The Road to Foreign Ministry (when working a full time job)
Aug/12/2009 10:24
Part 1
For you missionaries-in-planning, perhaps you’ve been down this road before. You’re certain about your vision, you’ve thought through the implications of your decision, you’ve found a spot on the map, you’re ready to make that commitment and... you’ve got that nagging full time job to deal with.
For those of us gifted specifically for mission/ministry work in a foreign country getting to the field while working a full time job can be another full time job by itself. This has been our experience. When we left for Ireland we were just finishing preaching school and had no real ties to anything. At that point we had been in school for two years and living on support, so we didn’t really have any issues transferring onto support for our work in a foreign country. Planning this time around has not been so easy. We’ve both had full time jobs to contend with and busy lives that make support raising, ministry planning, and logistics time consuming. If you find yourself in this particular situation in your life right now here are a few issues we’ve dealt with and how to keep hope during the process:
1) Support raising is going to go painfully slow. Traveling around from church to church while you’re working full time is impossible. As a full time employee somewhere you simply don’t have enough vacation time to cover all of the places you need to go. Your support raising is going to crawl. Don’t worry about it and don’t rush it. “But, but, there are lost people there that are going to hell unless I get to them asap!” Calm down, you’ll get to your destination when you get there, and once you’re there you’ll have a lifetime to teach and preach. Just take your time and get the support raising right without intruding on your employers time. Knowing that your support raising is going to slug along takes the pressure off of you to perform and allows you to raise money relationally while at the same time forcing you to depend upon God’s providence and timing. It’s a hearty process.
2) You’re not going to be able to speak about your vision to everyone. You’re excited, your families are excited, your church is excited...but not your boss. There is a right time and a wrong time to discuss your plans with your employer and unless you’re looking at concrete departures and finalized decisions, it’s not the right time. No, it’s not. You may be tempted to rush right into your boss’s office and tell him or her about your missionary vision to the Congo but... you might find yourself packing right then and there. Only when you have made concrete decisions, sought enormous amounts of counsel, prayed and prayed again should you go and speak to your boss. Remember, only you know when the time is right but this does not give you a pass to lie either. Dishonesty is not an option but self-control and discipline are. Keep your mouth shut while you’re working on the details and never let your ministry planning overtake your job responsibilities. Do your job with excellence until your very last day, you may find some hidden support when you leave.
3) You’ll have to think outside the box. If you’re working full-time, you don’t have the luxury of spending hours of planning and support raising time on the phone. You’re going to have to think outside the box to get your message and your vision out. What this has looked like for us is a website that I created to house the majority of our missions information. I have also worked on maintaining a blog (this one) where I can share my ideas. Being able to direct potential supporters to our sites while I’m working during the day lets them get the information they need and communicate with me without me having to spend hours on the phone. Something else to consider is staying away from sites like Facebook and Myspace until your plans are public at work. We’ve made the conscious decision to refrain from Facebook (despite the obvious benefits) because nothing would kill our stealth planning faster than our colleagues at work finding out through Facebook prematurely. Can you imagine a Facebook poke saying, “so what’s this I hear about you leaving us and moving out of the country?” Ooops, better get packing.
(To be continued)
For you missionaries-in-planning, perhaps you’ve been down this road before. You’re certain about your vision, you’ve thought through the implications of your decision, you’ve found a spot on the map, you’re ready to make that commitment and... you’ve got that nagging full time job to deal with.
For those of us gifted specifically for mission/ministry work in a foreign country getting to the field while working a full time job can be another full time job by itself. This has been our experience. When we left for Ireland we were just finishing preaching school and had no real ties to anything. At that point we had been in school for two years and living on support, so we didn’t really have any issues transferring onto support for our work in a foreign country. Planning this time around has not been so easy. We’ve both had full time jobs to contend with and busy lives that make support raising, ministry planning, and logistics time consuming. If you find yourself in this particular situation in your life right now here are a few issues we’ve dealt with and how to keep hope during the process:
1) Support raising is going to go painfully slow. Traveling around from church to church while you’re working full time is impossible. As a full time employee somewhere you simply don’t have enough vacation time to cover all of the places you need to go. Your support raising is going to crawl. Don’t worry about it and don’t rush it. “But, but, there are lost people there that are going to hell unless I get to them asap!” Calm down, you’ll get to your destination when you get there, and once you’re there you’ll have a lifetime to teach and preach. Just take your time and get the support raising right without intruding on your employers time. Knowing that your support raising is going to slug along takes the pressure off of you to perform and allows you to raise money relationally while at the same time forcing you to depend upon God’s providence and timing. It’s a hearty process.
2) You’re not going to be able to speak about your vision to everyone. You’re excited, your families are excited, your church is excited...but not your boss. There is a right time and a wrong time to discuss your plans with your employer and unless you’re looking at concrete departures and finalized decisions, it’s not the right time. No, it’s not. You may be tempted to rush right into your boss’s office and tell him or her about your missionary vision to the Congo but... you might find yourself packing right then and there. Only when you have made concrete decisions, sought enormous amounts of counsel, prayed and prayed again should you go and speak to your boss. Remember, only you know when the time is right but this does not give you a pass to lie either. Dishonesty is not an option but self-control and discipline are. Keep your mouth shut while you’re working on the details and never let your ministry planning overtake your job responsibilities. Do your job with excellence until your very last day, you may find some hidden support when you leave.
3) You’ll have to think outside the box. If you’re working full-time, you don’t have the luxury of spending hours of planning and support raising time on the phone. You’re going to have to think outside the box to get your message and your vision out. What this has looked like for us is a website that I created to house the majority of our missions information. I have also worked on maintaining a blog (this one) where I can share my ideas. Being able to direct potential supporters to our sites while I’m working during the day lets them get the information they need and communicate with me without me having to spend hours on the phone. Something else to consider is staying away from sites like Facebook and Myspace until your plans are public at work. We’ve made the conscious decision to refrain from Facebook (despite the obvious benefits) because nothing would kill our stealth planning faster than our colleagues at work finding out through Facebook prematurely. Can you imagine a Facebook poke saying, “so what’s this I hear about you leaving us and moving out of the country?” Ooops, better get packing.
(To be continued)
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