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
Thriving Across Borders
This course covers the major transitions that someone will make when crossing cultures. We delve into the typical transition points…
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,…
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….
The Antioch Factor
Ross Paterson presents a stark choice that no Christian or church can avoid making – whether we become a Jerusalem…
Caring for Third Culture Kids
Currently in development, this exciting new course is created by our Dean of Studies, Ben Gilbert. British by birth, raised in India, with time living in Sri Lanka and the Middle East – the TCK experience is familiar to Ben, who is excited to share personal experiences, research and helpful insights for both TCKs, and those caring for them to thrive across cultures. Sign up to be notified when the course is released!
Growing in Cultural Intelligence
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…
Equipping the sending church with Michael Prest
Michael Prest is the director of our partner, UFM Worldwide. In this thought-provoking interview, he shares his personal story and how…
Cultural Pride
In our interview with Christina Winrich, she shared openly about the challenges and joys of serving God in another culture….
What do you want Jesus to do for you? | Mark 10:46-52
After many months away from Taiwan, Ross Paterson returns to The Hope Church in Taiwan to preach on the topic of ‘What…
Cross cultural marriage with Samuel Renling
We had the chance to sit down with Samuel and hear a little about his cross-cultural story. Hailing from rural…
Ordinary People: 7 Keys From Amos Chapter 7
Ross gives some specific examples from China colleagues and then shares 7 key lessons from the life of Amos to…
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…
What on earth is mission?
Ross looks at 2 famous verses from the New Testament – Matt 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 – and asks a…
Serving Anywhere with Lydia David
Lydia David is a missionary who has worked in China & Turkey. She worked as an occupational therapist before she…
Finding Treasure in all the Bible – 2 Kings 15
Loren Cunningham (1935-2023) became the first missionary to go to every nation in the world with the last country visited…
Equipping Servants with David & Vicki Frazier
After a season of cross-cultural preparation and discernment, David and Vicki worked as missionaries for 20 years in Turkey before…
Loren Cunningham – The Man Who Deregulated Christian Missions
Loren Cunningham (1935-2023) became the first missionary to go to every nation in the world with the last country visited…
He Is Risen Indeed
Mark 16:1-8 describes the event that changed human history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He is risen…
J.O. Fraser – “I Want To Be Filled With The Spirit.”
It is Pentecost Sunday! Selwyn Hughes has a word for us, and so does J. O. Fraser! “The two main…
J. O. Fraser – Fraser’s Spiritual Secret
This week I want to cover an event in Fraser’s life that literally was the difference between success and failure…
An Unusual Scottish Missionary: William Burns
William Chalmers Burns (宾惠廉) lived from 1815-1868. A fellow missionary said after his death that “all China knows him; he…
Preparing for Cross Cultural Missions
1. How is your walk with the Lord? how are you doing with the Lord? Often I think of a…
Issues to ponder when preparing to send someone out to front-line missions
Imagine… You are a new missionary recruit about to depart for your assignment abroad. You are theologically trained, you have…
Chinese Missionaries to Europe?
ChinaSource recently commented that “despite Europe’s historical legacy as an active sender of missionaries, Europe nowadays should be considered as…
Lilias Trotter – A Remarkable Missionary
Until recently, I had never heard of Lilias Trotter. She is a hidden but amazing person, like many missionaries. I…
Introducing The Antioch Factor
5 talks of The Antioch Factor In these 5 talks Ross shares his life’s message. He shares concerning what the…