At any point in any of our lives there will always be a mixture of zeal and indifference, love and uncaring.  One of the key things about a living faith is that it is growing.

For every missionary in service there needs to be a team of people on the home front praying, communicating, supporting and caring

Missionaries are called by God, but they are sent by fellowships of believers. Even the Apostle Paul was commissioned by the believers in Antioch.

This all makes good sense. A WEC missionary is sustained in ministry by what God provides through the direct giving of churches and individual believers to that particular missionary. A fervent Christian who is living a life of service within his or her church fellowship and beyond it, will naturally win the trust of others. Fellow believers want to pray for and get behind the ministry of someone they see using their gifts to the glory of God, Of course, having the confidence of others is no guarantee of ministry success. However, lack of that trust is fatal. WEC doesn’t send missionaries who lack the confidence of their home church.

Naturally, an important part of the application process is finding out what a person’s home fellowship says about them. What do the people who see you day in and day out say about your suitability for ministry?

Missions is a team effort. For every missionary in service there needs to be a team of people on the home front praying, communicating, supporting and caring. And such teams are built by others seeing God at work in you and through you.

Do others have confidence in you and your ministry? If you are serious about going overseas, ask mature Christians who know you what they think about your suitability.

Often the only thing that keeps one going is the sense of calling, the knowledge that, whatever the circumstances may appear, one is doing what God has called one to do.

You might be full of joy and strength in Christ, and be held in awe by all who know you for the way God uses you in ministry. You may have a cast-iron constitution, boundless energy, a deep, experiential knowledge of the faith, and you may be a whiz at languages and have an innate, intuitive feeling for culture. Everyone who knows you may tell you you’re a born missionary, and you may desire nothing more in the whole world. However, if God has called you to something else, then going overseas is nothing less than sinful rebellion against Him.

Knowing what God’s will is for you in this regard is not always easy. Some people have a powerful, road-to-Damascus experience, and they know without a doubt what they need to do. Others have known since childhood that they would be missionaries. However, God often chooses to lead us only a step at a time. We might hear a missionary presentation, and feel a burden to begin praying for them, and for the work in a certain country. And as we follow God’s leading, He might begin to put cross-cultural ministry opportunities in our path. And perhaps there might be a team making a short-term trip somewhere, and you know that you should be on it. And, as we feel our way ahead in the dark, God, in His timing, keeps making the next step clear. A call – the deep conviction of God’s will for one’s future, and the peace that accompanies it – is often found somewhere along such a path of asking, seeking, and knocking.

Missions is a life of spiritual battle. Satan throws all sorts of opposition in our way, looking to make us pull back in fear and discouragement. He probes our armour constantly, looking for weaknesses to exploit. There are times on the field where, humanly speaking, all one’s efforts seem utterly pointless, and the question arises, “What on earth am I doing here?” Often the only thing that keeps one going is the sense of calling, the knowledge that, whatever the circumstances may appear, one is doing what God has called one to do. There is a mighty peace that comes from knowing that one is exactly where God wants one to be. And, if there is real doubt about whose will it was going overseas, Satan knows from experience that there is nothing like a little flat-on-your-face failure to give such a person the conviction that it was all a terrible mistake. So, don’t be discouraged if you’re still in the feeling-things-out stage. But know that at some point before departure there needs to be a rock-solid conviction that going overseas is God’s will, and not your own.

There are some other things that one needs to hear from God about. WEC has some distinctive convictions and ways of doing things. Those convictions need to be your own: you don’t join an animal rights association if you work in a slaughterhouse! One of the functions of our application process and four-month candidate orientation is to see if God confirms not only one’s call to missions, but one’s call to WEC. You may be surprised by the amount to which you bond with and depend upon others in the organization. It’s something like a family, so you need to be sure it’s the right one for you.

Finally, WEC isn’t the US Marine Corps. We don’t decide where you are to go and then send you there whether you like it or not. We believe that just as God calls someone overseas, he gives them direction about where they are to go. Remember, you need to be sure it’s God who put you where you are to serve. Some people join WEC knowing they are called overseas, and that WEC is the one for them, but aren’t sure about where exactly. As they learn about all the various WEC fields and ministries, and pray earnestly for direction, most come quickly to know what the next step is.

While it is so important to know what God’s will is for you, it needs to be stressed that not knowing is no reason to sit back and do nothing. God can’t steer your ship if it’s always anchored in the harbour. If God is stirring your heart about going overseas, then start praying, learning, talking to people, etc. Call or write us! We can help you think through some of the issues, and give some advice about how to proceed. Our headquarters staff have decades and decades worth of experience overseas, and are happy to help.

One may think that all missionaries are evangelists. However, once an evangelist has successfully done his or her job, and faith has taken hold in someone’s heart, what then? How will that new believer be nurtured along?

