The
first steps in your
journey
Mary Jane Welch, October
2001, theCOMMISSION
magazine
Anytime
you pack up and move
overseas to live in
another culture, it’s
tough. In fact, it’s
tougher than most folks
think it will be—even
when you’re following
God’s will.
And
that’s one of
the reasons the International
Mission Board asks those
seeking to serve as
a journeyman, International
Service Corps or masters
missionary to complete
an in-depth application
and attend a three-day
screening conference
in Richmond, Va.
The
process helps ensure
that new personnel will
have a good experience
and will contribute
to the work overseas.
It also ensures good
stewardship of the gifts
Southern Baptists give
through the Cooperative
Program and the Lottie
Moon Christmas Offering®.
If
you feel called to journeyman,
ISC or masters service
and are invited to a
screening conference
with other applicants,
you will hear these
messages:
Don’t
try to make something
happen in your own strength.
You’re not going
overseas as a missionary
because you want to,
because you can or because
you’re determined
to go. You’re
going because God wants
you to. And if He wants
you to, He will bring
together the pieces—
a job that matches your
skills, peace with the
relationships you’re
leaving behind and financial
details.
Be
attentive to God’s
leadership during the
entire conference.
You don’t have
to make up your mind
about where—or
whether—you’re
going before you arrive.
God may have much to
say to you during the
conference.
Be
open to possibilities
you did not expect.
You may have made a
volunteer trip overseas
and “know”
you want to return to
the same people—until
God lays another people
on your heart. You may
plan to go to Mexico
because you studied
Spanish in school—until
you see a list of needs
across Latin America.
You may have majored
in education and assume
you’ll teach missionary
children—until
you learn your skills
also can be used for
AIDS education in villages.
Be
honest about your past.
You will participate
in a personal interview
that may leave the interviewer
knowing “more
about you than your
mama does.” God
calls people who have
done terrible things
to themselves and who
have had terrible things
done to them. But emotional
baggage, such as childhood
abuse that was locked
away, or personal problems
such as depression,
moral weaknesses or
even eating disorders,
while under control
at home, tend to pop
up under the stress
of living in a new culture.
“The
more open people are
about their past,”
says Scott Chafee, journeyman
and International Service
Corps consultant, “the
more it tells us they’ve
dealt with it. Those
who are quiet about
it tend to be the ones
who crash and burn.”
Trust
those who have gone
before you.
IMB staff have worked
with thousands of Southern
Baptists as they’ve
considered whether God
is calling them overseas.
Most have served overseas
themselves. They’ve
learned which issues
tend to be critical
in determining whether
and when a person might
best serve overseas.
As they probe issues
which may be painful
or which may delay or
prevent your serving
overseas, trust that
their goal is finding
God’s will for
you and for those you
may work with.
Understand
God alone calls us into
service. Your
preacher doesn’t
call you, your mother
doesn’t call you,
and a powerful missionary
speaker doesn’t
call you—although
God may use those people
to alert you to His
call.
“Sometimes,”
says Chafee, “one’s
calling is the only
thing that keeps a person
on the field. If God
wasn’t the one
who did the calling,
they won’t make
it on the field.”
Make
decisions that will
honor God.
Being sensitive to God’s
heart for a lost world
doesn’t always
mean you are His answer
to the question, “Who
will go?” Some
people come to screening
conference and learn
that God isn’t
calling them to go overseas.
He’s calling them
to return to their churches
and pray, give to support
missions or mobilize
others to go.
Consider
long-term as you decide
about the immediate
future. Your
time overseas will change
your life. Two years
overseas as a journeyman
may boost your desire
for career service—or
slow it down. The person
you plan to marry may
tire of waiting. Taking
your family overseas
as an ISCer will turn
your children’s
lives upside down.
Focus
and emphasis on prayer
is a must.
You need to pray through
your decisions, and
you need to have others
praying—not that
you will get to go,
but that you will make
good decisions.
Commitment
to moral purity is a
must. You won’t
check your hormones
at customs. A man who’s
struggled with pornography
at home may find it
more readily available
overseas. A person used
to dating often may
find it difficult to
go two years without
a date. Someone who’s
dated little may be
surprised by a flood
of attention from the
opposite sex. You must
make a commitment that
will enable you to handle
these situations.
The
focus of the application
and conference is on
you, but this is not
about you.
The screening conference
will focus on your past,
your beliefs, your church
membership, your Southern
Baptist identity, your
relationships, your
skills, your commitment
and the timing of this
experience in your life.
But the point of the
conference isn’t
you—the point
is God, the people He
is seeking to reach
and the people He will
use to do that.
