AIM US Director Opportunity Profile

2020 OPPORTUNITY PROFILE
U.S. DIRECTOR
AFRICA INLAND MISSION, PEACHTREE CITY, GA

AIM OVERVIEW
AFRICA INLAND MISSION
is an evangelical Christian mission
agency dedicated to the vision of
seeing Christ-centered churches
established among all African peoples.
Founded in 1895, AIM has
over 800 personnel ministering in
Africa and serving Africans living
around the world, with over 400
of those sent from the U.S. These
missionaries serve in the following
ways:
• Evangelism and church
planting efforts among
unreached and least-reached
peoples
• Leadership development and
discipleship
• Medical ministry
• Community development
and community health
• A broad range of support
and logistical ministries
Today, AIM continues to build
on its strong heritage while bringing
new things to the task: new
methodologies and technologies.
But the key to reaching Africa
remains the same—to join with
God in what He is already doing
on the continent and around the
world: Raising up thousands of
African Christians to take the
good news of Jesus Christ to the
next generation and the ends of
the earth.
After serving faithfully as U.S.
Director since 2013, Wade Ewing
will step down following the
completion of his second term
in August 2021. The AIM U.S.
Council is seeking the next leader
who will build upon AIM’s strong
legacy and lead the Atlanta-based
U.S. team in mobilizing and
developing missionaries; building
relationships with partner churches;
creating networks of prayer
support; and developing financial
resources to support and grow the
mission.
As an AIM national leader,
the U.S. Director serves as a key
member of the international AIM
Council, which casts vision and
sets strategy for the entire AIM
International organization.
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In preparation for the
search to call a new U.S.
Director, Africa Inland
Mission’s search committee
has studied the current state of
AIM through several lenses. A
broad-reaching survey of missionaries,
staff, alumni, council members,
partners and friends found
high satisfaction levels with the
mission as a whole and agreement
that AIM is effective in fulfilling
the stated goals of the mission.
One-on-one interviews confirm
the survey findings which suggest
that internally, Africa Inland Mission
is in a solid strategic position
and that growth, expansion, and
increased external impact are
realistic objectives or goals for the
future. In sum, AIM is seeking an
energetic leader who can build on
the legacy and strengths of AIM
while adapting to the changing
cultural and generational shifts
to take AIM to the next level of
missions’ effectiveness.
WITH PRIORITY FOR THE UNREACHED,
CHRIST-CENTERED CHURCHES AMONG ALL AFRICAN PEOPLES
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HISTORY
AIM had its beginning in
the work of Peter Cameron
Scott (1867-1896), a
Scottish-American missionary of the
International Missionary Alliance who
served two years in the Congo before
he was sent to Scotland in 1892
because of a near-fatal illness. While
recuperating, he developed his idea
of establishing a network of mission
stations which would stretch from
the southeast coast of the continent
to the interior’s Lake Chad. He was
able to interest several of his friends
in Philadelphia in the work and in
subscribing some funds, establishing
the Philadelphia Missionary Council
in 1895.
Scott quickly recruited several
men and women who were willing
to return with him to Africa to start
work. The emphasis on accepting
these and other early recruits was
on their Christian commitment
rather than on any special training.
The mission was to be composed
of the workers in the field and
would be entirely self-governing and
independent of the Philadelphia
Missionary Council. The leader of
the Council, Rev. Charles Hurlburt,
was also president of the Pennsylvania
Bible Institute, which provided most
of the mission’s workers in its very
early years.
On August 17, 1895, AIM’s first
mission party of eight set off. They
arrived off the east African coast
in October, and Peter Scott started
making arrangements in the Kenyan
seaport of Mombasa. In little over a
year, the mission had four stations
Africa Inland Mission’s founder, Peter Cameron Scott, in 1895 when he
set off with seven other missionaries to make their way into Africa’s inland
regions to make Christ known.
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HISTORY
at Nzaui, Sakai, Kilungu, and
Kangundo, all in Kenya. More
workers came from America, and
the small group expanded to fifteen.
In December 1896, Peter
Scott died, partly because of the
extremely hard pace at which he
had been driving himself. The
mission almost dissolved in the
next year when most of the workers
either died or resigned. The Council
began to take more responsibility
for the work and appointed
Hurlburt director of the mission.
After a survey trip to Africa, he
returned to that continent to work
and he eventually brought his
entire family over. For the next two
decades, he provided leadership
for the headquarters, established in
1903 at Kijabe, Kenya.
From Kenya, the mission
expanded its work to neighboring
areas. In 1909, a station was set
up in what was then German East
Africa and later became Tanzania.
