While we live in El Paso, TX and have carried various ministry roles this past year with the Nazarene Border Initiative, our assignment has been recently refocused. Our leaders in World Mission have asked us to contribute much of our energy in developing enhanced methods of mobilizing people to serve in the missionary endeavor of the Church.
It has been an EXCITING year for us — working with a dynamic and creative leadership team at our international office in Kansas City, other missionaries in similar roles as ours throughout the world, and creative leaders with other mission organizations.
Integrating recent research in volunteerism trends with methods developed by Wycliffe Bible Translators, we are helping develop an enhanced system of discovering, developing, and sending missionaries at all levels—short-term volunteers; long term volunteers; career missionaries; youth teams; young adult teams; experienced retirees and the list goes on…
We are in the process of developing mission “coaches” - people who mentor and encourage others who have a desire to serve cross-culturally in ministry. Some of the people we are training are career professionals serving as lay-leaders in local churches. Others are former missionaries who are serving in other ministries now in the USA. These are people who, on average, commit about one to five hours a month contacting; encouraging; advising; etc...in essence, coaching those who have expressed interest in serving in cross-cultural ministry.
Perhaps you’re interested in serving cross-culturally yourself. We’d LOVE to hear about what’s on your heart!