For one year, regularly contact several missionaries for prayer requests and intercede for them daily. Check with your church for a missionary contact list and/or contact missionaries in your area of interest both in type of ministries and in geographical locationsat www.FindMissionaries.org Read any of Andrew Murrays books on prayer. Wear a colorful sticky-dot on your wristwatch to remind you constantly to pray for particular requests and topics. (Or stick the dot on your wall clock, calendar, computer monitor, steering wheel, toothbrush, etc.!) Read Celebration of Discipline for simple, profound insights into the power of meditation on Scripture, fasting, etc. 5. Commitment to the local church Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Apply for church membership. Join a small group. Volunteer for a regular ministry assignment. Talk to your pastor about your interest in missions. 6. Personal accountability to another/other believers Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Interview someone who is part of an accountability group to discover what makes their get-togethers protable. Recruit two other believers of your own gender to form an accountability group. (They dont even have to be friends!) You can meet weekly for 45 minutes during lunchtimes, etc. to report how youre doing on three areas you want to improve in, to talk over three chapter of Scripture youre each reading and to pray for three things: each other, a non-Christian and an unreached people. Blog. Start your own blog about your missions aspirations. Whether anyone ever reads any of it, youll be journaling and constantly aware of the accountability youll daily bear as a minister of the Gospel!

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7.Healing & freedom from old wounds & negative life-baggage Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read Inside Out. (See Resources.) Read and carefully work through The Steps to Freedom in Christ. Read Bondage Breakers. Talk with a Christian counselor about issues that are too complex to work out on your own. (See the suggestion in the introductory QuickStart section about securing a counselor who will tithe counseling skills for the Great Commission. This person will prove invaluable on your journey to the nationsand beyond.) This step is particularly necessary when dealing with some of the issues listed under #10 below. 8. Spiritual and emotional stamina to endure hardship Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read biographies of missionaries who have endured hard times such as Hudson Taylor, Borden of Yale, Amy Carmichael. (See Resources.) Talk to people who have experienced hardship and ask what they learned about God and themselves. Email missionaries now in difcult settings and ask how they maintain their emotional and spiritual stamina. Get the missionary contact list from your church and/or connect at www.FindMissionaries.org. 9. Knowledge of the principles of spiritual warfare Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read Prepare for Battle. Recruit a prayer partner or two with whom to pray regularly for individuals, neighborhoods, cities and people groupsand against the spiritual forces of darkness that ght to hold these in spiritual bondage. Consider taking a short-term trip with a few others outside North America to follow the training in PrayerWalking: Praying On-Site with Insight. Examine the ministry of Jesus in His dealings with the spiritual entities arrayed against Him and His Kingdom. (Start with the simple story of Matthew 17:14-21. Examine the ministry of Paul to learn from their model how to deal with spiritual warfare. Ask leaders in your church about the realities of satanic spiritual opposition to ministry. Ask via email or Internet phone (remembering any security issues in restricted-access settings) about spiritual warfare. 10. Moral integrity in all areas of life Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Keys to moral integrity are always 1) walking with God (See #2) and 2) accountability (See #6). Discuss with a counselor moral issues with which you have struggled. You must get professional help when dealing with issues such as pornography, homosexual desires, pre-marital or extra-marital affairs, a criminal history or the experiences of abuse, molestation or rape. A mission agency will need to know that youve had counseling help in dealing with such powerful issuesand you will need to be candid about such struggles with a sending agency. As you condentially reveal your history involving these issues, your sending agency will know how to best help you when the stresses of cross-cultural ministry squeeze every unresolved issues to the surface. Start practicing now the boundaries that people in ministry have to live by (never alone with a person of the opposite sex, never handle group money yourself, etc.). Ask your pastor how to avoid all appearances of questionable behavior.

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11. A lifestyle evidencing the fruit of the Spirit Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Study the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5. Do a concordance (or www.BibleGateway.org) search through the New Testament for other mentions of non-literal uses of the term fruit. Focus on the point of the passages, which is abiding in Him step by step. Pray through this study! The term is fruit, not fruits. If youre patient but not joyful, ask friends, your mentor, your counselor, your pastor on what may be blocking the Spirit in that area. When the Holy Spirit is in control, all these wonderful qualities are yours. When we simply fake or naturally exhibit some of these qualities but not others, the antidote isnt to try harder. Its to release the inuence of the Spirit of Christ fully into our attitudes and behavior. Dont try to fake spiritual fruit since your charade will be fully, sadly revealed in the stress of cross-cultural ministry! Instead, ask others for insights. Ask a friend or two to complete the SELF-ASSESSMENT PROFILE about youand then bravely discuss their assessments. 12. Stewardship: personal giving; support of a missionary Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Study 2 Corinthians 9 about what giving does in us and through us. Regardless of amount, faithfully, monthly support a missionary from your church or one listed at www. FindMissionaries.org Take a course in nancial stewardship such as the Dave Ramsey series Financial Peace University; or get the book Financial Peace. Invite a mature saint or two out for coffee or lunchbelievers you know to be good stewards of the resources God has entrusted to them. Have a list of questions about nances and stewardship. Write down key insights. 13 Knowledge of basic biblical doctrines Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Enroll in a theology course. Talk to your pastor about your churchs beliefs and ask for recommended reading. Purchase a few reference books of the doctrines of the Bible. Browse the Web for sites that specialize in doctrinal discussions, articles and resources. Take care to examine each for orthodox approaches to Scripture. (Ask advice from your pastor and other mature believers about any doctrinal input thats suspect. There is a lot of bizarre Bible teaching rampant on the Net, but its good for you to be exposed to various slants and then to search Scripture diligently to see if these things are so.) Teach a new believers class. Being responsible for the spiritual welfare of others always is a powerful motivator to keep studying, learning, synthesizing the great doctrines of Scripture. 14. Knowledge of the Bible in general Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read it. Consider following The Bible In One Year schedules (See http://eword.gospelcom.net/year). 15. Memorization of Scripture Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Memorize it. Be sure to memorize passages that are not just about you, but about Gods heart for all peoples. A good set to memorize is the Fighter Verses from www.DesiringGod.org.

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16. Knowledge of various Bible study methods & study tools Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible Browse sites such as www.StudyLight.org to get used to using online reference tools such as interlinear Bibles, Bible dictionaries, topical Bibles, lexicons, etc. You will be using these as a missionary almost regardless of where you are deployed! Learn personally how to study the Bible using the inductive method (Google inductive Bible study for lots of options), the chronological approach (See www.chronologicalbiblestorying.com), the expository word-by-word study (Great teaching outlines at www.xenos.org/ct_outln/index.htm), etc. Get comfortable with several methods not just for your own study, but to be able to disciple new believers who might have a preference for one study method over another. (See Resources.) 17. Knowledge of other churches and Christian denominations Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Attend Christian churches of denominations or traditions that are unfamiliar to you. Attend not as a critic, but as a learner intent on honoring the spirituality of every genuine stream of Christianity, intent on capitalizing on the unity of the Body of Christ. (Your dearest fellow workers on the eld will often be missionaries from denominations or traditions that are all over the spectrum of Christendom!) In a citywide/regional prayer initiative or other collaboration of various churches, volunteer to work with several others from various church backgrounds.

2. PERSONAL
1. Willingness to work hard even without supervision Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Interview at least two self-employed people in your church to nd out how they structure and evaluate the use of their time. Browse at a bookstore or library several books on entrepreneurship. Many have excellent suggestions for sparking th can-do spirit in you, for tapping into the energy needed to envision, plan, start and complete a task. Taking initiative, being a self-starter even at your own inconvenience is always part of ministryand particularly of missionary work. If you see yourself not initiating (Its always easier to do nothing.), not completing tasks, ask a few friends, your mentor, your pastor for opportunities to take charge of a projectand to nish it. If you nd you are simply not a hard worker, passionately ask God to change yousince that last thing the Kingdom needs is a worker who does just enough to get by. Test out that change by taking on a difcult part-time job and sticking with it. 2. Ability to multi-task Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Cross-cultural ministry is always about accomplishing something plus modeling ministry. These responsibilities pervade the time for family/personal time, cultural learning, maintaining ofcial status, simply livingm etc, Ask your favorite missionaries how they do all this at once! Connect with missionaries connected to your church and/or missionary friends you make at www.FindMissionaries.org. The best trainers to teach you multi-tasking skills are children! Regularly practice babysitting while also completing a small projectphoning, reading, planning, studying.

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3. Personal organization and time management Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Get expert help for understanding the crucial value of boundaries, of margins in your life as you juggle priorities. Read and implement the book Boundaries. (See Resources.) Track the use of your time in 15-minute increments for one week. Identify several time wasters and for the next thre weeks keep a log of ways in which you redeem this time for more important activities. Browse your library for books on time management and personal organization. Choose an approach that you feel will work best for you and then stick to it! (Most time-management systems dont work for people because they dont habitualize the method, not because the method is faulty.) 4. Setting and reaching goals Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Evaluate your response to this assessment and Growth Guide project Have you been able to maximize its value as a too to help you in goal setting and step-by-step improvement without becoming overwhelmed or discouraged? Talk over your Personal Prep Plan objectives with your friends, your mentor, your pastor: Are your expectations reasonable? Simply working through your Prep Plan will coach you toward being realistic in your goal-setting and in keeping yourself accountable to actually reach those reasonable goals. To practice another valuable development project, work through the book Send Me! The more you persevere at this kind of challenge to your dream of a cross-cultural career, the more youll experience the pleasure of completing something important. Just as with this Growth Guide outline, you must let yourself be accountable to someone else in your study of Send Me! If you nd yourself unable to stick with this Growth Guide or the Send Me! process, talk over your tendency to quit even important project with your friends, your pastor, your mentor, your counselor. Let them help you discover why and how you tend to sabotage even your deepest aspirations. God can bring a new condence as He trains you to set and reach realistic goals in your life and ministry. 5. Physical tness Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Get a complete physical and address any concerns raised by your physician. Ask your doctor about particular physical problem areas that might prevent you from a reasonable exercise routine. There are so many highly acclaimed tness routines in magazines, books, courses and as taught by exercise center trainers that were without excuse for remaining physically unt for the strains of travel and sometimes strenuous activity of missionary lifestyles. Accountability is the key; see #6 under the Spiritual segment, and recruit a partner for regular exercise. If eating properly is an issue, get help from a counselor, join a weight-maintenance group, and again become accountable to others about your diet. Collect nutritious recipes you could continue to prepare overseas. Ask a good cook to give you some lessons. 6. Management of money Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): See suggestions under Spiritual item #12. Especially consider taking the Financial Peace University course. Budgeting, planning and careful spending are only part of money management. Another area is the character issue of integrity in handling money. Volunteer to handle the nances for a particular project; it could even be collecting money for a friends party. Let your mentor or other accountability partner know the details of that responsibility, and perform your management of the funds impeccably. The worse your usual mishandling of funds has been, the more of these small accountability projects are needed to re-establish in your own thinking the integrity you can demonstrate in managing moneyparticularly others moneywith integrity.

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If you have debt, establish a plan to eliminate it (with the possible exception of a mortgage). Keep yourself accountable to fulll that plan by discussing it with your mentor/church staff person. Sit down with a nancial counselor to assess your nances and spending habits. This person might want to continue as your nancial advisor as you move into fulltime ministry. 7. Handling of failure or disappointed expectations Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read Hudsons Taylors Spiritual Secret. Talk with your mentor about Taylors lessons on dealing with failure. Read any missionary biography. They all deal with disappointments and failure. Write down insights from these missionary mentors lives. During one of your monthly spiritual-development days (See under Spiritual item # 4.), freewrite (not worrying that anyone else will ever see this, not pausing about spelling, grammar, etc. Just fast, free writing.) about the failures and disappointments youve experienced in life. Talk to God about each of these. Listen to His responses. Talk to your pastor or counselor about your exploration of failure and disappointed expectations. Do you blame others when things go wrong? Do you blame God? Do you give up? Get angry? You will experience failuresometimes spectacular, humiliating failurein strategic cross-cultural ministry since the satanic counter-kingdom wars against any progress in Gods Kingdom. Ask intercessors you begin to recruit to pray for you in this inevitable area of challenge. Ask for prayer for humility, for faith and trust, for resilience and, always, for the ability to genuinely laugh at yourself. 8. Freedom from compulsive/addictive behaviors Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Explore carefully the areas listed under Spiritual in this Growth Guide. Ask your pastor or mentor whether they feel some of your behavioral issues are rooted in the spiritual. Study Bondage Breakers and Steps to Freedom in Christ. Commit to regular counseling sessions (See the idea above of securing a personal counselor who will tithe counseling skills for the sake of the Great Commission.) to understand and defeat negative behaviors. Keep yourself accountable, enroll in a support group and/or a treatment program to nd freedom from any addictionsaddictions to food, pornography, television, alcohol or drugs, even to adrenaline! 9. Self-esteem Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Believers with low self-esteem, insecure people are often attracted to missions as a career because theyre granted instant importance and inferred spirituality if theyre going to be missionaries. Pray for healing in what the enemy has done in your life to damage your sense of self-worth and security about who you are. Pray for insight into your upbringing that may have given rise to feelings of inadequacy or deciency. Study the Scriptures about Gods creation and esteem of you. Work through prayer to constantly conrm that you will believe God about what He says about you rather than believing the lies of the enemy, the misperceptions of others and even those lies you tell yourself about why a low self-esteeem is tting for you. Explore carefully the areas listed under Spiritual in this Growth Guide. Ask your pastor or mentor whether they feel some of your self-esteem issues are rooted in the spiritual. Study Bondage Breakers and Steps to Freedom in Christ. Commit to regular counseling sessions (See the idea above of securing a personal counselor who will tithe counseling skills for the sake of the Great Commission.) to understand and defeat negative behaviors.

