We’ve gathered the most common and critical questions we hear, from how missionaries get paid to whether your degree will go to waste, so you can find clear, straightforward answers. Dive in to explore the practicalities, the global need, and what God might be calling you to do.
Missionaries cultivate a network of financial and prayer partners who provide ongoing support, much like those for short-term missions, but with regular (from weekly to annually, but usually monthly) contributions.
The amount needed is individually assessed and appropriately set for a long-term future, such that a missionary is living with a reasonable financial package for their situation.
Some of our missionaries have been financially supported like this for decades, having raised families and paid off their homes. Provisional missionaries are assigned a financial support coach to help them in this process.
This is a great idea! Indigenous missionaries in many nations find it very difficult to raise enough funds locally and thus rely on international support. However, they need more than just money – their ministries are as often seeking more missionaries to come help propel the Gospel. This is not a case of either or, but we need both! (See the next question for more information.)
Great! Our global movements are in nearly every country, so there’s likely one in your desired location.
Our International Missions structure is ready to support you. We provide training along every step of the way, a team for you to minister within, and pastoral, leadership and prayer support to ensure your success.
If you have a calling to a particular country, don’t hesitate to discuss this with your local missionary, or contact us here.
Yes and no. Everystudent.com is in 50 languages—a great tool which has shown to be quite effective when paired with social media ads to reach people, and a team of locals in-country who can help the seekers in their faith journey, and disciple the new believers.
But websites like this, and youtube etc. are tools in our missions toolbox. Ultimately though, sharing the faith and discipling believers is life-on-life, which is vastly more effective when in person. We send to some of the least-reached nations, where there’s little opportunity to interact with Christians. Most will never have a relationship with a Jesus-follower unless something changes. Thus it is critically important that real people are “on the ground” with the seekers and new believers around the world.
Praise God for the impact of CCCI and other Christian ministries. Yet, the Gospel calls us to reach every “ethnos” (people group), not just nations. A huge task remains to reach all ethnos globally! The job is not done until Jesus returns!
Yes, we have Gospel needs right here in Australia and serving in Australia will be the best fit for some people.
The key issue though is not whether there are needs in Australia or not, but rather Gospel access and resources. Australians have abundant access to the Gospel, with Churches spread throughout our cities and towns, and a Christian presence in most parts of society.
The Church in Australia also has abundant resources, both financially and in Gospel training – more than enough to reach its people with the Gospel. This is not the case in many parts of our world, where most people have limited to no access to the Gospel, and the Church in those nations do not have the resources (financial or people) to reach their own people with the Gospel.
Those of us with access to such significant resources should rightly consider how we can use those resources to see the Gospel shared in places that do not have those same resources.
Yes, we need people to work in Australia on campus to reach our emerging generation.
But with Africa, though they have many people coming to Jesus and the centre of Christianity has shifted there, they have significant barriers to sending globally due to 1. Their limited ability to raise support to go internationally. And 2. Related to that, their passport limits them on entering many countries, whereas Australians have lots of disposable income (even those on minimum wage in Australia count as the top 10% of wealthiest people in the world!!!! Let that sink in).
And our passport is one of the most accepted in the world. So, we have a responsibility to steward our moment in time and our privileges for His kingdom!
This is probably the biggest question we all face. The short answer to the question is ‘No’!
But the bigger question we should be asking is ‘What should I do with my life?’ Or rather, ‘What does God want you to do with the life He’s given you?’
So, your first step is to have a conversation with Jesus about your future, and invite trusted advisors into that conversation as well. If God is calling you to serve Him in the workplace, then that’s fantastic! Go and serve Him in the workplace with passion and intentionality!
But here is something to consider. Why not simply give 1 year of your life (either before Graduation or just after) on STINT (Short Term INTernational), which can provide you with valuable cross-cultural and leadership skills for the workforce, let alone the spiritual experiences that will last for eternity.
And if God is calling you to be a long term missionary, your experiences as a uni student, and some of the meta-skills you learn, far from being irrelevant, are just as applicable to the mission field.
A command and a promise you can hold on to: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33.
This is not as big a question in Australia as it is in some other western countries. In short, no, Christian Mission is not a form of colonialism. In fact, one of the unique aspects of Christianity is that it is powerfully trans-cultural. But we need to be careful in how we share the gospel and disciple, so as to present this trans-cultural gospel, not just our western expression of Christianity.
And if you are wondering how we can do this, well rest assured, we have years of experience and quality global training for just this purpose. In fact, we provide some high quality training on working cross culturally on mission.
Aside from being trained here in Australia, we also collaborate with our sibling ministries – Agape in Europe and CRU in the US – to do more intensive training for long term workers on the field. We are not simply planting a Western Culture Christianity, but connecting people to Jesus and His trans-cultural truth.
Please email us at jon.kilchester@powertochange.org.au.
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