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Are there any specific classes that would be helpful to take in high school for getting into missions after school?
Ask a Missionary
 

Questions & Answers on
Becoming a Missionary

 
A ministry of Mission Data International
A growing number of ministries provide programs that function as internships or apprenticeships and offer practical, experience-based pre-field training.

Radius International offers a ten-month training program in Mexico which affords students daily, real-time experience learning to integrate culture and language acquisition, spiritual formation, team building, and high-stress living.

Read about the Radius curriculum.

November 2017 Issue

In this Issue

NEW ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS

  1. I’m a teenager. Are there any specific classes that would be helpful to take in high school for getting into missions after school?
  2. How long does it take to learn a language?
  3. What Scriptures, prayers, and spiritual disciplines have best helped you deal with anxiety during the fundraising process?
  4. How do I find an agency in health care missions that fits me?

ANSWERS NEEDED FOR THESE QUESTIONS

  1. I’ve been told it’s unwise to move your family into missions while children are in or near their teen years. What is the ideal age to move children? Are there any ages commonly not recommended?
  2. I am a certified doula, and I was wondering if there are any missions organizations that would have need of my skills? I’d like to work with pregnant women in rural parts of the world.

RESOURCES AND EVENTS

  1. Resource Highlight: North American Mission Handbook
  2. Upcoming Mission Conferences and Events

Q: I’m a teenager. Are there any specific classes that would be helpful to take in high school for getting into missions after school?

A: Become a global Christian.

Answer from Elizabeth in Michigan who has served with SEND International all over Asia for 40 years.

Look for opportunities to build relationships with people who are culturally different from you. You may be able to volunteer right in your own city with immigrants or refugees, helping them with English, and perhaps assisting them with their settlement.

Make friends at school who are from outside the USA, or who come from immigrant families. Ask gentle questions about life and how they see it. Rather than working to make them more American, see if you can understand their home culture.

Take any school course that exposes you to the world outside your own country: international relations, international business, world history and geography. Be knowledgeable. And read, read, read biographies and books by believers who have lived in other countries.

» Read other answers to this question or submit your own.

» See also other questions about guidance.

Q: How long does it take to learn a language?

A: A long time.

Answer from Howard in Oklahoma, who has served with Church of the Nazarene in Italy and Haiti for 15 years.

Don’t be fooled by advertisements that promise you can learn a language in 30 days (or some other brief time period).

After two years of total immersion, we began to feel a certain comfort level in our new language. However, it was only in our fifth year of total immersion that we felt we had the ability to express ourselves precisely and with a low level of distracting foreign accent.

» Read other answers to this question and explore questions about training.

Q: How do I find an agency in healthcare missions that fits me?

A: Ask the agency these questions about healthcare missions.

Questions compiled for a seminar at the annual Global Missions Health Conference.

Here are some questions you can ask as you’re looking for a good fit:

1. How do you provide for continuing medical education and professional development?
2. What experience do you have with medical missions?
3. Where are you headed over the next 20 years with medical missions?
4. What are you currently doing in medical missions?
5. What is your approach to providing sustainable medical care?
6. What is your policy/philosophy on turning over medical work to the nationals?
7. What is the relationship between the hospital/medical ministry and the local, national church?
8. Is it possible to do half medical work and half something else?

» Read other answers to this question or other questions and answers about using your skills.

» To learn more about medical missions opportunities visit the Medical Missions website and/or try to make it to the Global Missions Health Conference held each November.

Q: What Scriptures, prayers, and spiritual disciplines have best helped you deal with anxiety during the fundraising process?

A: Read the “top five” Scriptures for support raising.

Answer from AskaMissionary.com staff.

Steve Shadrach, author of The God Ask and founder of the ministry Support Raising Solutions, cites five sections of Scripture that related to living on support:

  • Nehemiah 2:1-9 – The king’s cupbearer carefully plans and prays, lays it on the line, and waits for an answer. See how God works.
  • Luke 8:1-3 – Jesus could have had riches at the snap of his fingers, but chooses to depend on God to provide for his needs through others.
  • Luke 10:1-8 – Jesus sends his disciples out to go door to door for provision and a base for their ministry, considering them worthy of support.
  • 1 Corinthians 9:14 – Paul, defending his ministry, says depending on others is not just an awkward option, but the way things are meant to be! The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
  • Philippians 4:10-19 – Paul was grateful others met his needs, but he knew he could be content without. He asks not only for himself but for the blessing that giving has for those who give.

» Read more of what Shadrach has to say in the article, The Top Five Verses in Support Raising.

» Read other answers to this question and answers to other questions about funding.

Answers needed for these questions (and others):

If you are a missionary, consider answering one or more of these questions. (See answer guidelines below!) If you know a missionary who may be willing to help, forward this newsletter with a personal note.

Q: I've been told it's unwise to move your family into missions while children were in or near their teen years. What is the ideal age to move children? Are there any ages commonly not recommended?

» Answer this question or other questions about singleness, marriage, and families.

Q: I am a certified doula, and I was wondering if there are any missions organizations that would have need of my skills? I’d like to work with pregnant women in rural parts of the world.

» Answer this question. Note we also have a published question about midwifery. We were also recently asked about opportunities for osteopaths. Can you help?

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


ANSWER GUIDELINES
  • 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.

Resource Highlight

North American Mission Handbook

Source: Missio Nexus and William Carey Library

Trying to find a mission agency or to see how the agencies you know compare with others? Want to know, at a glance, who is doing what and where?

A new edition of the North American Mission Handbook, the first update since 2010, has just been published. It includes not only the most extensive, up-to-date information available on more than 900 US and Canadian-based international mission organizations, but also in-depth analysis on mission trends.

» Learn more or purchase from William Carey or elsewhere. Paperback only.

Upcoming Mission Conferences and Events


Explore Becoming a Missionary

November 10-11, The Journey Deepens (Waxhaw, NC, USA).
January 26-27, The Journey Deepens (Bothell, WA, USA).

Support Raising

November 13-14, Support Raising Bootcamp (Brea, CA, USA).
December 12-13, Support Raising Bootcamp (Orlando, FL, USA).
January 23-24, Support Raising Bootcamp (Austin, TX, USA).
February 6-9, Support Raising Leaders Conference (Orlando, FL, USA).

Ministry Training

November 6 to March 18, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Course (online).
January 8 to February 3, COMPASS (Palmer Lake, CO, USA). Language and culture acquisition.
January 14 to February 9, Equipping for Cross-cultural Life and Ministry (Union Mills, NC, USA).
February 11-23, Second Language Acquisition Course (Union Mills, NC, USA).

Missions Conferences

November 9-11, Global Missions Health Conference (Louisville, KY, USA).
November 16-19, International Conference on Missions (Peoria, IL, USA).

» More mission events and courses.

600+ Answers Online...

Get answers from experienced missionaries on agencies, support, skills, and more.

» Visit AskaMissionary.com
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Address: PO Box 16446, St. Louis, MO 63125
Editor: Marti Wade

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Then Jesus said to his disciples,
"The harvest is plentiful
but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore,
to send out workers into
his harvest field."
~ Matthew 9:37-38