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10. Handling of anxiety and fears Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Stepping out of your comfort zone to even consider cross-cultural ministrya counter-cultural career! naturally brings discomfort. But the discomfort of faith, of not knowing or pretending to be in control, isnt to be an habitual attack of fear and anxiety. Pray for wisdom to clarify your issues in this area. Fear and anxiety are always humanly appropriate reactions to much of the missionary lifestyle. But God is leading your toward a life of reacting to unnerving circumstances with a supernatural rather than a human response. Pray for healing in what the enemy has done in your life to damage your sense of contentment and security in Christ. Pray for insight into your upbringing that may have given rise to recurring, oating feelings of fear and anxiety. Study the Scriptures about Gods care for you and provision for you. Work through prayer to constantly conrm that you will believe God about what He says about His complete love casting out fear, and that youll be obedient to be anxious for nothing. Explore carefully the areas listed under Spiritual in this Growth Guide. Ask your pastor or mentor whether they feel some of your fear is rooted in the spiritual. Study Bondage Breakers and Steps to Freedom in Christ. Commit to regular counseling sessions (See the idea above of securing a personal counselor who will tithe counseling skills for the sake of the Great Commission.) to understand and defeat ingrained fears, anxieties, panic attacks. 11. Handling of anger Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Feeling acutely angry against team members or locals in a missionary setting doesnt seem spiritual. And so mission workers with anger problems often resist expressing anger appropriatelyand then seethe over slights, injustices, irritations. As a rst step to addressing this problem area, simply tell yourself you have no healthy alternative but to nd freedom and healing from inappropriate angeror youll never be able to enjoy cross-cultural ministry! Anger has its place in your response to all kinds of circumstances. Yet if anger controls youif your anger is free-owting and sometimes uncontrollable, get help. Pray for healing in what the enemy has done in your life to damage your sense of injustice and hurt. Pray for insight into your upbringing that may have given rise to feelings or patterns of handling anger inappropriately. Study the Scriptures about anger. Explore carefully the areas listed under Spiritual in this Growth Guide. Ask your pastor or mentor whether they feel some of your anger issues are rooted in the spiritual. Study Bondage Breakers and Steps to Freedom in Christ. Commit to regular counseling sessions (See the idea above of securing a personal counselor who will tithe counseling skills for the sake of the Great Commission.) to understand and defeat uncontrollable anger. 12. Honesty Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Several suggestions under Spiritual item #10 (Moral Integrity) and Personal item #6 (Handling of Money) might be especially appropriate for you to work through if you feel youre weak in the area of honesty. Honesty in handling money is one thing. Honesty is simply always telling the truth in love is another. The chief reason people arent honest is they feel they need to appear better than they are, they need to deect attention from their own shortcomings. In other words, its a matter of insecurity; see item #9 above (Self-Esteem).

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3. INTERPERSONAL
1. Family relationships with parents and siblings Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Identify areas of unresolved conict with your parents and ways you could address issues. Discuss concerns honestly with your counselor, pastor or mentor. List steps you could take to prepare your parents and siblings for your move into a cross-cultural career. Ask experienced missionaries for suggestions on how to maintain family relationships at a distance. (Email your churchs missionaries or nd a missionary in your interest-area at www.FindMissionaries.org.) If, as an adult, you have parents who dont approve of your seeking a missions career, pray for them. Ask advice from your pastor, mentor or counselor on how to honor your parents and yet not be bound by their opinions. 2. (If married) Marriage relationship Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Ask your counselor (See suggestion for acquiring a counselor in the intro to this Growth Guide.) to assess the health of your marriage and family relationship. Work on specic areas of improvement. Take a marriage seminar or tune-up weekend. Schedule another extended time alone with your spouse to discuss ways to strengthen your relationship. Talk to missionaries serving on your anticipated eld and ask about the particular obstacles to maintaining a good marriage in that setting. Email or talk via Internet phone with missionaries connected to your church or na a missionary at www.FindMissionaries.org. Read up on the attitudes about marriage and gender in a culture or a culture bloc (tribal, Hindu, secular, Muslim, Buddhist) that interests you. Read Honorably Wounded: Stress among Christian Workers. 2a. Regular prayer together & times alone with spouse Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Use the prayer tools suggested in Spiritual item #4. Discuss with your counselor any awkwardness or hindrances you and your spouse experience in praying/ having devotions together. Regardless of your life-situation, set aside and guard a regular time alone with your spouseA few hours, a day, a date. 2b. Spouses attitude toward cross-cultural ministry Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Pray for your spouse and his/her vision. Include your spouse in helping you through these readiness steps of preparation. Encourage your spouse to participate in short-term mission experiences with you. If your spouse is antagonistic toward a missionary life, ask and listen as much as possible for the root reasons. Get advice from your pastor and mentor about being submissively supportive of your spouse in this difference of vision. Dig until you nd plausible info to respond to any of the fears your spouse expresses about the missionary lifestyle. Commit yourself to be patient while honoring your spouse in her/his concerns, acknowledging that Gods timing and leading can well come to you through your spouse.

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3. (If children) Relationship with child/children/grandchildren Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Get good at communicating electronically with your kids/grandkidswhether theyre going with you eventually or notvia email, instant messaging, blogs, personal Web pages, etc. If these kids are to go with you at some point, start now digging into Third-Culture Kid information and training. Read the book Third Culture Kids. Browse the Web site of InterActionwww.InterAction.org, a ministry focused on international family issues. Contact them about any upcoming family orientation retreats or conferences. Ask missionaries with kids (See ideas for connecting with missionaries under Spiritual item #3.) how they manage, what to prepare for, the plusses and minuses of missionary life for a family. Follow the links at www.MissionaryCare.org for great insight, training and general information of kids and missions. Read Families on the Move. 3a. Quality time together as a family Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): A family thats healthy physically, emotionally and spiritually will be your greatest asset in cross-cultural ministry; the kids will connect more directly and naturally with locals than you do! So start now buffering set times for family recreation, exercise, talking, praying, reading and discussing Bible stories and Scripture, attending church and mission events. Be a happy family to let the nations be glad (Psalm 67). Follow the advice of Christian ministries such as Focus on the Family (www.fof.org) about quality family time. Take your family outside your own culture for a vacation or short-term ministry. Look for ways to help ease fears and give children an anticipation of actually living in a foreign setting. Explore the possibility of raising support for your kids to attend Missionary Training Internationals CHIPS program or a similar MK preparation program. (See Resources.) 4. (If single) Acceptance of single status; yet open to change Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Talk to missionaries serving on your anticipated eld and ask about the particular challenges of serving as a single in this culture. (See Spirituals item #3 for missionary contacts.) Read up on the attitudes about gender relationships in the people group or culture bloc youre interested in. Discuss with a Christian counselor your feelings about serving as a single in missions. Be honest about hurts from the past that may affect your relationship with colleagues of the same or the opposite gender. Read Honorably Wounded: Stress among Christian Workers. Regardless of your gender, read True Grit and Through Her Eyes. (See Resources.) 4a. (If single) Relationships with opposite sex & with families Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): See suggestions in Spiritual item #10. Intentionally develop a close friendship with a Christian family in your church, contributing to their lives and allowing them to enrich yours. Plan to continue that family relationship throughout your mission career. Ask your growing prayer team to intercede regularly for you in this area of singleness, actually asking them to pray for a future spouse as a possibility in Gods plan for you.

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5. Communication to family about mission aspirations Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): (If children/grandchildren) Take one child at a time on an activity that allows plenty of talk time, and describe as well as you now can what your missionary life will be like. If the child/teenager is to go with you, dont ask for permission or any sort of commitment; just drip into their awareness the outline of what you think God has ahead for youand them. Browse the Resources below for good books to recommend to parents/family members to help them visualize your future cross-cultural ministry. 6. Understanding of how her/his own personality affects relationships Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Here again is an area where honest friends can give you amazing insights to how you come across to othersif you ask those friends for honest, no-holds-barred comments. Be brave and ask. If theres a pattern in your history of relationships that seems to recur, talk to your counselor for clues on how your personality affects your relationships. (See ideas on retaining a counselor in the intro to this Growth Guide.) Ask your counselor or pastor about taking a personality assessment such as Myers-Briggs, DISC or other inventories. Your mission agency will use these assessment tools, and getting a good inventory now will give you and your counselor, pastor and mentor time to fully examine the inventory results. Why is this so important? Because most missionaries ministry problems involve relationships not with the locals but with co-workers! 7. Friendliness among strangers Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): If your shyness at meeting strangers is acute, talk to your counselor. An introvert can always learn friendliness skills. Intentionally make eye contact and initiate conversation with store clerks, waitpersons and other serviceoriented personnel who normally are ignored. Think of what appropriate things you could say in passing to bless them. Practice being careful to listen to names and repeat those names as youre being introduced to strangers. When meeting a foreigner, ask for help from the person to correctly pronounce her/his name. Put yourself intentionally in a settingsuch as an international students dinnerwhere you can polish these simple, powerful skills. Attend a party with unbelievers or other social events with those with whom you do not naturally feel comfortable. Get good at small talk, listening, empathizing and noticing details about a person. 8. Friendships with non-Christians, ability to relate to non-Christians Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Few missionaries anticipate attending formal occasions in their ministry, but knowing how to act at an ambassadors event or a state dinner is valuable. (Actually, the more remote your deployment, the more likely it is that you as the foreigner will be called on to attend elaborate functions, make toasts, understand protocol.) Take a course in etiquette! Study any of the business books that cue corporate ofcers on cross-cultural etiquette, formal greetings, etc. Follow a socially gifted person at a social event and see how he/she interacts with others. Read How to Win Friends and Inuence People. Really, its a classic that has common-sense advice.

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9. Christian friendships Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Ask two elderly saints for their life story. Ask specic advice about one thing. Then continue the relationship. Most other cultures develop a few deep friendships by spending years of time together. Our mobile, fastpaced North American culture almost ensures that were not good at intensive friendships, but that we make and lost friendships fast with the people were around at the time. Think of two or three Christian friends youd like to befriend in a lifelong, more intentional way. Then begin or continue to be part of those friends lives for lifelong friendships. Begin now to pray and plan toward friends who should be part of your sending team. (Read Serving As Senders and the Post-Perspectives unit on Serving As A Sender.) Especially after working through item # 6 above (How your personality affects your relationships), make new friends! 10. Listening skills Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Get in the habit of engaging in conversations in which you ask questions, then ask more clarifying questions and simply mostly listen. Browse your local library for a CD/tape on active listening or read a book on listening skills. Observe at least two conversations between other people. Identify what each persons body language indicates. Practice a day of listening to a particular person in your life. Journal about what you learned from listening. 11. Reactions to others in stressful situations Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Think through how you respond in emergencies or a high-stress situation. Ask a few friends and if married your spouse for their perception of your demeanor under stress. Enroll in a CPR and First-Aid course. Review your last two performance evaluations at work. Identify where and how you will seek to improve your working relationships. With your mentor, analyze a past conict situation. Come up with a few different scenarios of how you could have improved your interaction. Project these mentally into possible future personal conicts youll face in ministry. List as many stressful situations as you can imagine as you move into a cross-cultural career. (The list probably begins with public speaking, support-raising conversations, travel, terror threats.) Use your imagination to visualize each situation. How will you feel? How would you like to act? What will you do to ensure you handle the stress well? 12. Ability to admit error and laugh at own mistakes Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Not being able to admit mistakes suggests deep insecurities and portends mission team problems. Review the suggestions under Personal item #8. Not being able to laugh at your own mistakes is a surere block to language-learning. Learning to speak another language is virtually a process of making mistakes, laughing at yourself and trying again. Again, review Personal item # 8 on seeing God redeem your sense of self-esteem. If you have failed at something, wronged someone or made a signicant error and left it unresolved, go to the person involved and admit your mistake. And ask for forgiveness.

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13. Hospitality Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Cross-cultural ministry is based on relationships. And in most fo the world, relationships are built through hospitality. Much of our North American culture feels hospitality is a take-it-or-leave it qualitysince everyones always so busy. But its an art. So at least once a month accept an invitation to someones home or entertain someone in yours. You dont have to do full meals; coffee, tea or dessert is ne. Intentionally focus on creating a welcoming environment rather than worrying about the perfection of the setting or food, the cost, or the time involved. Learn to eat whatever is placed in front of you by going to ethnic restaurants and ordering items that are unfamiliar. 14. Flexibility Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Review the Gospels and identify four instances where Jesus demonstrated exibility. Ask several missionaries why exibility is a crucial attribute for a cross-cultural worker. Take a short-term ministry trip beyond North America with just a few friends. Plan and organize the trek yourself. There is nothing like international travel to force you to practice exibility! Volunteer to work with children. Or if you have children, volunteer to babysit extra children at no cost to a couple parents. You will learn exibility as you care for a batch of kids! Pray that God develops you into a exible person. Record incidents where you are growing in this area. If your response to situations that demand exibility still shows a pattern of frustration, anger, irritation, consider talking with your counselor about control, about loss-of-control fears. 15. Openness to constructive criticism Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Since this quality is closely related to #12 above, review those suggestions. If you recognize stubbornness or instant are-ups of defensiveness in your character, spend some time before the Lord looking for the underlying reasons and talk this over with your counselor, pastor and/or mentor. Study the Acts passages on the incredible biblical character Peterwhose opinionated stubbornness God had to challenge with a powerful vision (Acts 10). (Later notice how the Apostle Paul had to again challenge Peter about diminishing the status of Gentile believers.) 16. Willingness to confront friction or problems with others Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Another opportunity for your friends, family and if married your spouse to tell you the truth in love: Ask them if you seem to avoid initiating conict-resolution with others. If this is a weak area, it probably means you have current relationships that are strained in some way, and youre avoiding resolution. Call or make a point to talk with the person involved. Begin now to overcome this need to avoid confrontation since in the stressful cauldron of cross-cultural ministry, dealing immediately and clearly with friction, problems, misunderstandings may mean the difference between effectiveness or disaster. If this is a deep-seated issue, get help and further suggestions from you counselor. (See the introduction about retaining a counselor who will tithe counseling skills for the sake of the Great Commission.)

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17. Practice of biblical conict resolution Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Study the key biblical passages on conict resolution. (See Resources for books, ministries, courses on these passages.) Study the book Conict or Connection. (See Resources.) Write out your own understanding of a policy youll follow of conict resolution. Include clarifying whether an issue is preference, opinion, fact or actual Scripture. Include the basic principle of always going to the person involved. Include how you can always approach conict resolution in humility. This personal conict-resolution policy will be a priceless document for you as you minister in teams of Great Commission Christians! Apply principles of conict resolution to a difcult situation you currently face. Take a course at a local business school in negotiation or teambuilding.

4. INTERCULTURAL
1. Awareness of whats cultural and whats biblical & whats cultural in your own North American Christianity. Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read American Cultural Baggage. (See Resources.) Note what you agree with or dont agree with. Ask a missionary to describe his/her greatest struggles to adapt to a new culture. What areas of Christian practice did he/she have to learn to consider cultural rather than Christian? Journal your reections and report on them. Take your vacation in a dramatically different culture and spend as much time as possible getting to know the people and culture. Identify at least ve things you learned. 2. Ability to adapt quickly to new people, places, activities Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Enroll in a cross-cultural internship such as Mission Training Internationals SPLICE. Host an exchange student. Volunteer your services to an organization in your area resettling refugees. Read Foreign to Familiar. 3. Freedom from racial prejudice Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Dont confuse not liking someone with racial prejudice. Prejudice is a matter of a warped upbringing, fear, ego and generalizing and stereotyping (He mistreated me, therefore all his kind will mistreat me.). Pray against the damage that has been done to you to which evidences itself in superior attitudes toward other people groups, other raceseven other classes of society. Ask God to heal you of the disease of prejudice as you study and memorize Genesis 1:26; Matthew 7:12; Acts 17:26-27; Romans 2:11; Galatians 3:28; James 2:8-9; 1 John 2:2, 4:20. Spend serious time with individuals of other cultures and races. (See the suggestions in the next item.) Coming to know individuals as individuals is always a powerful antidote to prejudice. Talk over with your mentor-encourager, your pastor, your counselor your struggle in this area. If you nd you simply cannot yet overcome this malady of racial prejudice, please do not go out to represent Jesus Christ.

