Discerning and pursuing your calling can be a confusing process.
It may be long or short. However our hope is that, by the time you leave, both you and your support team will be prepared to keep you there for the long haul!
Calling
If you feel any kind of calling to work cross-culturally, we suggest seeking early endorsement from the leadership in your local church. Our calling mini-course will help you!
Confirming
Take time to process and test the calling. Don’t do this alone! Look to your church, loved ones, and other trusted voices.
Equipping
Practically prepare for the road ahead. We strongly advise taking cross-cultural training. Our own Crossing Cultures 101 courses will give you key foundations.
Resourcing
Commissioning
Leaving is a process, not a single event. How are you preparing for a smooth transition? We’d advise building a RAFT and ensuring everything practical is ticked off.
On-Field
A Sender’s Role
Any fieldworker needs a great team of friends, family and colleagues supporting them. You have a huge part to play in ensuring their success. Check out what you can do to ensure your fieldworkers thrive!
- A church should establish a discernment process for anybody who may feel a call to work cross-culturally.
- The call needs to be tested, and the candidate’s maturity and readiness need to be assessed
- The church’s role is critical – sadly many missionaries who end up leaving prematurely for preventable reasons should never have gone in the first place!
- Give opportunities for the candidate to learn by serving and leading in the church.
- Ensure good mentoring is in place for the candidate. Make use of people with prior cross-cultural or mission experience.
- Consider mentoring for practical skills such as financial management or pastoral care.
- This is a season of practically preparing for the road ahead
- Choices need to be made about an agency or a process for training and equipping. Ideally, the church leaders would walk alongside the candidate through this.
- We strongly recommend the raising of personal support teams by the candidate and the church’s backing in that endeavour would be important.
- If the church endorses, hopefully they will also partner with the pre-field missionary in the matter of financial support.
- Clarify the level of support required with the field worker and consider how the church can support through the process of fundraising beyond providing money.
- Remember it is much easier for others, particularly those in authority in the church, to advocate for their financial support than for the candidate to do that on their own behalf!
- Read Acts 13. You will see that this is more than just a rousing send-off, with a ‘goodbye’, at the end. The sense of still belonging, even when serving at the other end of the world, is so important.
- Maintaining that connection through thick and thin might make all the difference between success and failure.
- Encourage the field worker to maintain the connection to the church – and make sure you do too!
- See our on-field resources for more details on what is next.
Start Your Journey
Here are some useful materials for you
Know Thyself
This course explores the concept of understanding ourselves within the context of our own cultures. Before delving into how we…
Calling – Who? What? Why?
In the church, there exists a widespread misconception that only “exceptional Christians” receive a “proper” calling from God. The truth,…
The Antioch Factor
Building a Support Ecosystem
In this course, we examine the different dimensions of support that are needed for a successful cross-cultural experience or lifestyle….
Growing in Cultural Intelligence
The Antioch Factor
Ross Paterson presents a stark choice that no Christian or church can avoid making – whether we become a Jerusalem…
Developing Leadership for Cross-Cultural Ministry
Mission thrives on cultivating leaders who embody the life and character of Jesus, the most effective figure in history who…
Thriving Across Borders
This course covers the major transitions that someone will make when crossing cultures. We delve into the typical transition points…
Cultural Pride
In our interview with Christina Winrich, she shared openly about the challenges and joys of serving God in another culture….
Zechariah gets a second chance | Luke 1
Ross shares from in Luke 1 about Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, and stresses that our God is…
Tackling Tough Topics with Elizabeth Trotter
Elizabeth and her husband Jonathan were missionaries to Cambodia. They returned to America during Covid lockdown in a sudden and…
The Faithfulness of God and Our Response | 2 Tim 2:11-13
Ross shares from 2 Tim 2:11-13 on the faithfulness of God and how totally dependable that is for every area…
Equipping the Church for Explosive Growth!
We are excited to share that FieldPartner co-founder Ross Paterson was recently interviewed on the hit podcast ‘Inspired… with Simon Guillebaud’. Ross…
Podcast: Cross Cultural Mission Experiences That We Can Learn From Abraham
Abraham, the father of our faith and of cross cultural mission! Hi, this is Ross Paterson, I’d like to take…
Joseph #5: Joseph and the Goodness of God
Ross shares in this 5th episode, Ross talks about how Joseph laid hold of the promises of God and saw…
Seven Lessons From Job About Values
Ross shares lessons from the book of Job that help us to walk through the hard and puzzling times in…
Joseph #3: Learning in God’s School of Faithfulness
In this third talk on the life of Joseph, Ross looks at Joseph through the lens of three vital principles…
JO Fraser’s Challenge to us today
Listen to these lessons from the life of one of Ross’ missionary heroes, JO Fraser. An excerpt from Ross’ blog…
Damascus Road Or Gradual Conviction?
In my previous post, I defined cross-cultural mission. It contains two vital elements. Firstly, going. Secondly, the venue, a people whose…
Article 7 – Part 2 of the Serampore Agreement
What happens after they believe in Jesus? Here we see the extraordinary level of care that Carey and his colleagues…
Hudson Taylor’s Two Burdens
“Hudson Taylor was wracked with doubt: he worried about sending men and women unprotected into the interior; at the same…
Article 7 – Part 6 of the Serampore Agreement
Carey’s original important summary of article 7: A real missionary becomes in a sense a father to his people. If…
A Missionary Hero With A Traumatised Heart
Wilhelmina “Minnie” Vautrin (1886-1941) was an American missionary in China for 28 years, working as an educator and for a…
J. O. Fraser – Fraser Was A Spy?
At this point accusations spread that Fraser was a spy working for the British government. The accusations hindered his…
David Bogue – A Forgotten Father Of Cross-Cultural Mission.
David Bogue (1750-1825) is “one of the greatest of the forgotten figures of Church History”, especially in the history of…
St Patrick – The Early Missionary
Today, March 17th, is St Patrick’s Day. Patrick was an early missionary with a very unusual life, one that has…
J.O Fraser – What Exactly Has A Missionary Come To Say?
He Is Risen. Hallelujah!“Death cannot keep his prey,Jesus, my Saviour;He tore the bars away,Jesus, my Lord”(Robert Lowry, 1826-99, “Low In…
A Short But Most Effective Life – David Brainerd
David Brainerd was born on April 20, 1718 in Haddam, Connecticut. He died a short 29 years later. For only…
