Getting Ready to Go! - Part Three

CMS has made more mistakes in missionary work than most other organisations!  That's a function of having been in the business since 1799.  Hopefully that means we're getting a bit more competent at what we're doing.
We've learnt that contentment in relational status is a major indicator of a person's ability to thrive on location as a long-term cross cultural worker.  If married, then happily married.  If single, then happily single.  Couples who have marital issues and are discontent, or singles who are unhappily single, tend to not last the distance in our kind of work.
It's easy to understand why.  Living and working cross-culturally puts you under lots of stress and pressure.  New language.  Foreign culture.  New relationships.  Different Christian culture.  Getting on with other missionaries.  The list goes on and on.
If you're unhappily married or unhappily single, then there's no real relational 'safe space' where you can simply 'be' to process all that other stress.  Things can quickly overwhelm you.  Married or single, you may end up coming home a little bit more broken.
Part of getting ready to go as a missionary involves doing a realistic self-check on how you're going in your relational status.  Am I happily married?  Are we happily married and both united in our hearing God's call to go?  Or am I happily single, and content to remain single as I go?
Some single people go hoping to be married one day, and perhaps hoping to meet someone overseas.  That's altogether possible, but that scenario comes with a heap of complications.  I would want our CMS missios to be thinking through them before they leave, not after!
If you're less than content with your relational status - work on that before you go, work on that before you decide to go - it's worth the preparation. 

Click here for Part Two

Getting Ready to Go! - Part Two

  CMS requires that its missionaries have at least a year (or equivalent) of Bible or theological college studies under their belts.  If the assignment is to ministry leadership or teaching position, then more formal qualifications will be required.  Indeed in many Majority World countries, a research degree is now almost a standard requirement for teaching positions in their training colleges.
  If you're getting ready to go, you'll need to factor in the time and expense involved in such studies.  Here are a couple of example pathways based on stories of people I know. 
  Andrew finished his undergraduate studies and did a Diploma in Education to qualify as a teacher.  He thought he might be a teacher in a mission setting overseas.  All the while he was actively involved in his local university student group, getting ministry experience in student work.  When he finished his DipEd he went straight to Ridley to begin theological studies.  As a Ridley student he began his application process with CMS and upon graduation went straight to St Andrew's Hall for CMS training before going overseas as a missionary working in university student ministry.  
   Emma completed medical studies and an internship.  She then took a year out to study at Ridley, before commencing specialist medical training.  She then took a posting in a remote area hospital which enabled her to support the local church as a CMS affiliate.  Mission remains high on her agenda and she is thinking about an overseas posting with CMS.   
  Jonathan finished his law studies and worked for five years, all the while remaining active in local church work.  He saved aggressively in order to be able to study full-time for the next four years, in preparation for full-time ministry either in the local church or as a missionary.  He ended up being ordained with the Anglican church, serving in local churches, doing more theological study and ending up the State Director of CMS Victoria.  Hey, that's me!
  Each of these stories indicate that planning to take some time out to do serious Bible or theological studies is essential and costly.  If you don't plan for it in a deliberate way, it might not happen.  So plan!
  Assuming that you're already a young worker, you might plan to:- 
- take a year out of full-time employment to do a GradDip or similar one year course
- chip away at subjects part-time while you work, aiming for at least one full-time semester
- develop an appetite for theological study, upgrade and take time out to complete a degree.
  I tell Christians that Bible college study is valuable for anyone who wants to increase their involvement in and passion for God's work in his world.  Do it!  You may even end up getting ready to go overseas with CMS! 

Click here for Part One! 
Click here for Part Three!

Getting ready to Go! - Part One

  What kind of preparation is required for missionary service?  What do you need in your kit bag before you go with CMS to another country and culture?  How much experience - and of what kind? 
  CMS sends long-term workers who cross cultures with the Good News of Jesus Christ.  
  Let's assume that you're already a follower of Jesus Christ and someone for whom the Good News is simply the best news ever.  Living for the Lord Jesus and his mission in the world is already your number one priority.  In fact, God's heart for all the nations, and for all peoples and cultures, is something that resonates strongly with you - to the point that you've considered some sort of missions work. 
  That being the case, the next step is to get some serious cross-cultural ministry experience under your belt.  CMS looks for people who have a proven record of such ministry.  Many have worked with overseas student ministries, or with churches that have  multicultural or ethnic-specific congregations.  Others have gone on missions exposure trips overseas, or to Australian indigenous communities - often more than once!  Get as much experience as you can!
  Getting this sort of experience will help you work out if you enjoy cross-cultural work.  You might find yourself developing an interest - even a passion! - for a particular people group or language.  Relationships might come easily for you within a certain culture.  Finding joy in cross-cultural ministry is important.  It is one of the things that will sustain you in the long term.  If, upon persisting, you find that ministering cross-culturally consistently frustrates you, then it's probably not a good long-term option! 
  There are lots of options for getting this sort of experience in Melbourne and across Australia.  If you need help finding something - drop me a line!  