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4. Experience of being with people from other cultures Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Research the ethnic communities in your area and study one in depth. Spend time at a university library to study sociological research on the culture of a people group God seems to be directing you toward. Read a novel by an author from the people group. Read Anthropological Insights for Missionaries. (See Resources.) Take your family or home group to an ethnic festival and help the children understand and appreciate cultural differences. Search the Internet for an English-language newspaper published in a foreign country. For one week, spend 15 minutes per day reading it. At the end of the week, jot down everything you have learned about the culture it represents. Take a part-time job in which you work with those of different ethnic or cultural backgrounds. Or look for an opportunity to work with, or preferably under, people of other nationalities in your job. Take an applied anthropology course at your local college. Complete a short-term missions assignment. Read God Brings the World to Your Doorstep. (See Resources.) Serve with an outreach to international students at a local university. Volunteer to be a welcomer for visitors from other cultures to your city. Read Conict or Connection: Interpersonal Relationships in Cross-cultural Settings. 5. Respect for people of other religions Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): With a friend, attend lectures or go to services of other religions, especially the group with which you anticipate working. List 5-10 positive elements of another persons faith. Read one of the following about a cultural bloc that particularly interests you: Encountering the World of Islam, Hinduism, Jesus in Beijing, Sharing Jesus in the Buddhist World. (See Resources.) 6. Language-learning aptitude; open to life-long language learning Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Buy and use the classic book about the LAMP MethodLanguage Acquisition Made Practical. Take a language aptitude test and review the results with someone on the personnel staff of a mission agency. Explore the free language-learning resources at http://www.fsi-language-courses.net/ and start practicing! Take a course on language acquisition such as those offered by Missionary Training International, MissionsPREP and Summer Institute of Linguistics, etc. (See Resources.) Enroll in a foreign language course with an adult education program or at your local community college. 7. General knowledge of world geography and people groups Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Regularly play on GoogleEarth (www.Earth.Google.com). Get a good mapparticularly one highlighting the locations of people groups. Browse at Global Mapping International (www.GMI.org). Go to www.NationalGeographic.com and enter map in the SEARCH box. Subscribe to National Geographic Magazine.

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8. (If children) Development of plan for cross-cultural orientation/training for children, schooling options, etc. Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Make sure your kids are catching a mission vision. Let them and other children and youth in your fellowship enjoy the great kids resources now available. For resources, ask your denominations mission department, ask any mission agencies that interest you, or go to www.CalebProject.org and search for children curriculum. Read and absorb Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds. (See Resources.) Contact missionaries with kids and talk! (See Spiritual item #3 for how to connect.) Bookmark and explore the InterAction site for missionary kids and families at www.interactionintl.org/ home.asp. Visit www.barnabus.orgBarnabus International, an info and encouragement for missionary families. 9. Knowledge of culture shock issues Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read carefully the article Language Shock, Culture Shock and How to Cope at http://www. strategicnetwork.org/index.php?loc=kb&view=v&id=16416&. If this is an area you want to fully explore now, real all of the articles at http://www.strategicnetwork. org/index.php?loc=kb&view=b&fto=943&&sf=Y Ask some internationals (See item #4 above.) what shocked them most about coming to the North American culture. Note these topics since theyll probably be part of your eventual re-entry cultural shock almost every time you return to this your passport country. (On the topic of calling your passport country your home country, see the discussion on Immigrant Missions in the post-Perspectives Going All-Out unit. 10. Awareness of the various scenarios of a missionary lifestyle Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read Scaling the Wall to get specic about the challenges this life brings. Ministry and the missionary task is one thing; every mission agency and mission resource has tons of stories about strategic mission ministry. But it takes some digging to nd out more about the day-to-day missionary lifestyleswhich vary greatly depending on the eld. Contact missionaries (See Spiritual item #3 to nd missionaries.) in very different settings (developed city such as in Western Europe/rural village in Papua New Guinea/plains of Mongolia/etc.) to ask specic questions about their lives such as How do you shop for food? Whats your typical daily schedule? How are you careful about security? What happens if you get sick? How do you communicate with home? Etc. Read any or all of the real-life adventures and misadventures of missionaries in the Heroes Then and Now series of missionary biographies. (See Resources.) Join or initiate short-term ministries to the people group/geographical areas that interest you, and spend casual time with the missionaries to observe their daily lives.

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5. MINISTRY
1. Condence about Gods leading so far into missions in general Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Be careful of that loaded mission-eze term Call to Missions. Instead insert into your explanations of your passion for missions the term leading. God is leading, has led. (On the other hand, if youve received one of those exceptional supernatural statements from God about where you are to serve, say so!) Explore Scriptures to see how God conrmed His leading in the lives of Bible characters and in the book of Acts. Identify at least ve conrmations that God may be leading you into a cross-cultural ministry career. Talk to your pastor, church mission leader and mentor-encourager whether they sense that God is leading you in this direction. Be gripped by how God uses ordinary people in His extraordinary global plan by reading the Heroes Then and Now series of missionary biographies. (See Resources.) 2. Interest in a particular people group/ministry approach toward which God is leading Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Traditional missions is all about location, right? The knee-jerk reaction when you say youre interested in becoming a missionary is Where? And theyre always asking for a geo-political country. But God is more interested in the whowhat people, what individuals is He readying for your ministry? Practice educating your friends by replying that it doesnt matter where since world populations are constantly in motion. Memorize Acts 17:26-27 to remind yourself constantly that God may be moving representatives of a people group to you! Live for a few weeks at www.JoshuaProject.net to explore and research the people groups proled under the major cultural blocs of tribals, Hindus, secularists, Muslims or Buddhists. Not every coincidence is a directive from God. But it could be! Pray for memory jogs, for insight and for sensitivity to the Spirit as you freewrite (not worrying that anyone will ever see it) about the coincidences that had something to do with a particular people, a particular country, a particular ministry. Read The Next Christendom for a startling overview of where God is moving globally. (See Resources.) 3. Awareness of spiritual and natural gifts Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Complete a spiritual gifts inventory in the post-Perspectives unit Run With the Vision: Find Your Niche or go to www.churchbuilding.net/2gs-i.htm or, for $12, take a 23-gift and DISC personality inventory at www. UniquelyYou.net. List in order what you believe to be your strongest and weakest gifts. Identify three things you could do to test or develop new gifts. What gifts do you wish you had? What gifts are you unsure if you have because you have never served in those areas? Take a course or lessons to further develop a natural talent that could be useful in ministry or friendship building (art, music, drama, carpentry, etc.). 4. Concern about the eternal destiny of the lost Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Spend one dedicated appointment with your pastor talking over this vital issue. In spite of todays pervasive universalism (Everyone who responds to God in their own ways will go to heaven.), the Bible is clear about the eternal destinies of mankind. Do a concordance search/topical search (Start at www.BibleGateway.org.) using the terms death or hell. Read Are the Heathen Really Lost? at www.calebproject.org/userles/MIB-lost.pdf. Discuss this paper with your mentor.

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5. Ability to share Christ in culturally appropriate ways Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Every church, denomination, every parachurch discipling organization has a favorite way of presenting the Gospel. (See an overview of some methods at www.christiananswers.net/evangelism/methods/home. html.) Explore all the methods, and then settle on what works best for you in your current life-situation. And introduce people to faith in Christ! Enroll in a comparative religions course at a local college. As you learn, also look for opportunities to express your faith clearly but as non-offensively as possible. Intentionally initiate friendships in which one (but not the exclusive) goal is to share Christ. Read Ministering Cross-Culturally. (See Resources.) 6. Apologetics: Ability to defend the faith Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Google every question you yourself would like to explore about ChristianityIs the Bible true? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Is there a God? Etc. Expect some great articles and some horrible ones; pray for wisdom and discernment. Get The Apologetics Study Bible (Holman Bible Publishers) that covers virtually every question a Christian needs to answer. It features key comments from the best of the Churchs apologistsLee Strobel, Chuck Colson, Norm Geisler, Hank Hanegraaff, Josh McDowell, Ravi Zacharias and many more. (Also, search for books by these apologists.) 7. Ability to disciple new believers Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Ask your pastor to match you with a new believer who needs assistance in his/her newfound faith. Volunteer as a counselor at a youth retreat or summer camp. Look for opportunities to encourage campers during and following the retreat time. Lead a short-term missions team. Identify ways you can encourage team members to grow. Choose one of your personal friends whom you believe is not living up to his/her full potential. Think and pray about how to stimulate this person to utilize God-given abilities. 8. Leadership skills as a servant-leader Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Volunteer to lead a team assigned to complete a task or project. Identify the skills of each team member and look for specic ways to develop and use his/her gifts. Take a signicant leadership responsibility in a ministry at your church for at least six months. Ask a mature leader in the program for specic suggestions for improvement. Ask your pastor to recommend three books on leadership. After you have read them, discuss key concepts with your mentor. Keep track of the lessons you learned about being a leader. Read Leading the Way. (See Resources.) 9. Communication skills in group settings Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Ask a professional teacher to critique a class you lead. Afterward talk with him/her about specic ways to improve. Take a speech class or join Toastmasters to enhance your oral communication. Work on how to tell the story of your ministry using PowerPoint or video. Read The Effective Missionary Communicator.

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10. Enjoyment in ministering as a team, in being a team player Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Study through the book of Acts to verify that not even the Apostle Paul never went out by himself. Begin now forming your personal Sending Team. (See the post-Perspectives unit Serve As A Sender for details and resources.) In that unit, download the entire book Serving As Senders by Neal Pirolo (www.eri. org) Check with your denomination or favorite mission agencies as to their approaches to forming missionary teams. Participate in sports teams, and note insights that translate to any teamincluding mission teams. Google and browse the plethora of books and training courses about team-building available from corporate sources. Again, use insights gained to translate into team-building principles for missionary teams. 11. Faithfulness in current ministry tasks Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Allow your mentor to ask three people to honestly share their evaluation of your faithfulness in service and to process that information with you. Pray together, confessing failures and asking for Gods power to improve. Take on a behind-the-scenes responsibility and fulll its every responsibility. Do this in your church and do this in the community with a local service organization. 12. Experience in ministering outside of church meetings Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): While faithfully ministering in conventional church settings, make a point to ministerserveoutside the church walls. Arrange now to spend time in a regular ministry to non-believers outside the church. (See #8, above.) Go to http://ied.gospelcom.net and pray about using the Internet to reach Web users for Christ. 13. Counseling skills Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): View one or more of the American Association of Christian Counselors videotape series on helping people with common life problems. See www.aacc.net and talk over with your pastor whether your church should purchase a video series. Google Christian lay counseling or other key terms to browse sites and resources in this eld. Ask your churchs counselor for recommendations of key books to read. Volunteer to become a mentor of a teen struggling with personal issues. Review with your mentor what you are doing to help him/her work through these issues. 14. Interest in the ght against poverty, disease and injustice. Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Read Famines and Face Packs or Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, or Justice, Mercy, and Humility or all three! Use a concordance (easiest at www.BibleGateway.org) to nd 5-10 biblical passages that address each issue. 15. Ability to fuse personal work (such as business), relationships and ministry Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): There is no end to ministrya fact that gets many vocational ministry people in trouble as they also try to bear the responsibilities of relationships, rest, etc. Read Boundaries: When to say YES, When to say NO to Take Control of Your Life. (See Resources.) Work through any time-management program (Search for free formats on the Web.) and pray for Gods guidance as you prioritize activities in your current schedule.

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16. (If applicable) Knowledge about missionary support-raising Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Work through the post-Perspectives unit Serve As A Sender to get oriented to building a support team. Talk to two or three missionaries about the lessons they learned while raising support. Interview several individuals who support missionary friends through prayer and nances. Ask them what motivates them to give and what they appreciate about their missionary partnership. Talk to your church mission leaders about your churchs guidelines and expectations regarding support raising. Read Friend Raising: Building a Missionary Support Team That Lasts. Enroll now in one of the support-raising training programs listed under Resources. 17. Awareness of formal mission education Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Get an overview of whats available globally in mission education and training at www.TrainingForChrist.org. Ask your church leadership about their requirements and suggestions of missionary training and education. If your church is connected to a denomination, contact the denominational mission department and ask about requirements and suggestions of formal missionary education and training. Explore their ideas about education and training even if you dont necessarily plan to minister through the denominational mission department. Research the biblical and missions studies requirements of the agencies youre interested in serving with. Many look for the equivalent of one year of formal biblical training. Explore alternatives for getting this foundation and other education you will need for effective ministry.

6. ORGANIZATIONAL/PROFESSIONAL
1. Commitment to a home churchs core values & doctrinal statement Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Study your churchs values, history, doctrinal positions and purpose. Match those with the theology, values, purpose and approaches of the mission agencies that most interest youincluding your denominational mission department. Discuss any reservations you may have with your mentor-encourager and the appropriate leaders. Read Equipping for Missions. (See Resources below.) 2. Relationship with mission leaders of the home church Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Invite your churchs missions leaders for coffee or dinner and get acquainted at a personal level to catch his/her heart for missions and learn more about your churchs current missions priorities. Volunteer to serve on the missions team or to help them with a specic project or event. If your church has a written missions policy or strategy, ask for a copy and read it carefully. Talk it over with your pastor, mentor and missions team leaders. Study Serving as Senders and ask help from your church mission leaders to begin developing a sending team. 3. Ease in accepting authority, working well under others leadership Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Join a ministry team led by someone you do not know and look for ways to serve the other members. Study Jesus example of servanthood in the Gospels. Ask your church leaders, friends and your mentor to evaluate your responsiveness to authority. Think through your school and work histories. If theres a pattern of grating against the authorities over you, its time to stop blaming the authority gures. If you know you have serious problems working under authorities, dont put yourself in a cross-cultural ministry position only to a) get frustrated with your leadership and b) cause problems until you deal deeply with this issue with your counselor, pastor and mentor.

