You are subscribed to quarterly updates from AskaMissionary.com. No longer interested? It’s easy to unsubscribe.

Dear Readers,

As we mentioned in our spring newsletter, AskaMissionary.com readers often write in with questions about whether God can use someone like them in missions. Since cross-cultural workers come in all shapes and sizes and serve in any way you can imagine, we and the missionaries who help answer these questions tend to begin replies with “Yes!”

Yet anyone with much mission experience tends to discover that no matter how great your plan is, what you experience can be quite different from what you signed up for. Serving in mission often means laying down your own agenda.

“Missionaries who make a mark in our unpredictable world,” says Ken Mauger of Pioneers, “will be those who learn best how to follow the sovereign, all-wise Christ through unexpected twists and turns and bone-jarring potholes, instead of becoming frustrated, disillusioned, or sidetracked.”

And for those of us who stand behind them? “When we pay for the missionaries we’ve already sent out and supported,” says Mauger, “let’s add to our prayers for safety, strength, and souls, one more strategic request: a prayer for flexibility.”

Looking for more encouragement, and advice? If you haven’t looked at the AskaMissionary.com site lately, please drop on by! You’ll find lots of wisdom from mission leaders. Meanwhile, keep reading for some recent contributions.

blessings,

Marti Wade
AskaMissionary.com editor

September 2015 Issue

In this Issue:

NEW QUESTIONS

1. What age is too old to be a missionary? What are some things older missionaries can and can’t do?
2. Do missionaries continue to tithe? If so, do they take that out of the money given by others to support their ministry?
3. If you go to another country as a single and decide to get married to someone you meet there, would that be a problem?

NEW ANSWERS

4. I’m interested in becoming a missionary midwife. What kind of opportunities are there for midwives? What training do I need?
5. What does it take to be properly trained for cross-cultural service?
6. Doesn’t it make more sense to for me to raise funds for a national missionary, rather than raise funds for me to go?

RESOURCES AND EVENTS

7. Event Highlight: Urbana Conference
8. Opportunity Highlight: ShortTermMissions.com
9. Upcoming mission conferences and events

Answers needed for these questions (and others!):

1. What age is too old to be a missionary? What are some things older missionaries can and can’t do?
2. Do missionaries continue to tithe? If so, do they take that out of the money given by others to support their ministry?
3. If you go to another country as a single and decide to get married to someone you meet there, would that be a problem?

All three of these questions came up in our correspondence recently. Can you answer them from a place of experience or expertise? If you are a missionary, consider answering one or more of these questions. If you know a missionary who may be willing to help, forward this newsletter with a personal note.

Answers may be submitted through the website or simply sent to editor@askamissionary.com.

• Desired length is two to four paragraphs.
• Published references to individuals will typically be on a first-name basis.
• Email addresses will not be published.
• Please include years of experience and country served where applicable.
• Restricted access countries will not be named, but referred to by region.
• Links to other missions websites are encouraged.
• Selected answers will be edited and published electronically or in print.
• Submitted answers are copyright AskaMissionary.com / M-DAT.

New Answer

Q: I’m interested in becoming a missionary midwife. What kind of opportunities are there for midwives? What training do I need?

A: We have a training opportunity for missionary midwives in Kona, Hawaii!

Answer from Samantha, who has served with Youth With a Mission for four years and is part of the goMidwife team.

There are many avenues for missionary midwifery training available to you these days. Our organization, goMidwife, is currently accepting applications for our Fall 2015 Modules of Midwifery program which will run beginning September 21 through April 1, 2016.

Our program offers both didactic and practical training for those pursuing midwifery training aimed at the developing world as well as domestically. We cover topics from nutrition and childbirth education to birth emergencies and community development and everything in between. We had a successful run this past year followed by a month-long clinical service opportunity in Togo, West Africa.

If you’re interested in joining us or would like more information feel free to email us or check out our website. Blessings on you and your journey toward midwifery!

» Three more answers to this question will tell you about two more training schools as well as opportunities to serve in Haiti or Sudan. See also other content about using your professional skills.

New Answer

Q: What does it take to be properly trained for cross-cultural service?

A: Consider these four keys to missionary competence.

Answer from Tim in Washington, who has served as a mission mobilizer with SEND International since 2012.

What does it mean to be properly trained for cross-cultural service? In the past, the automatic answer was: “have a four-year Bible degree and a willingness to go.” But this degree requirement can lead to the misconception that the Great Commission is only for the trained professionals.

On the other hand, some organizations simply look for a willing heart, but that has led to problems both for the person going and for the ministry on the field.

Beyond the necessary skills and training you may need for a specific opportunity such as medicine, agriculture, business, or teaching, are you able to meet the spiritual needs of the lost? What does it mean to be competent as a missionary?