Click here for Part Two!

Finding the friendlies on mission

I'm preaching this fortnight from Acts 18, at St Mark's Forest Hill.  What a delight to be in the book of Acts!  It contains the story of the beginnings of Christian mission, as the first followers of Jesus took the Good News from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and then to the ends of the earth. 
Last Sunday I looked at the first half of Acts 18.  Here's the basic outline:
Two principles of Christian mission

1. Find the Friendlies
2. Expect the Enemies.

The strategy that Paul and his team adopts is to connect with the friendlies, people who are already seeking God.  As they talk about Jesus and the meaning of his life, teaching and crucifixion, some opposition is sure to come.  So we too should expect enemies and animosity.  In fact, the clearer we are about Jesus and the Gospel, the more certain our opposition will be! 
We also looked at the encouragement from God in verse 10 of that chapter.  I won't give it all away, you might like to listen to the sermon, available from St Mark's here:
http://www.stmarksfh.org/Home/downloads
Blessings on you this weekend. 

What's your ten year plan?

A wise friend once said something very very wise.  I've never forgotten it.

You can achieve less than you plan in a year

But more than you imagine in ten. 

Now, just read that sentence again.
I found myself giving that advice - not for the first or last time I imagine - last week to some prospective missionaries.  The wise saying captures the truth that we are often over-ambitious when it comes to what we think we can achieve in a calendar year.  Every January we make our new year's resolutions and the list grows as long as both our arms!  Lose weight, get healthy, wake up earlier, less alcohol, less food, better quiet times with the Lord, etc. etc. etc.. And we never get anywhere near ticking off everything on that list of planned achievements.  We achieve less than we plan in a year. 
But we can achieve more than we imagine in ten.  So, add ten years to your current age and ask the question, 'Under God, what would I like to have achieved in the next decade?'  That gives you permission to Dream Big and aim for what Bill Hybels calls Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals ('BHAGs').
When I was thirty and in my second year of studies at Ridley, my wife and I prayed and dreamt big for the Lord Jesus.  We came up with three BHAGs for the next decade:

1. Finish studies, get ordained, have a ministry track record that means you can be trusted with a senior ministry leadership role.
2. Start and finish doctoral studies. 
3. Start and finish having as many kids as we're ever going to have. 

Under God - and it must be stressed that it was God's goodness and doing and strength - not ours'! - we achieved more than we imagined (and in nine years, not ten!).  Having those BHAGs kept us moving towards those specific targets; gave us permission to say 'No' to many many good things that came along in the period; and helped us to understand how staying at work in the bank or taking on this ministry and not that one fit into the big picture plan.  

Let me encourage you to take out a big white piece of paper and draw a line across it.  Mark out ten evenly spaced spots along the line.  Start with your current age, and pencil in the next ten years.  

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Start praying and dreaming!  Love to hear how you go!  (Or, as someone else has said publicly before, 'God has a plan for your life, and Wei-Han has the details....' : ) 

How to become a missionary

My post on How to become a CMS missionary generated some feedback.  Including the notion that for younger folk, "Wei-Han is a scary monster, heavy-duty CMS dude... what if I'm not ready to talk to him yet?"  If that's you, re-laaaxx.. as an ex-young adults pastor, I eat your type for breakfast.  (Just kidding - I'm more a brunch kind of guy.)
If you're the kind of person who loves Jesus and is thinking about spending a life working in Christian ministry or missionary work, then the right thing to do is:

1. pray and seek the Lord's direction
2. talk and pray with your pastor
3. talk and pray with your close Christian friends
4. make contact with someone who is already working in the sort of ministry you see yourself moving towards

To find out more about missionary work, follow this advice from one of our missionaries, given at a recent CMS young adults' gathering:

1. find out more about the country or people group you're interested in
2. sign up for newsletters or prayer material 
3. talk to missionaries who’ve been there
4. speed date some missions agencies (like CMS) to ask them what they know/ think 

At CMS Victoria we have a couple of staff whose job it is to be friendly, chat with you about missions, and encourage you along the way.  If you mention this blog post and the code phrase ('Wei-Han would like a meconopsis betonicifolia for Christmas') I'll make sure they pay for the coffee.