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4. Knowledge of various missionary approaches (business-as-mission, medical missions, community development, church-planting, etc.) Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Google these terms (business as mission, missions community development, church planting movement, medical missions, etc.) or get great lists to peruse in these categories at www.GoConnect.org. Work through the Run With the Vision: Find Your Niche unit of post-Perspectives studies. (And were presuming youve gone through the Going All-Out unit.) Follow suggested Web links to organizations working in the various strategy approaches of missions. Submit your prole with one or more of the coaching-matching services RightNow, MissionNext or The Finishers Project. (See Resources below.) As youre introduced to various mission agencies, explore their various approaches. Read and jot notes from Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century about the creative ways God is reaching the nations. 5. Awareness of mission agencies Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): If your church is denominationally linked, begin serious exploration of mission service through the denominational mission department. Submit your prole with one or more of the coaching-matching services RightNow, MissionNext or The Finishers Project.. (See Resources below.) As youre introduced to various mission agencies, explore their various approaches. Ask missionaries from your church and at www.FindMissionaries.org about the pros and cons of the mission agency theyre with. Ask them to be as candid as possible, and hold their responses in total condence. Begin exploring agencies Web sites; there are hundreds and hundreds of organizations, and just because youve heard of a few doesnt mean theyre the organization youre destined to join. So keep a notebook on what you nd, remembering that God rarely leads us by information we dont have! 6. Credentials that have credibility in secular circles Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Consider whether certication or an additional degree would enhance your effectiveness. Ask the advice of missionaries, your pastor, your mentor and others in your eld. If your degree(s) is only in a Christian discipline (Religious Education, Bible, etc.) and youre considering a restricted-access place of ministry, consider earning another degree in an obviously secular eld. Get more hands-on experience to better prepare you to work as a professional in a foreign setting where there may be less support and infrastructure. Interview people who have lived and worked for several years in the country where you anticipate serving. Make a list of their advice as to how to adapt your skills to your future ministry setting. Follow through on suggestions they make for further reading or training. 7. (If tentmaking/doing business as mission) development of realistic employment strategy or business plan Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): With your mentor, go through Working Your Way to the Nations. (See Resources, below.) Read Tentmaking, Business As Mission and/or Great Commission Companies. (See Resources.) Do an Internet search for the terms Tentmaking and Business As Mission. Browse through the tremendous resources listed under Business As Mission at www.GoConnect.org. Talk to other tentmakers or entrepreneurs working in the country where you anticipate serving. Learn as much as possible about the economic climate, opportunities, obstacles and government regulations. Ask a business person to help you develop several possible plans. Review them with people with eld experience.

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8. Skills to communicate mission vision and mobilize others Pick a couple suggested growth steps (along with your own ideas): Carefully work through the post-Perspectives unit on Make A Difference: How to Mobilize. Arrange to lead groups in your church as they study one or more of the mission Bible study curricula courses for home groups, Sunday School classes, etc. (See Resources.) Study the Traveling Teams Ten Modules on raising mission vision as a world Christian (www. TheTravelingTeam.org). Read The Effective Missionary Communicator. (See Resources.) Implement in your church several of the world-changing strategies in Building Global Vision (www. CalebProject.org/store) and on the DualReach Web site (www.DualReach.org). Lead your fellowship in adopting an unreached people groupand why not make it the people group that most intrigues you? See the Adopt-A-People resources listed at www.USCWM.org Take a seminar on using PowerPoint or an introductory course on video production. Identify people in your church with expertise in journalism, marketing, public relations, videography, photography, graphic design, etc., who can advise and train you.

Related to the suggestions above Dont panic! You will not read all these resourcesat least in the next year or two! This is simply a list of the great info which is referenced in the Growth Guide. If an area particularly interests you, browse more resources in the Resource Library, and see additional lists at www.GoConnect.org. Books Order books from ChristianBook.com, WorldChristian.com or Amazon.com. Browse the great mission books listed in your denominational resource department, at William Carey Library (www.missionbooks.com), Authentic Publications (www.AuthenticBooks.com), YWAM Publishers (wwwYWAMPublishers.com). etc. American Cultural Baggage by Stan Nussbaum / Orbis Anthropological Insights for Missionaries by Paul Hiebert / Baker Book House Boundaries by Henry McCloud and John Townsend / Zondervan Business As Mission edited by Chris Barnett and Tom Steffan / EMIS Changing the Mind of Missions by James Engel / InterVarsity Press Christian Heroes Then and Now, the missionary biography series / YWAM Publishing Conict or Connection: Interpersonal Relationships in Cross-cultural Settings by Levi Keidel / EMIS Decision Making and the Will of God by Gary Friesen / Multnomah The Effective Missionary Communicator by Paul Goring / EMIS Encountering the World of Islam by Keith Swartley / Authentic Equipping for Missions by Daniel W. Bacon / OMF Experiencing God by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King / Broadman Families on the Move by Marion Knell / EMIS Famines and Face Packs by Emma Stratton / Authentic Foreign to Familiar by Sarrah A. Lanier / McDougal

RESOURCES

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Friend Raising: Building a Missionary Support Team That Lasts by Betty Barnett / YWAM Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible by Daniel M. Doriani / Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Company God Brings the World to Your Doorstep by Lawson Lau / Leadership Pub. Great Commission Companies: The Emerging Role of Business in Missions by Steve Rundle and Tom Steffan / Inter-Varsity Press Hinduism by H.L. Richard / William Carey Library Honourably Wounded: Stress Among Christian Workers by Marjory Foyle / EMIS How to Win Friends and Inuence People by Dale Carnegie / Pocket Books Hudson Taylors Spiritual Secret edited and revised by Gregg Lewis / OMF Inside Out by Larry Crabb / NavPress Jesus in Beijing by David Aikman / Regnery Publishing Justice, Mercy, and Humility, Tim Chester, Ed. / Authentic Knowing God by J.O. Packer / Inter-varsity Press Language Acquisition Made Practical (LAMP) by Tom & Elizabeth Brewster / Lingua House Leading the Way by Paul Borthwick / Gabriel Publishing Ministering Cross-Culturally by Sherwood Lingenfelter / Baker Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century by Stan Guthtie / Paternoster The Next Christendom by Philip Jenkins / Oxford University Press Prepare for Battle by Neal and Yvonne Pirolo / Emmaus Road Intl. The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer / Christian Publications Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider / Thomas Nelson Scaling the Wall by Kathy Hicks / Gabriel Resources Send Me! by Steve Hoke and Bill Taylor / William Carey Library, download at: http://www.wearesources.org/PublicationDetail.aspx?PublicationGUID=b5198367-2252-427b-a0329573011b7c74 Serving as Senders by Neal Pirolo / Emmaus Road Sharing Jesus in the Buddhist World by David Lim & Steve Spaulding / William Carey Library Steps to Freedom in Christ and Bondage Breakers by Neil T. Anderson / Gospel Light Tentmaking by Patrick Lai / Authentic Third-Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds by David Pollock / InterCultural Press Through Her Eyes: Life and Ministry of Women in the Muslim World by Marti Smith / Authentic Touch the World Through Prayer by Wesley Duewel / Zondervan True Grit: Women Taking on the World For Gods Sake by Deborah Meroff / Authentic Working Your Way to the Nations ed. Jonathan Lewis / www.wearesources.org offers a free download

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Group Bible Study Curricula on Missions Eternal Impact, Caleb Project www.CalebResources.org Gods Heart for the Nations by Jeff Lewis, Caleb Project www.CalebResources.org Encountering the World of Islam, Caleb Project www.CalebResources.org Missions: Gods Heart for the World: Nine Studies for Individuals or Groups by Paul Borthwick / InterVarsity Press Until the Whole World Knows, Alicia Britt Chole, www.onewholeworld.com 2020 Vision by Bill and Amy Stearns / Bethany Curriculum at wwwBillAndAmyStearns.info

Mission Curricula For Children: Outside the Lines DVD material by Jill Harris, Caleb Project www.CalebResources.org Window on the World (Operation World for Kids), Gabriel Resources

Missionary Prep Resources and Programs Browse www.TrainingForChrist.org for global mission training programs Consider the courses offered by The Center for Intercultural Training www.cit-online.org Consider the courses offered by Gateway Missionary Training Centre http://66.54.153.74/home.htm Take a weekend retreat to explore missionary possibilities: www.thejourneydeepens.org Consider the courses offered by Missionary Training International www.mti.org Consider the courses offered by MissionPREP www.missionprep.ca The Summer Institute of Linguistics offers language acquisition courses / www.sil.org Support-Raising Training The Body Builders offers Boot Camps in support-raising / www.TheBodyBuilders.net Kingdome Come Training offers videoconferenced classes / www.KingdomComeTraining.com People Raising offers the book by Bill Dillon plus info and seminars / www.PeopleRaising.com Coaching and Matching to Mission Agencies www.ShortTermMissions.com for short-term opportunities www.MissionFinder.org for short-terms and other mission information www.RightNow.org for coaching and matching to an agency short or long-term www.Finishers.org or www.MissionNext.org for mid-career mission explorers

Adapted from Moody Church Missionary Preparation Program, Bethlehem Baptist Nurture Program for Missionary Candidates, Send Me! (see Web site listing above), World Evangelical Alliance Missionary Training Network resources, Recommended Reading from ACMC and Readiness Guide by DualReach www.dualreach.org.

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PERSONAL PREP PLAN

FOR MISSIONARY READINESS
Based on Self Assessment Prole & Growth Guide

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Prospective cross-cultural worker ____________________________________________ Date Self Assessment Prole was completed ___________________________ Address ___________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Home phone _____________________ Cell phone _______________________ Email _____________________________________________________________ Mentor-Encourager __________________________________________________ Address ____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Home phone _____________________ Cell phone _______________________ Email _____________________________________________________________

Make several copies for yourself, your mentor-encourager and your pastor/ church leader.

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Complete and evaluate your Self Assessment Prole. 2. Pray and think through what youd like to do to grow in particularly weak areas: Follow a suggestion listed in the Growth Guide, get input from your pastor/mentor/counselor or come up with your own action-steps. 3. Work on perhaps 3 areas at a time. With your mentor, evaluate your progress as of the date youve set for completion. Then shift to a new set of 3.

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MISSION MENTORING
Mission preparation is about Gods Word, His work in His real world. Mission readiness is a process of growing in knowledge about each of these areas, a process of practicing skills in each of these three areas. And its about character: Nobody will bother to receive the Good News from a jerk. The Real Deal This Mission Mentoring Program guides you from your Self Assessment Prole into your own customized Personal Prep Plan that emphasizes knowledge, skills and character. So this isnt just an elementary step in mission readiness. Its the real deal: the beginning (or acceleration) of the process of netuning your role in the Great Commissiona lifelong exploration. Which always brings up questions like: Is there a call to missions? How do you know where to go? Where do you get training? What agency do you go with? If you go, do you have to make it a lifelong commitment? Whats the deal with raising support? What about resistance from family? How do I know Im qualied? What about all the risks? What if Im interested in missions but not going? What about debt? Etc.

COMMENTS FROM MISSIONARIES ABOUT MISSION MENTORING In a recent survey of missionaries, DualReach (DualReach.org) found that every respondent who had received mentoring or counseling during missionary preparation listed it as highly benecial. Missionaries made these specic comments: Make sure individuals have someone discipling them to have a deeper walk with Goda walk which doesnt rely on outside spiritual nurturing. Pastoral encouragement was very signicant in afrming my giftedness for ministry. Encourage local churches to show an interest in future missionaries by holding them accountable. Sending a person through a preparation process shows the churchs interest. I would like to have had several ministry options and counsel on how my gifts matched up with those options. Help prospective missionaries be involved in a small group of people who care about each others spiritual well-being and the direction each one is going in life. Ideally they will continue to care even when someone departs to train or to serve the Lord somewhere else.

Big questions with lots of answers. So dont presume too much, dont play to your own or other peoples conventional missions expectations. Dont pretend to know all the answers in the process of getting from here to there. Just take it one step at a time. The Do-It-Yourself Program The process is: Complete the Self-Assessment Prole. Ask a close friend or relative (not a spouse) to evaluate you in a second-opinion Prole. Meet once with a person from your churchs mission team/committee or church staff. Find someone wholl serve this year as your mentorencourager. (Relax. Its easier than you think.) Meet a second time with the mission team or staff person along with your mentor. Embark on your Personal Prep Plan.
(Continued)

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MISSION MENTORING
Continued

If you opt-in for this process, youll get: A Growth Guide for Aspiring Cross-Cultural Workers to follow up the Self-Assessment Prole. The Guide gives you directions for growth in each area where you want to developin knowledge, skills and character. A Personal Prep Planone of the authors of which is youto plot an individualized action plan that will guide you through systematic steps to develop the character, skills and knowledge to succeed in mission work. Accountability to meet every other month (or more often) with your mission mentor, who prays for you and keeps you accountable to actually work on the growth steps youve chosen. Accountability to meet twice a year with the team, committee or person responsible for missions in your church. A free trip to Paris, Rio de Janeiro or the South Pacic island of your choice. (Just kidding on that last one. We wanted to make sure you were tracking.)

I wish the pastor and missions committee had taken an interest in me. I would have liked the pastor to have taken more of a role in meeting with me and for the missions committee to have provided direction and been more proactive. It is extremely benecial to feel like you are supported and encouraged by your church at home. Nurture relationships between missionary and missions leaders in the church prior to departure.

Immediate Steps in Being Mentored for Missions 1. Ask God to guide you as you complete the Self-Assessment Prole. This self-check is not turned in to anybody ofcial to be led in any way; you keep a copy and your mentor keeps a copy. It is seen only by you, your mentor and the church mission or staff person you consult with. In the last section, indicate three areas where you want to focus your initial efforts for growth. You can work on more areas later, but it is important to concentrate on only a few at a time in order not to be overwhelmed. Ask someone who knows you wella friend or relativeto evaluate your character and skills by completing a second copy of the Assessment without having seen your version of it. If married, ask someone other than your spouse to complete this second-opinion Assessment. Compare your answers. If you dont understand his/her assessment of certain areas, talk it over. This in itself could be a huge growth-step for you. (How often do we give good friends/relatives permission to thoroughly critique us?) Ask God to help you not to be defensive or discouraged!

