Ask a Missionary - Catch The Fire

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A: Work at an international office in your home country. Many mission agencies have offices in your home country. Those of us working in the home office serve as a lifeline of support for missionaries overseas. You can serve in personnel, recruiting, fund-raising, finance, payroll, computers/IT, publicity, marketing, or a dozen other areas. In many agencies, you would need to raise your own support, just as someone serving in another country does (but hey, that’s fair to those overseas). An army has to have its supply lines, and so does God’s army of missionaries. Check with the home office of the agencies you might want to serve with to see what positions they need to fill. Answer from Rob, who served ten years with Operation Mobilization from the home office. Q: Can I use my professional or technical skills as a missionary? A: Sometimes. The church needs more Christians who will serve in the professions, business, and the trades. Since the work environment provides intimate contact with a small cadre of co-workers, you can live out your faith in real life through your profession. First, learn about the area where you want to go: the needs and strengths of the country and the region, work permits available to foreigners, and the work environment of your profession. Is your experience useful there? How is your profession or skill performed 28 | Ask a Missionary
there? What kinds of office politics and bureaucratic red tape drive projects? I recommend you contact Global Opportunities (globalopps.org) to learn more. They are a terrific outfit with experience in counseling and placing people in many parts of the world. Answer from Jack Voelkel. Editor’s Note: For questions and answers about using your university major or professional skill in missions, visit AskAMissionary. com > Professional Skills. Also, read Patrick Lai’s book Tentmaking: Business as Missions (see “Resources for Further Study”). Where in the World? While there are important ways to be involved with missions from home, many discover that going in person to another culture is both fulfilling and strategic. But with so many service opportunities around the world, how do you pick just one? Or do you wait for God to give you a final destination before you begin to prepare? All missionaries have wrestled with these questions; that’s common ground they share with you. What’s not common, however, is how, when, and where God leads each one. No onesize-fits-all here, no set-in-stone method by which God leads. But be assured, he does lead! Here are some different experiences and approaches by which missionaries have found how, when, and where in the world God wanted them to serve. GUIDANCE: Discovering God's Plan | 29
Page 1 and 2: Ask a Missionary Time-Tested Answer
Page 3 and 4: This book is a great resource for m
Page 7 and 8: Authentic Publishing A Ministry of
Page 9 and 10: Things Nobody Told Me 110 Yes. No.
Page 11 and 12: John McVay John McVay served as a m
Page 13 and 14: Imagine Your Own Gripping Story 1 W
Page 15 and 16: Toward Your Own Story Most Christia
Page 17 and 18: Guidance Discovering God’s Plan 2
Page 19 and 20: You’ll bring the bikes to the sch
Page 21 and 22: market, the post office, the park.
Page 23 and 24: A: Look for an inner conviction, fo
Page 25 and 26: eceived concrete and definite direc
Page 27 and 28: A: Ask God to use you and watch him
Page 29 and 30: This topic is one of the themes dis
Page 31 and 32: A: Discouragement is a part of life
Page 33 and 34: ack home. I’ve got a life and a f
Page 35 and 36: I was a mechanical engineer, and my
Page 37 and 38: Answer from Paul, who has served as
Page 39: going!” It may be that as you hav
Page 43 and 44: joy, and the tug of our hearts—as
Page 45 and 46: seek God’s will with a determinat
Page 47 and 48: A: Yes. Strategically select your s
Page 49 and 50: go and help. These extended, opport
Page 51 and 52: passed by a number of opportunities
Page 53 and 54: How do I believe God typically guid
Page 55 and 56: Agencies Researching the Options 3
Page 57 and 58: Jim, obviously nervous, simply said
Page 59 and 60: your own financial support. However
Page 61 and 62: for its missionaries’ safety, hea
Page 63 and 64: • Teamwork. The New Testament con
Page 65 and 66: A: Because they find help in other
Page 67 and 68: A: Because their church serves as a
Page 69 and 70: served as a minister within this de
Page 71 and 72: A Thorough Exam In some ways, joini
Page 73 and 74: Does the mission have plans to move
Page 75 and 76: Does the agency make disciples or j
Page 77 and 78: 3. You have more opportunities to a
Page 79 and 80: When to Begin? Which agency you joi
Page 81 and 82: So ask the Holy Spirit to guide you
Page 83 and 84: Add other exploratory questions you
Page 85 and 86: well. Sometimes he goes after famil
Page 87 and 88: a bright room decorated with dozens
Page 89 and 90: Q: What perspective should I take t
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Study”). It will give you a syste
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A: Fast can end up being slow. A de
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Our ministry, wherever we are, shou
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A: In the middle of your university
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Avenues of Training Learning should
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A: Get experience in your church, a
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How much training should you get in
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A: Volunteer, integrate faith into
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second language is useful. Or a deg
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If you will work in a sensitive cou
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purpose behind your studies. The ti
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A: God’s plan for us in missions
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If you’re a native English speake
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language we’ll be working in. (Al
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there will be all kinds of new mann
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series of books on different cultur
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A: I wish I had learned about spiri
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in the amazing to-do list of Philip
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If I don’t want advanced training
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Funding Figuring It Out 5 THE COld
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Bill sat back at his greasy desk an
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A: Let God grow your faith. Ultimat
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A: Avoid sales pressure as well as
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• God owns all, yet he is the mos
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church priorities. Now when I see l
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first, ask God what he intends for
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We see three groups of people here:
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Bristol, England, by faith in the p
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on how much time you invest in buil
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A: Yes. Trust God for all your fina
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A: Work part-time and study part-ti
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(because their degrees are not in d
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When we decided to go overseas, we
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A: Start early contributing each mo
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Over a challenging three years, the
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From Philippians 4:10-20, what can
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have been ruined because of him.”
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the tribal chief became followers o
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A: Both singleness and marriage hav
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A: Single missionaries have more fl
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although I wanted to get married, I
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A: Yes, but work toward a common vi
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family, just as married couples hav
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I decided to go on the mission fiel
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A: If it’s God’s plan, he will
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Your family’s mission story may b
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A: Yes. Consider these benefits of
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Answer from David Smith, director o
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education was either from home scho
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Q: Can I become a missionary if my
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How would I deal with loneliness an
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The Challenge Moving Forward 7 Dr.
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missionary friend Phil almost choke
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qualities for cross-cultural missio
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Acknowledgments The editor, John Mc
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Notes Chapter 2: Guidance 1. Excerp
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Resources for Further Study These m
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around the world, new resources, an
Page 207 and 208:
Friend Raising: Building a Missiona
Page 209 and 210:
People Raising: A Practical Guide t
Page 211 and 212:
Encountering Islam Keith Swartley,
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Mukappa.org Links to resources, spi
Page 215 and 216:
Resources for Women in Missions Par
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The Definitive Prayer Handbook for
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