Surely, just as necessary are missionaries who can disciple, others who can teach, and others who have a pastoral touch to strengthen and encourage. (Super-missionaries, who can do it all, are very rare.) Sometimes the most powerful and effective witness is done by people who say little but serve with love and compassion, who are there to give practical help when others need it most. A gift for hospitality, or for making friends – there are times when such things are exactly what God wants to use in someone else’s life. And the greatest contributions are sometimes made by those who take the grungy, practical work upon themselves so as to free up other missionaries for ministry.

The point is that missions is a large team effort, and there is a need somewhere for just about any kind of giftedness. Often we don’t know beforehand, or are outright mistaken, about how God will use us. So, if you look in the mirror and think, “How could I possibly be of use to God overseas?”, don’t give up hope. There is an even more important question here.

Far more important than the particular gifting is the heart that goes with it. When God’s love changes our hearts, and we begin to look around us through His eyes, there naturally arises within us a heart to bless and serve others.

We see needs and what we can do to meet them, and we step forward and are used by God to bring blessing. The real question to be asking is, “How am I being used by God to bless others?” That is often the best indication of both the type of gifting one has, and the state of one’s heart in service.

A servant’s heart doesn’t magically arise when one is plunked down overseas. The degree to which you are pouring yourself out for others now is probably the best indication of how you would be elsewhere. And, in considering fitness for missionary life, it probably doesn’t matter so much whether one is doing this versus that, so much as whether one is doing it serving the Lord and others.

Are you serving in your home church? At work or school? In your family? Among your friends? A missionary’s life should have a strong pattern of working so as to bless others.

If you’ve arrived at this point we are assuming you’ve come through the gauntlet of probing questions unscathed, and you are still thinking about a future in missions. We also assume that you’ve checked out our organizational philosophy in the About WEC section, and don’t see anything that makes you cross us immediately off your list. How do you decide whether you should throw your hat in with us, or with some other group?

So you are feeling called to missions and looking to join a mission agency…where do you start? There are many agencies. They take various approaches they each fill a unique niche. There are many variables to consider when looking for the mission agency that suits you best. Here are a few questions to consider:

Each organization is structured to deal with issues differently based on what is important to them. When you choose an organization, you choose a particular way of approaching issues, and you should be comfortable with their approach.

If, as we talk, you find a growing sense that going overseas with WEC is what God wants for you, then you’ll want to begin the application process. You still won’t have committed to anything, but it’s an important step along the way. In filling out the forms you’ll be telling us about your life experience, your beliefs, your gifts. And you’ll need to give us references that we can contact about you.

Something should be said about timing. A short-term worker should contact us at least 6 months before the planned departure date. We need time on our side to process things and make arrangements. You’ll need time to read the books we’ll assign you to read, to get the necessary vaccinations, etc. The 6-month deadline is not written in stone, but reducing the lead-time increases the likelihood that something won’t be in place in time for departure. Long-term workers should contact us by March if they wish to be part of the Fall orientation (starting in August each year), and by July if they wish to be in the Winter orientation (starting in January each year).

Nobody likes filling out forms, drumming up references, updating a CV, etc., but it really is important. We want your overseas experience to be a positive one, for you personally, for your team, and especially for those to whom you will be ministering. We need to make sure the foundations are there for successful service overseas. We are also looking to see what particular gifts, skills, or experience you have. The more we know about you, the better we will be able to help you get to a place and a role that suits you, where you can blossom in ministry.

For short-term workers, once through the application process you’ll be invited to attend a brief orientation time at our headquarters. Then, if everything is in order, you’ll leave for your destination.

For long-term workers, passing the application process means you are accepted as a candidate, and invited to attend Candidate Orientation. What this means is that you will live at our headquarters for 4 months of training and living in community. We know that 4 months seems like a crazy long time, but our experience has taught us the wisdom of an extensive orientation period. First, we have a rich program of instruction that covers all the important issues of life and ministry overseas. Most people find it very helpful. Just as important, there is time to bond with WEC, with our way of doing things, and with our headquarters staff. We finish our orientation with a strong sense of what it is to be a WEC missionary, an identity that is now part of us. Though we are thrown together with a group of strangers, we discover after a while a deep sense of kinship, so much so that many of us find it natural to speak of our “WEC family.”

Living, praying, and working together in community for that length of time, helps us see how your adjustment to missionary life, and to WEC, is going. How do you get along with others? How do you deal with stress? After seeing more of us from the inside, do you still want to join WEC? These questions are far from academic, for the moment of decision is not until the end of orientation. Then the headquarters staff will have a formal meeting with you, and, at the end, two things need to be clear. First, you must believe that God has called you to be a missionary with WEC; secondly, the staff must also believe the same thing. If that’s the case, then you’re in, and ready to move on to the next step.

WEC also has missions and Bible training centers in different parts of the world. Click here for links to their websites.

Once accepted to WEC, you may spend some months in pre-field ministry, sharing about your future work, seeking to raise awareness of the needs overseas, and looking to rally together churches and individuals who will commit to pray for you. When God has brought together all that is needed, you’ll head off overseas to join your team.