(Continued)

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MISSION MENTORING
Continued

2. Establish a time to meet with someone from your church staff/mission team to discuss how she/he can help you grow. If married, you should meet as a couple with this person after each of you has completed an Assessment. Give this person a copy of both your own and the second-opinion assessments to review prior to your appointment. Talk with this person about several people who might be a mission mentor for you. (Each person in a married couple will connect with her/his own mentor.) A mission mentor doesnt need to have mission experience, doesnt need to be older than you, doesnt need to generate the content of your preparation process. She or he simply needs to care about you and agree to keep you accountable as you to work through a plan to explore the possibility of a missions career. Set a tentative appointment when this church staff/mission team person will meet with you and your mentor to talk over objectives, roles and expectations. If married, you, your mentor and the mission team person will meet separately from your spouse. Ask the church staff/mission team person to check with you and your mentor at least every six months to evaluate your progress. 3. Pray for a mentor. Ask believers of your own gender if they would consider: A one-year commitment to meet with you at least once every two months, To regularly by email or phone ask you how youre doing in your mission exploration plan. To pray for you. Your mentor must be a believer you know to be spiritually healthy, must be of your own gender, must be local enough to meet with you in-person at least every other month. This person does not have to be a member of your own church, does not have to have any missions experience and does not have to be older than you. Use the following Directions for Mission Mentor-Encouragers to give possible mentors a clear idea of what theyre committing to.

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DIRECTIONS FOR MISSION MENTOR-ENCOURAGERS

The requirements for missionary mentors are very simple. You need to be a spiritually healthy believer, be of the same gender as the person being mentored and be within geographical proximity to meet at least every other month. No special missions expertise is needed. Responsibilities A one-year commitment. Regular prayer for your mission explorer and occasional communication. A meeting with your mentoree at least once every other month for 60-90 minutes. At the 6-month and one-year mark, a meeting with your prospective missionary and her/his church mission team representative or staff person to talk over progress. Instructions 1. Pray for wisdom as you embark on the mentoring relationship. 2. With your prospective mission worker, meet with a member of his/her church mission team or staff to talk over expectations, ideas and any questions about the process. The prospective missionary will set up this meeting to accommodate all of your schedules. 3. Ask your mentoree for a blank copy of the Self-Assessment Prole; this gives you the initial framework of what an aspiring cross-cultural worker can work on. If she/he feels free to give you a copy of her/his completed assessment form, be careful to treat the evaluation condentially. 4. Decide on a consistent time youll meet for 60-90 minutes at least every other month. At the rst session, let your mentoree take the initiative in dening needs and goals in at most three areas in which she/he wants to grow. As much as possible, serve as an encourager and sounding board rather than teacher or director. Consider the action steps outlined in the Growth Guide, a copy of which should be furnished by your mentoree. Together, brainstorm other action-steps your aspiring crosscultural worker can take. 5. Work together to dene and then write down chosen action steps and deadlines on the Missionary Prep Plan sheet attached to the Growth Guide. Each of you keeps a copy. 6. Each subsequent time you meet, talk over progress, challenges, ideas. Consider reading/viewing/ attending yourself the mission resources and opportunities suggested to your mentoree. Pray for each other. Remember Youre not assuming responsibility for the growth or progress of the prospective missionary. Youre not to pose as the missionary expert, personally training your protegeeeven if youve served as a missionary! Each individual is accountable for his/her own development before the Lord. Youre there to encourage, challenge and, when appropriate, to share your own experience. Your role is to listen more than to talk. Mentors are not in authority positions nor are they part of the team that ultimately decides whether to recommend individuals to be accepted by the church and/or a mission agency as missionary candidates. Instead, mentors are a safe sounding boardeven for frustrations during the missionary preparation process. You as a mentor are not carrying all of the coaching responsibility. The mentorees church mission leaders are also regularly providing guidance, suggesting resources, encouraging participation in missionrelated events and imparting mission input to these aspiring missionaries. Mentors commit to just one year of involvement. Yet if the relationship is positive, obviously the mentoring relationship can continue indenitely! You can serve as the missionarys advocate to the church or as part of a long-range support/advocacy sending team.
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DIRECTIONS FOR MISSION MENTOR-ENCOURAGERS

Continued

Comments from Missionaries About Mission Mentoring DualReach (DualReach.org) asked missionaries about pre-eld preparation provided by their local sending churches. Missionaries made these comments: Make sure individuals have someone discipling them to have a deeper walk with Goda walk which doesnt rely on outside spiritual nurturing. Pastoral encouragement was very signicant in afrming my giftedness for ministry. Encourage local churches to show an interest in future missionaries by holding them accountable. Sending a person through a preparation process shows the churchs interest. I would like to have had several ministry options and counsel on how my gifts matched up with those options. Help prospective missionaries be involved in a small group of people who care about each others spiritual well-being and the direction each one is going in life. Ideally they will continue to care even when someone departs to train or to serve the Lord somewhere else. I wish the pastor and missions committee had taken an interest in me. I would have liked the pastor to have taken more of a role in meeting with me and for the missions committee to have provided direction and been more proactive. It is extremely benecial to feel like you are supported and encouraged by your church at home. Nurture relationships between missionary and missions leaders in the church prior to departure.

Ideas from Mentors My husband and I served as mentors to a couple planning to go overseas. We usually met without their children present, but occasionally we got together with the whole family. By observing family dynamics, we knew how to better pray and offer support for parenting roles. My mentoree gives me a paper copy of prayer requests. I always put the list in my Bible where I am reminded to pray each day for the current requests. Part of my role is to help my mentoree exercise discipline in tackling support-raising tasks. Because he feels that I am on his side, I can be pretty rm when that is what is needed. One experienced missionary who was mentored in his church reports: Ongoing mentoring was key in that it helped me form my own thinking about ministry and what ministry is. Many words which were shared with me during that time are the same words of encouragement that I nd myself sharing with those I mentor today.

Another experienced missionary suggests: Assessing giftedness and preparedness for mission work is very benecial because having others conrm Gods calling in your life is a wise thing. Having them tell you what your weaknesses are is just as important, humbling the soul and increasing your dependency on God.

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Mission Fellowship
A Pilot Session for

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A WORLD CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

Global Activists for the Cause of Christ
Is there life after Perspectives?

KEY VERSE: Look among the nations. Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! For I am doing something in your days you would not believe if you were told. Habakkuk 1:5 THEME: Changing the world is denitely a group activity, and a fellowship-style session might model what your group could do on a regular basis: Keep spurring each other on to learn, train and more effectively join God in what He is doing. OBJECTIVES: After this session, your group members will: Know more about how to access information about what God is doing in our world. Feel excited about future adventures in aligning our lives with Gods unchangeable purpose. Act to plot out personal and group initiatives as world Christians. Also, perhaps to organize regular world Christian fellowship sessions.

FACILITATORS COMMENTARY
Very little of the information in this commentary is to be presented to your study group! This is for your own background thinking and for following up in outside-the-session conversations. 1. Introduction Needless to say, the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course is only a cursory look at what God is doing and how we can join Him. Theres plenty to more carefully review and examine in Scripture, and theres a whole world out there to learn about. This session can be both a wrap-up of course highlights for Perspectives grads and also a springboard to encourage non-Perspectives mission-minded believers into ongoing involvement as world Christians. The term world Christian was rst used in the 1920s in America as zealots in the Student Missionary Movement began to mobilize their churches with a broader vision of Gods harvest elds. In the 1980s, World Christian magazine focused believers attention on the bottom line of Gods global purpose. World Christians like Gordon Aeschliman, Dave Bryant, Tony Campolo and others popularized the term. As you know, a world Christian is simply a disciple without borders, a believer committed to living out biblical truth in the real worldpersonally, at home, locally and globally. If the term conjures up an image of radicals pressing for change, good. But if the term in your particular Christian circles has a negative connotation, feel free to re-name this session and edit any references to world Christian. The point of this session is an energizing step forward in Gods work, not the adoption of an awkward term!

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2. The Process of Becoming World-Changers Many Western Christians are pre-disposed to respond to information by jumping into action: Ready! Fire! Aim! If your Perspectives colleagues and church mission group fall into that syndrome, you can emphasize during this session that many of us are still in the very rst stage of effectively aligning our lives with Gods global work. The typical process of becoming a global activist for the cause of Christ is: Awareness Education Training-Exposure Involvement

Actually, more harm than good has been done in church ministries, local outreaches and missions by ignorance on re. Encourage your group to think in terms of action steps, yet be clear that, for most of us, our initial action steps are still rmly in the entry-level arena of awarenesseducation-exposure-involvement in Gods big picture. (See the post-Perspectives unit on Make A Difference: How to Mobilize Mission Vision in Your Fellowship for ideas on how to gradually move toward intelligent action.) Awareness Everyone in your fellowship can become better aware of Gods big picture through more exposure to His Word, His world as it now is and His work. One of the most effective ways to encourage awareness in a fellowship is to regularly drip into the normal routine brief breakthroughs of what God is doing. This sessions Participants Worksheet features a list of sources for catching up-tothe-minute information on Gods work in His world.
Key Awareness Resource

A generic, quarterly Global Report is also featured in this session. You can download, photocopy and pass out Global Reports available at www.BillAndAmyStearns.info, or abbreviate excerpts and: When prayer or praise items are requested in a meeting, tell about a breakthrough. Ask that a breakthrough be included in weekly programs, newsletters or on a church Web site. Include a breakthrough at the bottom of your emails among your fellowship. Submit a breakthrough to be included in the announcements during a worship service or meeting.

The perks of simply sharing what God is doing are: Announcing Gods wonderful works among the children of men fullls Scripture (Psalm 145:4-5; Isaiah 12:4-5). We can accustom a fellowship to celebrate what the entire Body of Christ is doing rather than only what our particular church, denomination or association is doing. Dripping snippets of Gods Word, world and work into a fellowship asks for no response. No commitment is required, no funds are being solicited, no answers are sought. Consequently, even jaded Christians usually drop their defensiveness against pleas for outreach or mission involvement. With greater awareness, vision grows, and more individuals begin to ask, What can I do about this? The answer, of course, is Learn more.

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Education A world Christians learning curve is always steep. Encourage your group members to foster a habit of lifelong learning in Gods Word, in understanding more about our world and in keeping updated about the new things (Isaiah 43:19) God is doing in His work.
Key Educational Resource

Generally, ne mission education resources are available at www.MissionBooks.org and www.WorldChristian.com.

Training-Exposure Many Christians feel that, since theyve been part of church meetings for years, theyre prepared for on-the-street cross-cultural ministry. Many seminary students expect that their mission education courses equate to ministry-skills training. But church habits and classroom information are only part of the education process for a world Christian. Actual skills training is also required to be effective in Gods big picture. Also, genuine exposure to other cultures is requisite in preparing to serve the nations cross-culturally. Entry-level training-exposure is easily accessed by most believers by: Volunteering in ministries that serve outside the church. Becoming as involved as desired in groups that minister to internationals. These welcomer organizations minister among international workers and students. Participating in short-term mission ministries.
Key Training-Exposure Resource

Because short-term mission trips can be life-changing at the awareness and education levels, they often spur participants into serious commitment to improve ministry skills. A one-stop Web site that opens to thousands of short-term opportunities is: www. ShortTermMissions.com

Involvement Through a graduated process of growing awareness, education and training plus exposure, many of your groups participants will move into strategic involvementperhaps fulltime for nowin what God is doing among the nations. Actually, most of us believers are geared best to minister within our own culture. Since that involvement doesnt require so much relocation, cultural adaptation and language-learning, it may be thought of as less crucial than cross-cultural involvement. But its all good. God arranges His harvest workers according to the needs of His harvest eld. So rocking babies in the church nursery is as vital a service in Gods Kingdom as frontline missions. For every frontline combat soldier in the military, more than 100 support personnel are required. This infrastructure of scores of individuals comprises dozens of rolesmany that are not nearly as dramatic as that of the infantryman. Yet all are vital to the cause, and all can be acutely aware of the big picture of their overall effort.

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Yet God has wired some of us to be on the front lines of reaching the nations. For those, this stage of involvement can use some coaching from denominational ministry experts and organizations that exist to mentor new mission workers. Encourage your group to pursue coaching from:
Key Involvement Resources

Your churchs denominational ministry/mission departments For college-age mission explorers: www.RightNow.org For mid-career mission exploreres: www.MissionNext.org For Baby Boomer-age mission explorers: www.Finishers.org

Involving your entire church in ministry is, again, a process of awareness-building, education, training and exposure. If a church has no vision beyond itself, please do not get that church involved in what God is doing beyond the walls of the church! Vision-building resources for churches are available through, among other groups: Your denominational ofces Advancing Churches in Mission Commitmentwww.ACMC.org Accelerating International Missions Strategies AIMSwww.AIMS.org Caleb Projectwww.CalebProject.org DualReachwww.DualReach.org 3. The Long View Whats next? Whether your group wants to continue gathering informally in a regular World Christian Fellowship or not, you need to network with other mission-minded believers. If a regular monthly World Christian Fellowship doesnt click, you can: Contact the Perspectives Study Program Alumni ofce to nd other Perspectives alumni in your area. Go out for coffee once in a while! You can send out an invitation to any and all mission-minded believers in your area to drop by your house or a friendly cafe. You meet, eat whatever folks bring, and talk informally about world Christian news, about resources, about what God is doing in your lives and in the big picture of His unchangeable plan. Forget all this world Christian movement business and try again to be a nice, ordinary Christian who goes to lots of church meetings to be a nicer ordinary Christian who goes to more meetings.... (Yeah, right.)

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THIS WEEKS LESSON PLAN

Preparation 1. Pray that your group will know, feel and act on the objectives listed for this session. 2. Ask a few friends to volunteer to bring some of the items needed. (See below.) 4. Prepare materials and equipment as listed in the box.

As Participants Arrive Pass out Global Reports and challenge participants to nd the locations of these breakthroughs on the globe or world map. FOCUS (3-4 minutes) Brian McLaren in A Generous Orthodoxy (Zondervan/ Youth Specialties, 2004) describes a diagram that is easily acknowledged by virtually everyone in Christendom. Suggest participants label the diagram as you draw and label it on the board. Churchianity: A Typical Christian Outlook

THE PLAN

MATERIALS NEEDED Bibles Whiteboard, ip chart and appropriate markers Photocopies of the Participants Worksheet. Photocopies of the Global Report (If possible, download and copy a more extensive .pdf version at BillAndAmyStearns.info) PROVIDED BY VOLUNTEERS: A world map or globe Updates on your own fellowships ministry efforts and needswithin and beyond your church Prayer points of an unreached people group (In case a volunteer hasnt gathered information about an unreached people, perhaps be prepared with a people prole from GlobalPrayer-Digest.org (Or see JoshuaProject.net) Refreshments

ME

I go to CHURCH. My church sometimes reaches out to THE WORLD.

Biblical Christianity: A World-Christian Outlook

Me I am part of The Church The Church is in the world

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Prayer Open your fellowship session by praying for big-picture vision in all our lives as global activists for the cause of Christ.

