Discerning and pursuing your calling can be a confusing process.
It may be long or short. However our hope is that, by the time you leave, both you and your support team will be prepared to keep you there for the long haul!
Calling
If you feel any kind of calling to work cross-culturally, we suggest seeking early endorsement from the leadership in your local church. Our calling mini-course will help you!
Confirming
Take time to process and test the calling. Don’t do this alone! Look to your church, loved ones, and other trusted voices.
Equipping
Practically prepare for the road ahead. We strongly advise taking cross-cultural training. Our own Crossing Cultures 101 courses will give you key foundations.
Resourcing
Commissioning
Leaving is a process, not a single event. How are you preparing for a smooth transition? We’d advise building a RAFT and ensuring everything practical is ticked off.
On-Field
A Sender’s Role
Any fieldworker needs a great team of friends, family and colleagues supporting them. You have a huge part to play in ensuring their success. Check out what you can do to ensure your fieldworkers thrive!
- A church should establish a discernment process for anybody who may feel a call to work cross-culturally.
- The call needs to be tested, and the candidate’s maturity and readiness need to be assessed
- The church’s role is critical – sadly many missionaries who end up leaving prematurely for preventable reasons should never have gone in the first place!
- Give opportunities for the candidate to learn by serving and leading in the church.
- Ensure good mentoring is in place for the candidate. Make use of people with prior cross-cultural or mission experience.
- Consider mentoring for practical skills such as financial management or pastoral care.
- This is a season of practically preparing for the road ahead
- Choices need to be made about an agency or a process for training and equipping. Ideally, the church leaders would walk alongside the candidate through this.
- We strongly recommend the raising of personal support teams by the candidate and the church’s backing in that endeavour would be important.
- If the church endorses, hopefully they will also partner with the pre-field missionary in the matter of financial support.
- Clarify the level of support required with the field worker and consider how the church can support through the process of fundraising beyond providing money.
- Remember it is much easier for others, particularly those in authority in the church, to advocate for their financial support than for the candidate to do that on their own behalf!
- Read Acts 13. You will see that this is more than just a rousing send-off, with a ‘goodbye’, at the end. The sense of still belonging, even when serving at the other end of the world, is so important.
- Maintaining that connection through thick and thin might make all the difference between success and failure.
- Encourage the field worker to maintain the connection to the church – and make sure you do too!
- See our on-field resources for more details on what is next.
Start Your Journey
Here are some useful materials for you
Thriving Across Borders
This course covers the major transitions that someone will make when crossing cultures. We delve into the typical transition points…
Calling – Who? What? Why?
In the church, there exists a widespread misconception that only “exceptional Christians” receive a “proper” calling from God. The truth,…
Caring for Third Culture Kids
Currently in development, this exciting new course is created by our Dean of Studies, Ben Gilbert. British by birth, raised in India, with time living in Sri Lanka and the Middle East – the TCK experience is familiar to Ben, who is excited to share personal experiences, research and helpful insights for both TCKs, and those caring for them to thrive across cultures. Sign up to be notified when the course is released!
Know Thyself
This course explores the concept of understanding ourselves within the context of our own cultures. Before delving into how we…
The Antioch Factor
Growing in Cultural Intelligence
Developing Leadership for Cross-Cultural Ministry
Mission thrives on cultivating leaders who embody the life and character of Jesus, the most effective figure in history who…
Building a Support Ecosystem
In this course, we examine the different dimensions of support that are needed for a successful cross-cultural experience or lifestyle….
What do you want Jesus to do for you? | Mark 10:46-52
After many months away from Taiwan, Ross Paterson returns to The Hope Church in Taiwan to preach on the topic of ‘What…
Prayer and Fasting – Choice or Mandate?
Ross discusses a difficult question – is fasting (as a part of prayer) an option or a necessity today?
Transition and Change, Grief and Loss
At some point in our lives, we all face different types of changes that can lead to feelings of loss…
Serving Anywhere with Lydia David
Lydia David is a missionary who has worked in China & Turkey. She worked as an occupational therapist before she…
Announcing the Field Partner Podcast!
We’re excited to launch the Field Partner Podcast, the latest addition to our resources. Listen here Why have you started…
Five Fundamental Mistakes re: mission
Ross Paterson lists 5 traps we can fall into which make us miss the invitation to reach the rest of…
Jacob’s Encounters with God – Sermon
This sermon was given by Ross Paterson at Holy Trinity Cheltenham on August 16, 2020. This sermon is shorter than…
Obedience & Family on the Field with Grant & Jean
Grant and Jean are missionaries from South Africa. In this interview, they share their journey leading to mission work in…
Joseph #7: Blessing or Obedience or Both?
The final in this 7-part series on Joesph, Ross looks at the important balance between God’s sovereign grace and empowerment…
Equipping Burundi with Onesphore Manirakiza
Onesphore is the Burundian National Director of Great Lakes Outreach: greatlakesoutreach.org In this interview, Onesphore shares the story of his birth into…
David Bogue – A Forgotten Father Of Cross-Cultural Mission.
David Bogue (1750-1825) is “one of the greatest of the forgotten figures of Church History”, especially in the history of…
Article 7 – Part 2 of the Serampore Agreement
What happens after they believe in Jesus? Here we see the extraordinary level of care that Carey and his colleagues…
Announcing New Course: Crossing Cultures 101
We have just launched our most recent course Crossing Cultures 101! It’s free to complete and consists of 3 online modules…
Sallie Holmes & the Work of The Holy Spirit in Mission
In the light of Pentecost Sunday, I want to outline an unusual example of the Holy Spirit’s power and provision…
Hudson Taylor’s Two Burdens
“Hudson Taylor was wracked with doubt: he worried about sending men and women unprotected into the interior; at the same…
Isobel Kuhn – A Extraordinary Missionary
Isobel Kuhn (1901-1957) was a Canadian Christian missionary to the Lisu people of Yunnan Province, China, and northern Thailand. She…
St Patrick – The Early Missionary
Today, March 17th, is St Patrick’s Day. Patrick was an early missionary with a very unusual life, one that has…
J.O. Fraser – Dear Old Paul, What Was Going On?
Below are some notes on what I talked about in my Facebook post.Firstly on J.O. Fraser. Secondly, on the Apostle…
The Unlikely Impact of William Carey
“Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert those who have never heard of Jesus Christ, He’ll do it…
Clueless by Jacqueline Scott
This post originally appeared on A Life Overseas. It is reproduced here with the permission of the author. When we head…