Ask a Missionary - Catch The Fire

A:
There are many ways couples can serve
together; but both spouses must be led to
overseas missions.
We decided early in our mission involvement that any commitment
to overseas missions should be a 100 percent call to both
of us as a married couple. There are too many other stresses in
overseas service; to have a half-committed partner would be a real
problem. For one spouse to go only because the other feels called
will likely not result in an effective ministry.
There are other ways in which a couple can serve in missions—
on your church mission board, going on or leading short-term teams,
supporting missionaries financially, hosting missionaries and foreign
visitors in your home, or being involved with organizations such
as Wycliffe Associates or others who rely heavily on home-based
membership. These activities might even lead the reluctant spouse
into overseas service.
Answer from Craig, who serves in Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible
Translators.
Small Children in
a Big World
Two enemy villages in Irian Jaya had vowed to destroy each
other, until a missionary couple presented their infant son as the
mutual “peace child.” The ceremony amazingly prevented a war.
This story alone makes for a good book and an uplifting movie.
But there’s more. Decades later, that same “peace child”—Steve
Richardson—is father to his own children and provides leadership
to missionary families of the mission agency Pioneers.
SINGLES, COUPLES, AND KIDS: Counting the Cost | 171