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Pray as well for the unreached people group proled. Challenge the group to continue to intercede in their priesthood-of-the-believer roles for these needs and cultures. Priestly Duties: Serving Review the Finding Your Niche chart (page 2 of the Run With the Vision: Find Your Niche) and moderate as the group discusses implications for each others ministries as priests who intercede and then serve in what God is doing. Note any particular interest by participants in the Your Impact stage of exploring a ministry; this is a key step in considering crosscultural ministry among nations other than our own.

Church Ministries Overview (3-4 minutes) Ask the volunteer who has researched your own fellowships ministries to present a very succinct overview of current efforts and needs. Discussion (5-10 minutes) Talk over as a group which of your churchs ministries t where in the four dynamics of what God is doing. Use the rocket analogy if warranted. How many of your fellowships ministries are: Focused within the church, Outreach to your own culture, Mission efforts to reached peoples Mission efforts to the unreached nations of the world? An Unreached People Overview (2-3 minutes) Ask the volunteer to give a brief overview of an unreached people groupone with which your church is already involved or any other group. NOTE: Be prepared with your own unreached people prole just in case. A new unreached people is presented daily at www.GlobalPrayer-Digest.org or www.JoshuaProject.net.

DISCOVER (12-15 minutes)

Next Steps Suggest that its crucial to move into some action step as a result of studying our part in Gods global purpose. Go around the group to read the list of actionsteps in the Participants Worksheet. (If you know that someone feels uncomfortable reading, rst ask for volunteers to take turns reading the items.) Direct participants to check those they plan to do, and remind them that the list is only a starting point to prod their own thinking about personal next steps. Closing Prayer (2-3 minutes) Let the group pray for each other in their ongoing pass on the blessing responsibilities to intercede for and serve the nationsour own included. Refreshments Close your session with plenty of talk-time around refreshments.

DO (3-4 minutes)

Priestly Duties: Intercession From the overview of your fellowships ministries, pick several to pray for. Intercede specically for those ministering and for those being ministered to. Pray against the schemes of the satanic world-system to blunt the effectiveness of those ministries.

DECIDE (15 minutes)

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PARTICIPANTS WORKSHEET A WORLD CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

FOCUS Label the circles. Then pray for grander vision for all of us as global activists for the cause of Christ!
As You Arrive Find on the world map or globe the locations of the cities/countries mentioned in the Global Report.

DISCOVER Your Priestly Duty: Interceding Jot notes during overviews of your fellowships ministries and of an unreached people. Then pray for the details that seem to catch your attention. Our fellowships ministries overview: An unreached people group overview:

Your Priestly Duty: Serving Quickly review the steps of Finding Your Niche in Gods global cause. Pause carefully at the Your Impact stage: Are you willing to explore the effectiveness of your serving in another culture? Pray for each others ongoing ministries as a nation of priests.

Finding Your Niche Your Priesthood: Fulll your duties. (Exodus 19:5-6 & 1 Peter 2:9) Your Life Experience: Know Thyself. (Psalm 139:13-16) Your Gifting: Study the spiritual gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:4) Your Ministering: Practice the gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:5) Your Impact: Explore various settings including other cultures. (1 Cor. 12:6) Your Assignment: Find your niche for now! (Eph. 2:10)

Look among the nations. Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! For I am doing something in your days you would not believe if you were told. Habakkuk 1:5

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DO Next Steps Check the following action steps that youd like to take on as your personal next step.
Write a letter to a friend telling of your commitment to the vision of God's great purpose on earth. Explore further your role as a "priest" (1 Peter 2:9, 10). List your blessings. How can you consecrate each one as a blessing to pass on to others? List activities you can do away with to better commit your time to God's purpose. Set up a monument to your world-Christian commitment (See Joshua 4.). Scope out RightNow.org, MissionNext.org or Finishers.org about mission service. Put a sticky label-dot on your watch to remind you to pray for laborers in Gods harvest. Commit to pray for your church, denomination, or a mission agency. Browse JoshuaProject.net and choose 2 or 3 unreached peoples to pray for regularly. Subscribe to the Global Prayer Digest at Global-Prayer-Digest.org. Set out reminders to pray for these ministries, people groups and others. Perhaps "tithe" a Sunday and spend one-tenth of your day in prayer for the nations. Begin to underline in your Bible the passages that refer to God's blessing for the nations. Memorize Habakkuk 1:5. Read online or in newspapers/magazines about the hot spots of global news and pray Gods intervention. Study the news of the advance of Gods Kingdom in sources such as listed in the box.

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Read books that focus on nishing the task of the Great Commission (See MissionBooks.com) Take the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course. Subscribe to several mission agencies magazines and newsletters. Ask an agency if you can help research a particular unreached people group. Volunteer ve hours weekly to your church, service/ evangelism ministry organization or mission agency. Volunteer to help in your local or regional international student service organization. Go to school for education in ministrypart-time, fulltime, via distance learning, etc. Write to missionaries working on the front lines. Do research for a mission agency focusing on unreached peoples. Research what people groups other than your own are in your areaworkers, refugees, students. Use your vacation time to help research an unreached people group or assist in pre-evangelism relief work. Draw a timeline of your expected life, and tithe a tenth for fulltime ministry. Correspond with a mission agency about possible shortterm or career assignments. Research the possibilities to promote missions in your area churches. Photocopy and pass on the Global Report to Christian friends. Find one or two friends who will meet with you for a regular priestly prayer session for the nations. Initiate a regular monthly or quarterly World Christian Fellowship!

Awareness of Gods Work in Gods World: Sources

Global Prayer DigestA monthly prayer guide for the unreached: Global-Prayer-Digest.org Assist News ServiceWide-ranging stories: AssistNews.net Mission Network News Sponsored but solid news: mnnonline.org Mission FrontiersThe USCWM bi-monthly bulletin: MissionFrontiers.org The Joel NewsletterA Europe-based, anecdotal newsletter: JoelNews.org MomentumA research-oriented update: Momentum-Mag.org Mission CatalystA mobilization newsletter. Subscribe at info@missioncatalyst.org BrigadaA weekly e-newsletter for World Christian activists: Brigada.org World PulseInfo e-news from the Lausanne movement: Lausanne.org Every God-honoring ministryWeb site info, newsletters, prayer updates Best secular info on global developments: The Economist, Foreign Policy Journal, World Press, etc. (God always has a huge hand in world events!)

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GLOBAL REPORT
One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. Psalm 145:4-6 Encourage your church to get out a little more! Copy and distribute!
Pray for the Madurese of Indonesia
by Julie Bosacker. BosackerDesigns.com

Global Every hour, 3,000 more people decide to follow Jesus Christ.
German Mission Society

Fifteen years ago there were about 100 prayer networks around the world. Today there are 4,000 networks involving 25 million intercessors.

China Today it is an open secret that Christian fellowships are active in most Chinese universities. More than thirty academic facilities and research centers in China are now dedicated to the study of this once maligned religion.

China Study Journal

Dawn Ministries

A sometimes controversial insiders approach mission strategy implemented in the Muslim world sees mosques turning into centers of worship of IsaJesusand new believers not taking on the label of Christian. Eminent missiologist Dr. Ralph Winter says, If [this strategy is] properly pursued, there could be 100 million Muslims who are followers of Christ in the next 10 years.
Mission Frontiers

Afghanistan There were only 17 Muslim converts to Christianity before 9/11/01. Today there are more than 10,000. Iran In 1979 there were possibly 500 Shiite converts to Christianity. Today, many Iranian pastors suggest there may be as many as one million.

Joel C. Rosenberg in Epicenter

Joel C. Rosenberg in Epicenter

The Virtual World Christians around the real world have banded together to buy an island and build a stunning cathedral in Second Life, the 3-D virtual world populated by 7 million real people. Mark Brown, CEO of the Bible Society of New Zealand, says the ultimate aim is to share Christ: Lets get our virtual hands dirty.

Germany About 5,000 Muslims come to faith in Christ every year in this country. Many of the new Christ-followers change their identity because they fear theyll be killed.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide

Uganda One church in Kampala seats 10,500 and is lled to capacity for four services every Sunday. The church has planted more than 1,000 daughter churches and has missionaries in South America, Japan and the U.S. Twentyve years ago, Ugandas population was 22% Muslim. Today that gure is just 6%! Latin America With 85 million evangelical believers, Latin America now has 400 mission agencies sending out 9,000 missionaries. North America Norwegian Aril Edvardsen broadcasts Christs message in Arabic via the Internet. What has really shocked me is the great response from Arabs in the U.S. and Canada. In the last few months more than 30,000 Arabs in North America have responded, interested in being saved.

Robert Kayanja, Charisma News

http://slangcath.wordpress.com

Lausanne World Pulse

Vanuatu On the isolated Pacic island of Tanna, the 10,000 inhabitants worshipped John Frum, a WWII G.I. who would someday emerge from a volcano and reward his cult followers. But since virtually everyone on Tanna has seen the JESUS lm over the past 3 years, nearly 7,000 islanders have come to faith in Christ! Talk about a transformed societyand a discipling challenge.

Mission Network News

Worldwide Challenge

Global There are now 2,077,909,000 baptized Christian believers on earth. Of these, 703,225,000 are Great Commission Christians, committed to Christs Great Commission.

Center for the Study of Global Christianity

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Standard Application

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STANDARDIZED MISSION AGENCY APPLICATION

The following form will help you describe what you have to offer to a mission organization. At the same time, it species most of the topics mission agencies will explore with you as you pursue a role in mission ministry. The form allows you several options: Simply read over the form as a prompt to think through your availability. Or begin to ll in your responses to the various topics. Fill in those elds for which you have available information or insight. Save the form and return to it whenever you choose to work through another category.

First & Last Name I/we are considering mission service beginning (approximate date and year) The duration of my/our service could be (approximate number of months or years) I/we would prefer Working directly with those needing ministering Working among a reached people group Preferences:

Working among an unreached people group Preferences:

Working indirectly, in support-services roles The specic areas of ministry in which I/we are most interested include: Administrative Camping Children's Ministry Church Planting Computers Construction Editorial/Graphic Arts Evangelism/Discipleship Leadership Development Media/Literature Mobilization Music/Worship Teaching Technical Women's Ministries Youth Ministries Other: Other: Other: Other:

Geographic areas in which I/we are most interested include:

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First Name Middle Name Last Name If applicable, maiden name Name Preference Birth Date (If US citizen) Social Security Number

GENERAL INFORMATION

If married, is your spouse also considering missions service? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.) (If married) Spouses First Name Middle Name Last Name If applicable, maiden name Name Preference Birth date (If US citizen) Social Security Number Permanent Address Street/PO Box City State/Province Zip/Postal Code Country Current Address (If different from permanent address) Street/PO Box City State/Province Zip/Postal Code Country Home Phone Fax Cell (Spouse Cell) Work Phone Email Alternate Email Passportif currentcountry and number Passport expiration date

Standard Application
Contact numbers of someone who always knows where to reach you: Name Relationship PO Box/Street Address City State/Province Zip/Postal Code Country Phone Email Anything youd like to explain about your current living situation:

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List names and birth dates of any living children. Indicate any children currently living with you. Also list any other dependents living with you. Name Relationship Birth Date Check if living with you

FAMILY

Your Marital Status (Check all that apply): Currently Single Currently Engaged to Be Married Divorced at Some Time Widowed at Some Time Currently Married If If If If applicable, applicable, applicable, applicable, date of anticipated marriage date of most recent marriage date(s) of divorce(s) date of widowhood

If divorced, describe any ongoing entanglementslegalities, nances, family relationships, your location that could affect your exibility in mission service:

Standard Application
Answer the following: If single, am I comfortable with the idea of mission involvement as a single person? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

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If married, do I have a healthy and satisfying marriage? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

If divorced or widowed, am I free from anger or bitterness? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

If a parent, do I have a positive, healthy relationship with my children? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

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List any post-high school formal education and/or professional training (including formal Bible training):
School/Program (include military) Dates Attended Areas of Study/Training Degree/Certicate

EDUCATION AND LIFE EXPERIENCE

Experiences of non-formal training (Please include any informal theological, Bible or Christian-life training):
Program Dates Attended Areas of Study/Training

Occupation (most recent or usual occupation) Current or most recent place of employment Signicant jobs, approximate dates of these jobs and major duties

Natural talents, hobbies, interests, any personal skills not revealed in your job history

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Do you prefer to keep serving in the skill sets indicated by your job history? Yes No Whether you answered yes or no, freely describe your desires, vision, dreams of the sort of ministry activity you would love to pursue.

Describe short-term outreach-mission trips or extended mission efforts youve experienced: Include: Outreach or Mission Ministry Location(s) Approximate Dates Churches and/or Agencies Involved Types of Ministry Your Evaluation of the Experience

Any non-English languages you speak and prociency levels (beginning, intermediate, advanced, uent)

Cultures other than your own in which you have traveled

Cultures other than your own in which you have lived (and how long):

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Freely explain any life experiencesincluding any cultural exposure you listed abovewhich you think contribute to your sense of Gods leading into missions ministry:

Some life experiences are negative, and yet God is a Redeemer. Often He can use even these experiences in ministering to others. Describe any signicant negative circumstances in your life

Answer the following: Can I be resilient, adaptable and exible in stressful situations? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

Do I generally have a positive outlook on life? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

Do I have the ability to form friendships? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

If people criticize me, the comments typically are about:

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Approximate date of most recent physical exam Current status of physical and emotional health

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HEALTH

Past physical and emotional health issues

If there is anything you feel might prohibit you from performing the expectations of the mission service in which you are interested (physical/medical limitations; dietary restrictions; alcohol, drug or tobacco dependence; emotional stresses; etc.) please explain:

If there is a health concernphysical, mental or emotionalin a close relative or dependent which might affect your performance of the mission service in which you are interested, please explain:

Are your nances in good order? Describe your nancial situation:

FINANCES

Please explain any unusual circumstances in your overall nancial status

Please explain any unusual expenses in your typical month-to-month budget

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Approximate dollar amount of debt Are you able to be self-supporting during the approximate term of your service? If not, are you willing to take fundraising training to support your ministry?

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Describe the circumstances and scriptural basis for your commitment to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord:

SPIRITUAL GROWTH

Answer the following: Do I generally practice personal spiritual habits such as prayer and Bible reading? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

Does my behavior reect my commitment to sexual purity and personal holiness? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

Do I have healthy relationships with non-Christians? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

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Describe briey any areas of particular personal/spiritual struggle (burdens from the past, relational conict, negative habits, compulsions, ongoing failures, etc.)

