There’s much to consider for sending churches and aspiring missionaries
who desire to healthily participate in cross-cultural missions. Among other things, the sending process includes vetting candidates for their fitness, developing needed missionary skills, exploring potential fields of service, and developing strategic cross-cultural partnerships. Each stage of the sending experience calls for wisdom, insight, and discernment that stretches us to our limits and (hopefully!) brings us to increasing dependence on God the Holy Spirit.
Of course, there’s an assumption to what I’ve just written: the local church and missionary are called to the nations together. The Lord calls forth global ambassadors from among a church by giving the church and missionary a shared vision of their unique role in God’s universal work (Acts 13:1-2). This entails that God’s revelation and confirmation of His calling on a missionary’s life is discovered, discerned, and developed through the local church. A sending church, then, ought to take ownership of the sending process and lead the way (certainly, with assistance from a missions agency!) in assessing, preparing, and commissioning her laborers into the global harvest.
As a church and prospective missionary member wade through the waters of sending, one area to methodically navigate is candidacy. This is when a covenant member is being assessed for their fitness for cross-cultural ministry, perhaps receiving ministry and theological preparation for the task, but has not yet been commissioned as a full-time missionary. How can churches evaluate the legitimacy of a member’s call into missions? What does a healthy and thorough assessment include?
A common and helpful way to categorize and systematically approach assessment is character, calling, and competence. Here’s a bit of an overview of each one with corresponding questions. As you read them, prayerfully consider any individuals in your congregation who aspire to be sent and put together a plan for the church and you to begin working through this assessment with them to discern, affirm, and nurture the call of God on their lives.
Character
Forming a dynamic spiritual life, and Christ-like character is foundational to any ministry aspiration. How does the candidate exhibit a love for Christ, his gospel, and a life increasingly shaped by the gospel?
- Describe your devotional practices. What are your scripture reading and prayer habits like?
- When was the last time you confessed and repented of sin?
- How would you describe your relationship with your spouse?
- What are your relationships with friends, family, church members, and co-workers like? How do you handle relational conflict when it arises? Do you have any unresolved conflicts?
- What is your financial status? How do you steward the finances God has entrusted to you?
- What was your childhood like? Do you have unprocessed childhood trauma that continues to impact you?
- How does stress affect you? How do you manage stress?
- Are you pursuing moral purity?
- How do you handle criticism, rejection, or even being disliked?
- Describe a time you experienced suffering or hardship. How did you respond? What did you learn from that experience? How did the Lord grow you?
Calling
How does the candidate describe their desire to serve in a global capacity? Does it appear to be motivated by a mature understanding and reflection of the work they want to explore, themselves and their gifts, and the ministry vision of the church?
- Why do you desire to serve in cross-cultural missions?
- Do you have a burden for a particular people or nation?
- To which role in missions do you sense the Lord has gifted and called you? Marketplace worker? Theological educator? Frontlines church-planter? Other?
- How does this fit into the ministry vision of our church?
- Have you been living missionally here? How has the Lord used your gifts here to confirm He is calling you overseas? Have others in the church affirmed your sense of calling?
Competence
Cross-cultural gospel ministry requires many skills. Has the candidate exhibited gifting to develop these skills and an openness to take time to develop them?
- What is the gospel?
- What is missions? What books, sermons, or talks have shaped your understanding of global missions?
- What ministry and theological preparation, if any, have you had thus far? How has this equipped you for the task of missions?
- What experience do you have teaching and preaching the word? How have you handled scripture?
- What experience do you have working in a ministry team? What did that experience teach you about relating and working with different temperaments in ministry?
- How would you describe your relational and social competence? Is there evidence of awkwardness and quirkiness?
- Would you describe yourself as self-motivated and self-starting? Or, do you prefer to have someone assign your responsibilities and oversee your schedule?
Author: Glen S.