discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 145
Pastors can play key roles in shepherding a person through those four
phases, including guiding the person through the affirming of the call by the
local church and eventually by a mission board. Prior to that, pastors can be
interactive sounding boards, helping people talk about the times they believe
God has spoken to them about missionary service. If a period of doubting arrives,
pastors can assure people that this is often part of arriving at that strong
conviction of being divinely called.
First Steps to Missionary Service
Developing Tomorrow’s Missionaries 145
If people are called as children, 20 years could pass before they get to a
mission field. On the other hand, for an adult it could take as little as a year or
two from call to actual deployment. In either case, the process of getting to a
mission field can be frustrating unless people see that going through the steps
of that process is part of fulfilling the call. The steps to be taken from having
become certain of a call to actually becoming an expatriate missionary can be
summed up under three major headings:
1. Informal and Formal Training
The call to missionary service means a person should get serious about
preparation. No missionary candidate should expect to show up at a mission
board’s offices, give a passionate testimony about a call and in return receive an
airplane ticket for an overseas destination. Airline flights do not transform people
into effective missionaries.
The person must find out a mission board’s expectations regarding formal
schooling. Most boards today want college graduates and some prefer those
with master’s degrees. Then, in addition to hands-on experience in their own
local churches, it is now common for people to give a year or two of volunteer
service before being appointed as career missionaries. An extended period of
volunteer service gives the mission board an idea of how the potential missionary
will perform in long-term cross-cultural situations.
2. Doing the Paperwork
Those who feel called to missionary service should register their call with
the candidate offices of one or more mission organizations long before they are
ready to be deployed. Even children and young people within the 4-14 window
should inform a mission board’s candidate office of their call and interest.
Relationships with key people of mission organizations need to be developed
on the phone, in person, and via e-mail. Those long-term relationships will be
helpful for a mission board when it finally begins considering someone for deployment,
a process that can take time as a match is sought between an individual
and various openings around the world.