Write a sentence or two describing your attitudes regarding: Baptism Fellowship (including fellowship among believers from different church backgrounds) The leading of Gods Spirit Maintaining a Christ-like lifestyle among non-Christians Sharing your faith Cross-cultural ministry

Current Church How long attended? Describe the style and major emphases of your current church:

CHRISTIAN MINISTRY EXPERIENCE

Denominational Afliation Senior Pastors Name May we have permission to talk with your pastor? Mission Leaders Name, if applicable Church Street Address/PO Number City State/Province Zip/Postal Code Country Church Phone Church Fax Church Email

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If your current church is not actually your home church, please list the above information concerning your home church also.

Describe your church-related history including any positions you have held (churches, locations, denominations and/or networks, positions held, any denitive church experiences, etc.)

Describe your present church involvement.

Answer the following: Would others in my church say that I fulll my ministry responsibilities? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

Do I work in harmony with those Christians who differ with mewhether in doctrinal points or personality? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

Am I a team player? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

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Do I willingly follow leadership and supervision? Yes No (Briey discuss your responsewhether yes or no.)

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List ministry activity in which you have been involved. Include service within or outside the church. List not the roles, but the activity itselfsuch as visiting the elderly, fund-raising, preaching/speaking, teaching, practical help to a church or Christian organization, evangelism, counseling, serving on committees for a church or organization, prayer, mobilizing others into ministry, childrens work, sports ministries, work with the homeless, etc. Note if any of these activities were in a cross-cultural context:

List ministries for which you have had formal or non-formal Christian training.

What do you feel are your core competencies in ministering? In other words, what you do best?

(Optional: If helpful, mark below your possible areas of spiritual gifting. Put a slash mark where you feel you might be gifted in an area; put an X at a gifting you are certain about possessing.) My possible areas of spiritual gifting include:
Administration Apostleship Encouragement/Exhortation/Counseling Evangelism Faith Giving Giving a Word of Knowledge Giving a Word of Wisdom Helps, service, hospitality Healing Interpretation of Tongues Miracles Pastoring Prophesying Showing Mercy Speaking in Tongues Spiritual Discernment Teaching Other Areas

Not sure about my spiritual gifting Not convinced of the relevance of spiritual gifts today

Aside from ministry activity for which you seem especially skilled or gifted, what ministries would you like to explore?

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Describe the beginnings of your interest in missions:

MISSIONAL PROFILE

Are there any mission agencies to which you have at some time applied? Yes No (Briey discuss a yes response.)

Write a sentence or two about any of the following. (If married) My spouse feels this about my mission interest:

My parent(s) (if living) feel this about my mission interest:

My child/children feel this about my mission interest:

My pastor feels this about my mission interest:

My church mission leader or spiritual mentor feels this about my mission interest:

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Briey describe why you are interested in serving in a missions capacity.

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IF YOU COULD PROPOSE A ROLE IN MISSION SERVICE that ts who you are and where you are now in life, what would that role look like? You might be describing an actual position currently open somewhere in the mission worldor a similar position. Or you might be describing an impractical dream! Regardless, it will help a mission agency visualize what you feel you can contribute in Gods global purpose. Freely express your thoughts on this proposal. You can suggest several roles that particularly interest you, perhaps in preferred geographical settings. Or describe a single, specic area of ministry. Or feel free to state that you are open to virtually any assignment anywhere! My Proposal for Service in mission work:

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Please list the contact numbers of 1) Your pastor or mission leader 2) A colleague or employer 3) A personal Christian friend

REFERENCES

Any nal comments you feel are important about you, your circumstances, about questions asked or not asked on this form:

COMMENTS

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Prayer Units Story

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PRAYER: REBELLING AGAINST THE STATUS QUO

Settle back for a good global story about the power of intercession. A good, true story. Then well suggest a few iron-sharpening exercises, mention some key resources and let you get on with your intercessory role in the Kingdom...for now. A Story
Somewhere in Western Sahara. Okay, so you feel a little vertigo: You have no idea where you are. You casually ask Robert, the Brit who organized this trip and is driving your big Toyota Land Cruiser. He sticks out his lip, looks at the at dirtsand to the horizonand says, Havent a clue. The other white Land Cruiser broke a condenser belt around noon. No air conditioning. And now, around six in the evening, its 114 F outside. Api, the Berber guide with the piercing green eyes, drives that other airless vehicle while the eight of your team are squeezed into Roberts air-conditioned Cruiserboth doing maybe sixty miles per hour, side by side, oating rooster tails of dust rising behind you in the slanting sun. And Robert doesnt have a clue. One of your mushed seatmates yells to Robert, I thought we were following the barrels. The French nearly a hundred years ago positioned a line of weighted 50-gallon drums on this north-south route across the Sahara, each exactly as far as the horizon from the previous barrelusually ve miles apart. We were. He keeps the pedal to the metal, and your side-by-side SUVs race alone across the vast desert that now becomes low, rolling dunes of sand. Lost. From your orientation sessions before this bizarre trek from the Mediterranean to Cote dIvoire, you know it will be dark in approximately two hours. Lost is one thing. Lost in the darkwithout a safe area to campis another. You keep thinking of the two groups of tourists whod been taken hostage in the past couple years. Algerian and Western Saharan rebels had tried to bargain their demands by threatening to hand over the tourist hostages in body bags. And youre not even tourists! Youve been distributing Jesus lm videos at every settlement along your route, and driving directly south across Mauritania and a leg of Senegal seemed a perfectly reasonable, adventurous way to continue the distribution ministry in Core dIvoire. At least it seemed reasonable at the time. Api the Berber driver honks and motions to stop. Robert slows gradually, allowing the dust to settle before he comes to a full stop. He climbs out, walks over to the other Land Cruiser window and talks to the guide. Hes back in a minute. Well, everybody, we really dont know where we are. Apis GPS unit conked out a couple hours ago in the heat. I thought he knew where he was going and he thought I knew where I were going. But neither of us has seen a barrel in, oh, maybe sixty miles. Youre not sure how to respond. You know how you would if this werent a mission trip! Robert says, The best bet is to stop now and set up camp. If we turn around and try to follow our tracks back, itll soon be too dark. And theres no good reason to keep driving ahead till dark and waste fuel since we dont know where we are.

Prayer Units Story

So, sorry, well have to switch off the vehicle. No more air conditioning. And it wont be dark for a couple hours. So, uh, I guess well just sweat a lot. Everybody out. Its about an hour later, sitting in the shade of a green tarp stretched between the Cruisers, that you begin to realize how serious being lost in the Sahara is. Theres the matter of enough fuel. Water. Any mechanical breakdown here where no other vehicle would travel. As far as the simple idea of backtracking till you sight a barrel: After dark, the eerie wind will gust as it does every night and probably erase your vehicles tracks. Robert keeps using a word youve come to loathe: dicey. The air is still so hot, you dont actually sweat; any perspiration instantly evaporates, actually leaving you feeling chilled. But your body temp is way up there. This is not good. You gulp water periodically even as all of you pray and pray. Api watches. The sun does nally go down, and the sky nally darkens. Robert suddenly squints toward the horizon. You all look. A gure is walking toward you through the gathering twilight. A man. No, a little boy in a apping blue jellaba. Striding purposefully, as if hes power-walking in a workout. You get goosebumps. You all stand, then, pushing on hats, walk out toward him. It takes maybe ve minutes of wading through the sand to meet. You all smile, act animated, kneel to get on his level. He seems very composed, doesnt seem to be dehydrated or lost. Or even worried. But no one can understand him. Not even Api. He is Tuareg, I think. Robert looks east, in the dark direction where the boy had come from. Well, lets get him back to the trucks. Once seated, the boy takes a great guzzle of water, talks and talks, pointing to the direction he came. Youre all dumbfounded: There is absolutely no settlement, no well, no report of any nomadic herders in any of the south Western Sahara. You all talk at once. Api tries to nd a few words common to Tuareg and Arabic. Team members chatter about the predicament, the amazing appearance of this boy. Robert settles in his canvas camp chair and tells you about the Tuareg: They were probably at the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. It was about mid-rst century that the Tuareg became known as a Christian people, living all along the North African coast. Their men wear those distinctive indigo-blue jellaba robes. And every warrior has over his shoulder a leather sash, sometimes as a bandelero for bullets, and guess whats carved in the leather? No clue, you say. A cross. If you ask why there is the cross on every mans sash, they cant tell you. Tradition, they say. But in the 600s, Islamic invaders pushed the Christian Tuareg south into the desert. The Sahara wasnt as vast then, and the Tuaregs as a huge tribe emerged on the south edge of itin Mauritania, Senegal, Niger. But Islamic militants were there, too, forcing people to become Muslims. At that point, the Tuareg were too weakened to resist, and they gave up their Christian heritage and became Muslim. And. Api interrupts. I think, Mr. Robert, we should drive where he is pointing. Tonight? In the dark? Api nods. His green eyes say what we all know: Hes been constantly warning us not to travel at night in the Sahara. We should go now.

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Prayer Units Story

Youre thinking as you pack up camp and climb back in the vehicles, Get out of your comfort zone. Find the edge of adventure. The edge of faith. At least, thats what the short-term missions brochure had said. An hour later, the boy has guided Api and your two vehicles slowly across nearly eight miles of sand dunes, rocky crevices and dirt mounds. Youre in the rst vehicle as you nose up at the top of a dune, then tilt forward and down into a small sand valley. And see the light of a re. Next to two desert trucks. With people milling around. The boys parents alternate between hugging him, looking in wonder at your foreign faces, whapping the boys head back and forth and then hugging him again. You set up your own camp next to this Tuareg familys camp, which has as its centerpiece a big red 50-gallon drum. And you hear the story from Api after hes talked around the re in Arabic to the parents: About six oclock that evening, the boy had become uncontrollable in the truck, demanding to be let out. They thought he was going to be sick, and watched him run up a dune and disappear over the top. Both trucks stopped, and the big family decided to set up camp for the night even though it was earlier than normal. And maybe a half hour later, the parents realized the boy had never come back. By the time they too had run to the top of the dune, he was nowhere to be seen, tracks obliterated by the rising winds. They had been beside themselves with fear. Then over the dunes appears this convoy of whiteskin tourists. With the boy! Api translates as they profusely thank us for bringing the youngster back. They yank the boy out to the re circle and ask him a dozen different ways, Why did you run away? His answer again and again is simple: I had to. Months later you get an email from Robert in Switzerland: I just spoke about our Jesus lm distribution ministry at a church in Lausanne. Didnt have time for the Sahara story. When I asked if there were any questions, an old fellow who was on a prayer committee for our trip asked, What about the boy? I said dumbly, The boy? Then he told of the day he and two others were praying for us, and it seemed God was compelling them to focus their prayer on a boy. They didnt know what boy, or if a boy was ill, or was responding to the Gospel or whatever, but they prayed! And I told him! Best Regards, Robert
Adapted from 2020 Vision by Bill & Amy Stearns

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Prayer Units Story

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Support Advocacy
A Role for a Sending Teams Financial Advocate:

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SUPPORT ADVOCACY
A missionarys nancial advocate can gather a whole team of believers who will talk to a few friends about helping support the missionary. The Rationale Missionaries raising their own support is a recent development. (Note: Tentmakingworking to provide your own fundingis an ancient and viable means of God providing for missionaries. But tentmaking isnt the focus of this paper. See the Post-Perspectives unit on Business As Mission. Rather, were focusing on the tradition of missionaries raising their own support.) Prior to the 1860s, virtually the only missionaries sent out from North America went as employees of their denomination. That is, like most of todays denominational missionaries, the denomination provided the funding. Then began the formation of independent faith missions which require individuals to raise their own support to go. About 70% of North American missionaries are now from faith missions. The traditional Western methods of raising support actually worked well for several generations. Believers were told of the need, they gave, and missionaries went. However, in the past 20 years during the infamous medecadeseveral factors began merging into a perfect storm that now clouds missionary funding. The American mission movement is stymied by the difculties of support raising. Right now, 40,000 qualied North American missionary candidates are attempting to raise the nancial support to go. This doesnt even count the missionaries now on the eld who struggle with underfunding. Even those who are successful in support-raising are nding that it takes an average of two years to meet their budgetthree years if operating expenses also need to be raised. With proper training, of course, that timespan is drastically reduced; The BodyBuilders Support-Raising Bootcamps (www. TheBodyBuilders.net), for example, guarantee that if candidates follow the training, they can raise full support in just 100 days. Yet in a recent survey, The Finishers Project found that the #1 obstacle for people to move into mission work is their aversion to support-raising. Raising support is a necessary part of the work for most missionaries today. Most mission agencies will provide training in support raising to assist their missionary candidates in their task. Yet, there is also tremendous opportunity for the senders to get involved and help change this statistic and this attitude toward support raising. The Principle of Advocacy Advocating the cause of vocational ministry workersas well as that of the poor and of needy believersis the Scriptural norm.

One of the greatest missing teachings in the American church today is the reminder to men and women that nothing we have belongs to us. Gordon MacDonald In the U.S., Christians continue to accumulate record wealth while giving away proportionately less than we did during the Great Depression. GenerousGiving.com

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God always provides what He needs for His workbut sometimes the middlemen dont pass on the funds. Last year $24 billion was embezzled by church staffs! This is $2 billion more than the whole worlds giving to missions (gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/ globalchristianity/IBMR2007.pdf). But were not talking about church staffs hoarding Gods provision so much as the overall Church misappropriating Gods funds. Sometimes Gods people obediently release those resources for His purpose; sometimes they dont. (See Haggai 1 where Gods people misused for their own houses what God had provided for rebuilding His house.) Sometimes a disobedient Church can waste and misdirect the resources God has given for His work. Many of those 40,000 missionary candidates who struggle to raise support in North America are thus left to ponder in guilt and frustration whether: a. God doesnt really want them in ministry. b. They dont have enough faith. The real problem could simply be that theyre support-raising in a Christendom where believers arent clearly challenged to pass on Gods resources to those in vocational ministry. (Much like the problem of trying to understand why your life is not going wellwhen you may be in the midst of a people undergoing judgment. No matter how faithful you are, your life is affected by the state of the Church around youas the faithful but confused Jeremiah was when his people were being led into captivity.) God, Gods leaders and Scripture urge us to support ministry workers. God provided the resources to His people to support the Old Testament priests and Levites, the full-time religious workers of their day: I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting (Numbers 18:21). God provided resources to Jesus followers such as Mary, Martha and Lazarus in order to support Him out of their own means (Luke 8:3). Note: The idea that missionaries are supposed to be so super-spiritual that they go out without funding is bad Bible. Jesus initially did send out his disciples without provision and told them to eat and drink whatever they give to you; for the worker deserves his wages (Luke 10:4-7). That bold approach was only for the short-term: Later He said, If you have a purse, take it, and also a bag, (Luke 22:35-36). The cavalier idea of just leaving it all to Godpresuming on supernatural provision when you step out in ministryisnt a matter of living by faith. The phrase living by faith nowhere in Scripture applies only to ministry workers. Its the just who shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:3-5 & Romans 1:17), which applies to all believers.