1. Know your Bible.

Knowing your Bible does not necessarily mean formal education. Sometimes someone who has taught Sunday school for 30+ years knows their Bible better than a young person with a Bible degree. Knowing your Bible means you are studying it for yourself and processing God’s Word like a spiritual meal. It means you are living it out in front of others. You are able to share its basic concepts. It involves sitting under solid Bible teaching. And it includes fellowshipping and sharing life with other believers. Most importantly, Bible knowledge comes when you are in fellowship with the God of the Bible.

2. Know how to disciple.

Discipleship is the basis of missions. Discipleship is helping people become followers of Jesus. In Matthew 28:18, Jesus commissioned us to make disciples, not converts, of all nations by teaching them to obey everything he commanded. This goes beyond reciting John 3:16 or praying a prayer. Often times, discipleship looks like two or three people gathered to open the Bible and study it themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Many of these discipleship groups become new church plants. You may know how to recite the “Romans Road” or similar evangelistic tools, but do you know how to disciple? Every Christian needs it and should be involved with it.

3. Serve internationals at home.

What better way to prepare for cross-cultural ministry overseas than to do it at home first! Western Christians can interact with people from other cultures like no other time in history. God is bringing the nations here. They come as refugees, immigrants, and international students. As a result of this dispersion of nations, often referred to as diaspora, there are opportunities for involvement. With involvement, comes exposure. With exposure comes learning. With learning comes experience. Do you feel a calling to work among Muslim people? See if there are Muslim people in your area and get involved with ministries that reach out to them. If you’re not willing to serve here, what makes you think you’re ready to go serve overseas?

4. Serve in your local church.

There is no better environment for ministry training than the local church. Not only are there opportunities to serve, but these opportunities usually come with mentoring from others. As these mentors watch you serve, they speak into your life to strengthen and build you up. When the time comes to apply to serve overseas, there are people that can attest to your abilities and skills in ministry. It is the church who commissions and sends out missionaries. Involvement in the local church leads to the church standing behind you and supporting you as you go.

It is important to remember that specific competence requirements will vary depending on the mission agency or organization you choose to go with. However, training begins at home, so take advantage of the many opportunities available in the midst of preparing to go overseas.

Note: This answer originally appeared as an article at TheMissionsBlog.

» Provide your own answer to this question, or see other questions about training.

New Answer

Q: Doesn’t it make more sense to for me to raise funds for a national missionary, rather than raise funds for me to go?

A: God’s plans aren’t always that pragmatic.

Answer from Ken in Spain, who has served for 16 tears with the Canadian National Baptist Convention and Fellowship International in Chile and Spain.

I felt this way before I became a missionary. It seemed that language barriers, paying for language learning, moving expenses, and the like would make it much more cost-effective to pay a national than to send someone like me. But there are some interesting Kingdom principles at work:

1. Jesus told us to go. He commanded his followers to go throughout the world, not just to their own “Jerusalems or Judeas” but also crossing cultural barriers to the “Samarias” and uttermost parts of the earth.

2. God’s plans aren’t always that pragmatic. In Isaiah 55:8-9 we read, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

3. Sometimes a missionary has the ability to communicate to people in a way a local cannot. In Chile we were able to communicate the Gospel to upper-class people. There were very few believers in that group, and culturally, they were unwilling and thus unable to hear the gospel when it was presented by people from a “lower class.”

4. Supporting nationals also has its problems. When nationals are selected and paid by a foreign group, the financial support can cause jealousy and forces the sending group to "play God" as they decide who gets and who does not get a subsidy. And the funding can build a greater dependence on outside help, more so than for sending a missionary who trains and facilitates a home-grown and home-funded ministry. Real Kingdom ministry must be reproducible.

» Read the rest of Ken’s answer and submit your own answer (if you have personal field experience with this question).

Upcoming Mission Conferences and Events

Mission Conferences

October 9-10, Mission Fest Seattle (Edmonds, WA, USA).
November 5-7, Global Missions Health Conference (Louisville, KY, USA).
December 27 to January 1, Urbana Student Missions Conference (St. Louis, MO, USA).

Explore Becoming a Missionary

September 18-20, The Journey Deepens (Jacksonville Beach, FL, USA).
October 2-3, Mission Next Forum (Tulsa, OK, USA).

Tentmaking and Business as Mission

September 29 to October 3, GO Equipped TENTmaking Course (Detroit, MI, USA).
October 1-3, Open B4T Expo (Minneapolis, MN, USA).

Support Raising

September 14-15, Support-raising Bootcamp (Richmond, CA, USA).
September 25-26 People Raising Conference (Chicago, IL, USA). 
October 19-20, Support-raising Bootcamp (Rogers, AR, USA).
November 19-20, Support-raising Bootcamp (Atlanta, GA, USA).
December 2-3, Support-raising Bootcamp (Lombard, IL, USA).