In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt
intervened for Hurlburt to persuade
the Belgian government to permit
the mission to establish a station
in the Congo, now called the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Work was begun in Uganda in
1918; in French Equatorial Africa
(Central African Republic) in
1924; Sudan, briefly, in 1949; and
the Islands of the Indian Ocean
in 1975. Besides evangelization,
workers of the mission ran clinics,
hospitals, leprosariums, schools,
publishing operations, and radio
programs. Rift Valley Academy
was built at Kijabe for missionary
children. Scott Theological College
in Kenya helped train African
Church leaders. The churches
founded by the mission in each of
its fields have established their own
church government or are part of
an existing church organization in
that field.
Since those early years, AIM’s
work has expanded to include
ministry in most regions of the
African continent, including
Africa’s Islamic North, and on
many of the islands of the Indian
Ocean. AIM also expanded our
work to include African diaspora
living around the globe.
“
PAGE
In humble dependence upon our God, we have moved steadily forward,
no doubt in our blindness making many mistakes, for we are still human...
but we ascribe all praise to Him for anything that has been done.”
- AIM Founder, Peter Cameron Scott
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THE POSITION
The U.S. Director leads the planning, management, and administrative
responsibilities of Africa Inland Mission U.S. to
achieve the end of seeing Christ-centered churches established
among all African peoples. The Director is the primary spokesperson
for AIM nationally and is a member of the AIM International Council.
The candidate must be able to inspire and motivate groups of individuals
to support Africa Inland Mission through skills in effective public
speaking and compelling presentation development. This person must
be outgoing and able to communicate with and build credibility with
Council members, missionaries, office staff, the International Council,
and friends of AIM.
The AIM U.S. team consists of 26 staff located at the Peachtree City,
GA headquarters, just south of Atlanta, and an additional 25 located
throughout the U.S.
Currently, the direct reports to the U.S. Director are:
• Candidate Personnel Director
• Chief Financial Officer
• Member Care Administrator
• Director of Development
• Projects Manager
• Communications Director
• IT Director
• Retirement Center Superintendent
• Executive Assistant to the U.S. Director.
Current Full-Time AIM Members: 825
AIM Members from AIM U.S.: 449
Total Number of AIM U.S. Staff: 51
Annual AIM U.S. Operating Budget: $3,678,349
Annual AIM U.S. Funding: $29,086,667
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THE POSITION
Key Responsibilities of the U.S. Director
PRAYER
• Leads consistent and meaningful prayer at AIM (with large and small
groups)
• Quickly commits issues to prayer individually and with staff members
• Has a deep and abiding trust in God’s provision
• Builds networks of prayer support among churches and supporters
SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP
• Disciples and spiritually nurtures the AIM U.S. staff
• Ministers to supporters and churches who feel a deep need to connect with
the people of Africa
• Communicates and interprets the mission, vision, goals (Ends), and values
of AIM to staff, the U.S. Council, missionaries, and partners
MISSIONARY RECRUITING
• Drives to maximize the deployment of missionaries to the Field
• Ensures the HQ organization is properly sized and staffed to support the
Mission Statement by recruiting, developing, and motivating high quality
dedicated and passionate staff to support Field Operations
• Develops and delivers effective communications and presents the opportunities
in career and/or short-term missions to various constituent groups in
the United States from which missionaries might come
• Keeps the message of AIM relevant to the next generation, thus increasing
the number of missionaries coming in their 20’s and 30’s
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THE POSITION
FINANCIAL LEADERSHIP AND FUNDRAISING
• Ensures oversight and management of the financial affairs of the organization
including, but not limited to, the creation and execution of the annual
budget, careful monitoring of revenues and expenses, and maintaining
high financial management standards
• Develops and maintains effective public relations activities in the U.S. to
raise up missionaries, funding, and prayer support
• Provides leadership to ensure that all AIM U.S. missionaries going out
from AIM U.S. have 100% of their needed financial support raised as they
deploy to the field
ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP
• Leads the staff in the U.S. by being the person with their finger on the
pulse of the organization, being aware of what and how people are doing
• Makes the best use of the talents and gifts that each team member brings
• Ensures all U.S. Council-approved policies are adhered to in a consistent
manner
PUBLIC SPOKESPERSON
• Represents the mission to all U.S. audiences i.e., media, churches, mission
societies, etc. except where delegated
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THE PERSON
Key Personal
Attributes of the
Next U.S. Director
• Strong Prayer Life - acknowledges
and practices the power of prayer
and how it can change things, seeks
God’s guidance in all decisions, and
trusts God for finances and staff
• Dependence on the Holy Spirit –
seeks God’s Kingdom first, loves the
Lord with all their heart, soul, mind
and strength; abides in Christ
• Godly character, integrity,
trustworthy, humble; one whose life
is full of the fruits of the spirit
• Solid and sincere listening skills
• Drawn to personal relationships;
cares deeply for the AIM family
Demonstrated Skills
and Experience in the
Following
• Understanding emerging trends in
global missions; envisioning the
future and leading AIM in adjusting
to new and more creative and
strategic ministry strategies
• Understanding and engaging
the next generation of career
missionaries
• Understanding that traditional
career missionaries are only “one
arrow in the quiver” of AIM’s
strategy; willingness to support nontraditional
approaches to ministry
• Thinking outside of the box;
thinking critically and creatively;
undergirded by valid theological and
missiological thinking
• Being a servant leader who is
compassionate and encouraging
while being able to make hard
decisions and changes when
necessary
• Organizational leadership and
budgeting (i.e. understanding profit
and loss, cash flow, etc.)