North American Christians are now used to NOT giving personally to missionary support.

In fact, even among those intending to become missionaries, only 5% now give to help support a missionary!

Currently about 40,000 missionaries are attempting to raise support. Those who can often have to work at it for two to three years.

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God provides the resources to His people to support elders who direct the affairs of the church since the worker deserves his wages (1 Timothy 5:17-18). God provides the resources to His people to support those who go out for the sake of the Name (3 John 5-8): The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:14). The Bible tells us to initiate giving to those in vocational ministry, not to expect them to, on their own, raise support. The Old Testament Levites didnt go door-to-door raising their salaries. Instead, leaders advocated their support as Gods people were simply taught to tithe. In the New Testament, neither Jesus nor the Apostles asked sustenance for themselves. Other than the Romans 15:24 phrase (See sidebar.) and another vague reference, Paul never asked for himself. Paul did often compliment and thank his readers after they had sent him support. His gratitude and his ministry to those who supported him is a clear model of the giver-worker relationship; yet, again, Paul virtually never asked for himself. He did, however, model the biblical principle of advocating for others. (See the most blatant example of Pauls advocacy in 2 Corinthians 8-9, in which he urges the Corinthians to give to the saints in Jerusalem.) God tells us to give to those in vocational ministry. Gods leaders tell us to give to those in vocational ministry. Maybe we should be telling each otherparticularly our non-mission-minded fellow believersto give to those in vocational ministry. Each of us can advocate the funding of ministry workers such as missionaries. Practicalities of Advocacy The Word is adamant about giving to those in vocational ministry. Its not adamant about exactly how that happens, but there are distinct advantages to recruiting a team of advocates who will advocate on behalf of a missionary: Advocates can be boldly upfront about a missionarys qualications whereas a missionary extolling her/his own virtues can come across as arrogant. Missionary candidates are limited to their own, sometimes small networks. Advocates can talk to friends in other networkseven if the friend has not yet met the missionary. In his advocacy to the The verb in Romans 15:24 to be helped on my way can equally be translated accompany me. We do think it means Paul presumed they would outt him for the one journey to Spain, but its a slim phrase on which to build an entire teaching that missionaries and only non-church-staff ministry workersare to itinerate, asking anyone who will listen, for their own fulltime salaries and ministry expenses. Further, its obvious this reference is a presumption that the Romans would provide a sort of one-time gift for his trip to Spain; Paul did not pointedly ask them to support him long-term.

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Corinthians, Paul could be very straightforward about the merits of supporting the Jerusalem Christians even though the Corinthians didnt personally know them. If a missionary knows 100 people and those 100 simply advocate the missionarys ministry among 2 or 3 of their friends, the missionary expands her/his network by 200-300%. Breaking into networks of believers who are not now personally supporting missions: Taps into the latent, massive reservoir of resources among the nonmission-minded90% of the Church. Raises mission awareness in the local church. Blesses the non-mission-minded with a fresh release of Gods grace. (See the P.S. at the end of this article.) If a friend of an advocate senses that giving to help support this missionary is one of the good works which God has prepared beforehand for him/her to do (Ephesians 2:10), the missionary can then connect personally. During the span of the giving commitment, the missionary ministers to and blesses the new friend just as she/he does any of the ministry sending team. The advocate doesnt need to know all the details. The advocate simply needs to trust the missionary candidate and the strategic value of the missionarys work. The missionary her/himself can later ll in the gaps of personal and ministry information. A team of advocates can share ministry vision all at once. It takes months or years for a single person or couple to locate and talk individually to hundreds of people; yet if 100 advocates simply talk to two-three of their friends, the missionarys support needs can be considered by 200-300 people in one weekend. And so... A missionarys sending team should have a Financial Advocate overseeing funding details, advising in nancial matters. Yet that Financial Advocate can also help a missionary nd and orient an entire team of advocates who will help raise needed funding. After all, its scriptural that believers advocate the support of others.
William Stearns Connecting@BillAndAmyStearns.info

The earth is the Lords, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Psalm 24:1

How shall they proclaim unless they are sent? Romans 10:15

We who are on missionary assignments for God have a right to decent accommodations, and we have a right to support for us and our families.... You know, dont you, that its always been taken for granted that those who work in the Temple live off the proceeds of the Temple...? Along the same lines, the Master directed that those who spread the Message be supported by those who believe the Message. 1 Corinthians 9:4-14

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P.S. What Giving Does

Giving to those who go out for the sake of the Name (3 John 7) is a powerful way God releases blessing in your own life. The Bible is clear that when we give, God gives not only through us but to us as well. Unfortunately, this principle is often distorted and even exploited in some circles as a form of greed: If you send in dollars to some splashy ministry, God must then make you rich. What Giving Does In You What the Bible actually does teach is that God brings more grace into your life when you give: Each should give what he has decided in his own heart to give.... And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:7-8). This passage is a play on words since the original Greek New Testament meaning of grace is...giving! That is, as you give nancially, God enlarges your ability to give in all sorts of ways, such as in good works. He doesnt promise dollars in return, but He does promise to enlarge the harvest of your righteousness (2 Corinthians 9:10). The Apostle Paul exhorted the Corinthians to give to Judean believers theyd never metjust as you might give to missionary partners youve not yet met. As you take that step of faith, God re-invests the prot of His grace into your life much as a business owner re-invests prot back into the business to expand its capacity: You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion (2 Corinthians 9:11). (In case someone tries to interpret that rich in every way to mean you should expect lots of money in return for giving nancially: Paul already claried to the Corinthians that being enriched in every way means in all your speaking and in all your knowledge (1 Corinthians 1:5). If God enriches you also nancially, wonderful; but thats not primarily what Scripture promises.) What Giving Does Through You Your giving and the expansion of grace in you brings results that can span the globe through the ministry of your missionary partner. Paul wrote: Through us (your missionaries) your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service...is also overowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of [your] service..., men will praise God (2 Corinthians 9:11-13). But theres still more that God promises in the cycle of your giving. Those who ministeryour missionary partnerand those who are ministered to will thank not only God, but will also thank you for the grace you demonstrate in giving: And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you (2 Corinthians 9:14).

1. A missionary candidate asks friends to be advocates. 2. Advocates are forthright in asking their own friends to support the missionary. 3. Anyone interested is then contacted by the missionary who shares vision, answers questions and initiates the new sender into the missionarys home team. 50 advocates x two friends each committing just $40/ month = $4000 monthly These 50 advocates can advocate all at the same time. Imagine a missionary becoming fully supported in just one weekend!

Giving nancially unleashes a ood of blessing through you and in youincluding the grace to give in other ways.

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MISSIONARY MYTHS
Besides the many eye-opening insights about cross-cultural ministry we gained in our Perspectives courses, going as a missionary also has quite a few urban legends. And, yes, it sometimes takes some rather irreverent debunking to get real about a missions careerinstead of continuing to parrot conventional myths. Instructions: 1. Scan the bold-faced headings and check those that, honestly (No ones watching except Jesus.), you tend to believe. 2. Go back to each and read the irreverent debunking. 3. Argue, comment or just talk about these topics with your fellow Perspectives classmates or missionaries that you know. MISSIONARIES ARE SUPER-SPIRITUAL. In reality, lots of dysfunctional people are attracted to missions because it grants them instant importance and admiration. Insecure believers need to feel signicant, and theres not a more sure-re way to exude signicance than to become a missionary. If a missionary actually believes this myth, he/she is one of those famous holier-than-thous, the kind that should never go around the world representing Jesus. But, then, sometimes the myth is true: Many missionaries are incredibly, deeply spiritual people. MISSIONARIES GET THE CALL TO MISSIONS. Why not the Mobilization Call? The Intercessor Call? The Call to Provide IT? Apparently only professional clergy (with the traditional Call to the Pastorate) and missionaries get these supernatural Calls? Surveys tell us that missionaries who say they denitely have been called to missions stay on the eld longer than others; so agencies often insist on your having this mysterious Call. Lots of ne aspiring missionaries sort of make up their Call so they can check the right box on an application. If you havent already, review the Call discussion in our Run With the Vision: Find Your Niche unit. Sometimes, however, the myth is true: A person literally hears Gods call to mission ministry. THE CALL TO MISSIONS IS LIFE-LONG; SO IF YOU MOVE INTO MINISTRY OTHER THAN CROSS-CULTURAL WORK, YOUVE FAILED YOUR CALLING! Actually, neither of us have time to debunk this silly notion. (Browse the book of Acts for Philips careers as deacon, near-culture evangelist, missionary and then family man.) God often works through us in different ways in different seasons of our lives. Sometimes the myth is true: Thousands of missionaries remain in cross-cultural ministry their entire lives. Further, some missionaries who are not prepared, not suited to cross-cultural ministry are failures in that workand need to start back at square one in determining their actual role in the Kingdom. YOULL JUST LOVE THE PEOPLE YOURE GOING TO MINISTER TO. Actually, this people group has been under the direct control of Satan and his minions for centuries. You expect to like them? Theyre probably nasty, two-faced, greedy, violent, decadent, etc., etc. Thats why many agencies public-relations photographs of an unreached people feature

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mostly children; their faces arent yet evidencing the damage thats been done in their cultures bondage to darkness. Its when God redeems that His glory is reected in them. In the meantime, dont expect to feel warm and fuzzy as you realistically get to know them. Then again, sometimes the myth is true: Many missionaries incredibly, transcendingly, supernaturally love and even like the most unlovable! IF YOU CANT RAISE SUPPORT, IT MEANS GOD DOESNT WANT YOU TO GO. The truth is that were part of a largely self-focused North American Church thats packed with busy, distracted believersincluding us! About 70% of North American missionaries raise their own support (others are employed by their denomination), about 40,000 missionary candidates are now trying to raise support, and the whole topic of support-raising is increasingly a stress point in mission mobilization. So if your support-raising doesnt happen easily and quickly, just remember were all in this together! Support-raising is a challenge, but fortunately there is help. (See Resources, below.) Sometimes, of course, this myth is true: An ill-prepared, dysfunctional person who has trouble being an ambassador of Christ simply wont have enough credibility to raise supportand shouldnt go! YOUR REPORTS ALWAYS SAY YOURE JUST FINE. The ministry work is tough, risky, hard. But your mental state, your marriage, your emotions are just ne. Dont talk about any of the pain of missionary life: the depression, family abuse, anger or disgust at the people youre ministering among, pornography addictions, suicide, marital breakups, discipline problems on your team, mental breakdowns, anger, nancial desperation, petty jealousies among co-workers, foolish ministry mistakes, etc. If you tell your agency the truth, theyll put you on the shelf. If you tell your home church the truth, theyll yank you home in failure. Sometimes the myth is true: Miracles happen, life is hard but very good, we are transparent with our foibles but God heals and we are actually just ne! YOUR REPORTS SAY YOUR LIFE IS ONE BIG SACRIFICE. After all, people are giving sacricially so you can do missions. Dont tell them about the cool perks you enjoy: Global travel and adventure that your homefolks drool over only in travel books. You get to vacation in a beautiful, exotic setting. You have a maid and a driver. You go to classy embassy functions. You take the kids to the local luxury hotel for swims and ice cream. And your kids are getting the worlds best education at an international school. You sleep in and dont have any regular work hours. Sometimes, and actually most times in the toughest 10/40 Window settings, the myth is true: Your life is one big sacriceand is worth every bug bite, threat, illness, heartache, headache, lonely day and risk. YOUR REPORTS HAVE TO SAY THAT YOURE SAVING THE WORLD. Even if youre a researcher whose contribution to the Kingdom is in phonetics or percentages or your role is exclusively administrative, you have to spin your ministry so that it sounds as if you are on the frontlines of seeing thousands come to Christ. If you cant wrangle the spin, few will support you when their dollars can more excitingly provide scholarships for AIDs children. Sometimes, of course, the myth is true: You are seeing thousands come to faith in Christ!

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MISSIONS IS WHERE THE BODY OF CHRIST WORKS IN HARMONY FOR THE GOOD OF THE CAUSE. Actually, even within your team, within your sending agency, between your agency and other agencies, between your doctrinal stream and others arise some of the most jagged, antagonistic tensions. And its always the others fault if theyre not cooperating with you. Sometimes, and increasingly more often, the myth is true: God pulls together the strangest of Christians to work in supernatural unityand the Kingdom races in its advance. YOUR LIFESTYLE IS CONSISTENT WITH YOUR CHRISTIAN UPBRINGING. Actually, you often feel like the worst hypocrite: You drink wine at a social gathering when your home church would excommunicate you for such an infraction. You allow your new disciples to smoke during a church service. You do nothing about the cultural practice of slapping children. You dont even begin to defend the global actions of your home country. You go ahead and baptize the new believer and his four wives. You let the new church call its members Followers of Isa rather than Christians. Sometimes, of course, the myth is true: Some missionaries cant shake their home culture, their Christianese subculture, no matter how many years they spend in the eld. IF YOURE GOOD AT CHURCHWORK, YOULL BE A MARVELOUS MISSIONARY. Dangerous myth. For example: Talent and skills in leading worshipwhat used to be called songleadingmay be your worst frustration in cross-cultural work. Oh, the local believers will want you to lead worship the way you do back home in North America. And youll want to do just thatthe stuff youre good at, the stuff youre familiar with. Youll long to set up meetings so you can do worship-leadingwhich is long-term detrimental to their developing their own indigenous worship and music. In an unreached people that must discover and create its own forms of worship, your talent is even more useless. Church skills in public speaking and sermonizing will help in heavily Westernized, established churches since theyve copied the format of Western Christianityin which church is a series of meetings. The locals will bow to your obvious speaking expertise and mimic you and your speaking stylewhich goes against everything you learned about crosscultural church-planting in Perspectives, right? If your main experience in ministry has mostly to do with being up front at meetings, this is a good time to face a sobering thought: Most of the roles you can take on in North American churches are so culture-laden that only about two churchy skills are transferable to the eld: 1) Relating to people and 2) Faithfulness in completing tasks. Every missionary-preparation list will insist you work at many tasks in your local church to prep you for mission ministry. But frankly the more you internalize the systems of the institutional North American church, the more youll have to work at shaking off those cultural forms and norms. In some ways, the myth is true: If you learn how to relate to all kinds of peopleincluding other culturesand serve faithfully in your home church, youll probably do well in missionary work!