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Are you ready for overseas missionary service?

The mission field is a difficult place even for those who are prepared for ministry. One must be very healthy mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically, and even then the stresses and strains of life overseas are demanding. It is not the place for someone to go that wants to get his or her life in order. Only those with strong qualifications and the highest potential for missionary service are able to move forward.

Let me give you some of the things that we look for in an applicant. Please understand that this is a general list that we give to everyone and some of these things may not be concerns for you personally. Use this list as a self-evaluation and honestly examine each area that may apply to you. It would be wise to seek the counsel of those closest to you and ask four simple questions and then look at the list of qualifications:

1. "Am I ready today for an overseas mission assignment for two or three years?"
2. "Do I demonstrate evidence of a call to international missions?"
3. "Am I prepared for the eventual feelings of loneliness and isolation?"
4. "What do I need to do to prepare myself for the mission field?"

Since job choices these days are more limited, and only those with strong qualifications and the highest potential for missionary service are able to move forward, how does one know if their full application has higher potential for IMB service? Here is a look at some stronger qualifications:

Here is a good scenario in which to place yourself to see if you are ready for the task of international missions: 

You are assigned to a city of 250,000 people and the only Christian/Missionary there. The closest English-speaking believer other than your teammate or your spouse is five hours away. Your job is to engage strangers and make the first converts in a language that you have never spoken before your arrival in that country. You must disciple them in hopes of forming a new church. You would teach them the basics of the Bible, the Christian faith, the doctrine of the church and worship within the cultural context of that people group that has been a totally unreached people group. 

Does this challenge reflect the gifts, talents and passion in your heart? What have you done to prepare yourself?

While not all missionaries have such a demanding and isolated task, many missionaries are in situations just like this and often in environments that are not friendly towards missionaries and Christians. We want to encourage those that feel called to international missions to explore the possibilities and seek the affirmations. If God is calling, the next step is to prepare as much as possible for cross-cultural international missions.

What will a missionary face on the field?

By Lloyd H. Atkinson, Vice President, Office of Mission Personnel

1. Missionaries must be physically and mentally able to handle a heavy workload. They work among people with different cultures and languages quite different from their own. The ensuing adjustment can be quite severe.
2. Missionaries often find themselves in the midst of problems created by rising national consciousness as well as racial crosscurrents. They must be able to meet suspicion, criticism, or antagonism with understanding and forgiveness.
3. Since leadership of an indigenous church must pass into the hands of overseas Baptists as soon as possible, missionaries must be able to share authority and, if indicated, work under local leaders whose preparation might not equal their own.
4. The organization of missionaries in a particular country is a closely knit fellowship. The very closeness of the group can set a stage for painful friction if a person is not able to work and wear well.
5. For the missionary family there are special problems of rearing and educating children, of maintaining wholesome Christian family life and of isolation experienced at times when the husband or wife travels. Journeymen and other single adults are often not prepared for the isolation they will encounter.
6. The basic missionary task, whatever one's particular training and responsibility, is witnessing to the redeeming power of Jesus Christ. Every missionary must have basic spiritual depth and maturity to lead others to Christ and to lead new Christians to grow in their faith.
7. Finally, the totality of all the above calls for men and women to prayer and dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

Wannabe a missionary?

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