• Demonstrated understanding of the
western church
• Working with mission organizations
where the missionaries raise their
personal support
• Working with Policy Governance®
• Cross-cultural missions
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THE CHALLENGE
The AIM U.S. Director must naturally be
drawn to these challenges:
• Leading in an ever and fast changing world.
• Leading in an organization where the U.S. Director is only one of six
voices at the “international table,” requiring the Director to lead through
influence and persuasion and not positional authority.
• Leading in an organization that is primarily a sending agency and thus
must recruit missionaries that meet the needs articulated by the International
Office and receiving regions.
• Mobilizing missionaries from a pool of potential candidates whose views of
what it might mean to “be a missionary” are radically different than those
of the previous generation.
• Working with and through the local church to mobilize missionaries while
recognizing this will take flexibility and discernment. The churches AIM
works with vary widely... some have much experience and extensive mission
training programs, while others have little or no experience in sending
missionaries.
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LOCATION & TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS
Africa Inland
Mission’s U.S.
Headquarters in
Peachtree City,
Georgia.
The U.S. offices of Africa Inland Mission are in Peachtree City, Georgia (metro
Atlanta). The U.S. Director will need to live in the Atlanta area to lead the local
team. However, significant travel will be required. The successful candidate must
be comfortable traveling domestically and abroad.
WHERE IS THE
CANDIDATE TODAY?
The successful candidate could come
from a variety of vocations or careers.
However, we believe that someone
from one of the following areas will
likely have the skills and experiences
that are needed to lead Africa Inland
Mission U.S. The candidate may approximate,
but is not limited to, one
of these descriptions:
• A current leader at Africa Inland
Mission, or leader of a missions
organization where missionaries
raise their own support, who
has demonstrated skill in major
donor development and is ready
to become the U.S. Director
• A pastor of a church that integrates
missions into its ministry,
perhaps this pastor was a missionary
prior to serving as pastor.
• A leader of a missiologically-focused
educational institution,
skilled in advancement of the
institution, who is ready to
change focus
• A church leader who has demonstrated
effective leadership and
growth of a church with a significant
foreign mission outreach
• A successful business leader who
has been deeply involved in
church or para-church missions,
has participated in the public
sector, charity, and/or political
fundraising, and senses a calling
to the mission and vision of
Africa Inland Mission
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INQUIRY PROCESS
Submit this information in one
WORD document or PDF to:
Tommy Thomas, D. Phil.
JobfitMatters
tthomas@jobfitmatters.com
Phone: (615) 261-4623
If after reading this Opportunity
Profile you sense that the gifts
and experience God has given you
are a good match for Africa Inland
Mission, we invite you to begin
the inquiry process. All candidate
information and conversations are
handled confidentially. You may
contact Tommy Thomas at any stage
of the process to get more information
and/or to ask questions. His contact
information is below.
Please submit a resume in WORD
document or PDF format. When preparing
your resume for this position,
please include the following for each
position that you have held during the
past fifteen years.
• Name and location of company/
organization
• Job title
• Years in the position
• Position to which you reported
and positions that reported to you
• Primary responsibilities and
achievements
• What you enjoyed most about the
role and what you enjoyed least
• Aspects of the position which
most directly prepared you to be
the U.S. Director of AIM
• Reason for leaving current
position
• Reason for considering position
that moved you to apply.
To help us get a more complete picture
of you and your interest in the U.S.
Director position, submit responses to
the following:
1) Using the Africa Inland Mission
website, this document, and other
research, what about the U.S. Director
role attracts you to this position?
2) Tell us about your faith journey
and involvement in the local church
and other church-related organizations.
3) Share with us examples/illustrations
where you demonstrated effective
recruiting skills or skills that are transferable
to the area of attracting and
developing an effective team.
4) Provide the names and contact
information (telephone numbers and
email addresses) for four references
who know you and your career well
enough to comment on your suitability
for this role.
LEARN MORE about Africa Inland Mission
at www.AfricaInlandMission.org/usa
Please do not be overly concerned with brevity in assembling this package of
materials. While we don’t want to read volumes, we do want you to take the time
to share enough meaningful information to allow us to get to know you and why
you would make a strong U.S. Director for Africa Inland Mission.
See submission information at left.
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