Ray Porter, Director of World Mission Studies at Oak Hill Theological College, gives us his why? how? and when? of overseas ministry.
A Diocesan Director of Ordinands recently said to me that it was great that large evangelical churches were sending so many candidates for ordination, but she was disappointed that so many just went back to similar churches. A Bishop made a similar point when he commented that evangelical churches were prepared to support ministry to university students in his diocese, but seemed to have little interest in the many parishes where there is no gospel witness.
If we sense that God is calling us into full time Christian ministry, it is natural that we first think about types of ministry where we have ourselves received spiritual benefit or places where we have seen others blessed. So some look to parishes like the university ones where they were converted. Others look towards school chaplaincies or camp ministry. There we can see the need and envisage ourselves having a role. Other parts of Britain and different social groupings may appear either not strategic for Gospel ministry or too much outside our own comfort zone.
What then about going overseas to serve God? We know that we can function in our own culture, but what use would we be working in another culture and a different language? Are we really needed? We hear about the growing churches in Asia, Africa and South America. We read of Bishops in the Global South who will stand up for Gospel standards and it is natural to think that our contribution to these churches would be superfluous. Who would want someone like us to go and minister to them?
Anyone who remains in the UK and never exposes themselves to the reality of the world church might well think like this. But those who avail themselves of opportunities to go on short term mission trips overseas, or take up an apprenticeship in another country, are unlikely to continue to believe that. In some countries, like Japan, you may quickly realise how few Christians there are to explain the Gospel to the 99.5% of the population who don’t believe the Biblical Gospel. In others you will meet believers who have a great love for Jesus, but little knowledge of the Bible. Meeting students in China may make you aware of a great openness to the Christian message, but the few people who can grapple with the intellectual ideas with which they have been indoctrinated in the communist nation. Even going over to continental Europe will take you into a very different world where there are so few Evangelical churches and a more limited range of resources.
Short term trips give a great taste for overseas ministry but they also reveal their limitations. So little can be achieved in a few weeks. Even a year is such a short time to begin to minister into a different culture. So if we believe that God is calling us to engage for longer in Gospel ministry overseas, we know that we will need to prepare properly for it. What sort of training do we need? If we are going to be involved in teaching and pastoral ministry, can we will need the same sort of training that someone would have to serve in a church in this country? In fact we need to ensure that in addition we gain some understanding of the work of mission, what it means to cross-cultures and establish cultures.
Such preparation is not only academic. There needs to be practical training for working with people of other cultures. Above all we need to be spiritually prepared for the work ahead. The greatest obstacle to successful cross-cultural ministry is often found in the character of the missionaries themselves. Going to work in another culture, thinking that we have something to give to other people, can be quite intoxicating. We may feel that we have so much knowledge, and come from such a background of Christian understanding, that we have all to give and nothing to learn. Too many never experience what it means to fellowship with believers from a different culture as true brothers and sisters in Christ. It is important to begin to experience cross-cultural fellowship here in multicultural UK.
Not everyone will be able to go overseas just to preach the Gospel. Some will be called to countries which they can only enter using their profession. Others might see that they have specific abilities that they can bring not only the Gospel, but also practical help into other communities. They will face a more uncertain situation than those who can go to a country that will allow them to be just ministers of the Gospel. Contracts of employment are time limited. Opportunities for language and cultural study will probably be more limited. Such a ministry demands flexible people with a great deal of energy who are happy to live with a large degree of uncertainty about their future. People, in fact, who know that they are at present exactly where God wants them to serve him, but ready to be moved by him to another place.
Where are there opportunities to train for ministry overseas? Redcliffe College in Gloucester and All Nations Christian College in Hertfordshire specialise in preparing people for overseas service. They offer short courses that are very suitable for those going as development workers or taking their profession to another country, but also have course up to degree level for those who want to prepare more thoroughly for Word ministries. At Oak Hill Theological College we have developed a mission course that adds a cross-cultural element into the ministerial training that the college gives for those training for Anglican and Independent UK ministry. This is a specialised diploma and degree course up to Masters level. Belfast Bible College, International Christian College in Glasgow, WEST at Bridgend in Wales and the London School of Theology also offer courses that are useful to people pursuing overseas ministry.
The first stage for anyone seeking training is to talk to their church leaders. Then you should look at websites and send for prospectus. Having made a short list of those colleges which would give you the training you need, you must visit them. This will help you decide where you would fit best, Then there will be the great work of getting others involved in the ministry to which we are called in prayer and finance. Neither training nor missionary work come cheap. Finance may be part of our confirmation of God’s call – as well as a test whether our church and friends are really convinced that this is God’s will for us. Contact with churches and mission agencies engaged in the work you want to do, can never start too early College acceptance is another step to confirm that this is not just an idea that you have, but something that other Christians are happy to endorse.
And meanwhile? In addition to sorting out as many aspects of your life as possible, like deciding whether you are going single or married, there is the opportunity to engage in overseas evangelism without leaving the UK. God is wonderfully bringing to the UK people from every nation that they might be led into a knowledge of the living God who wants to bring people of every nation to worship him. Not only is there a world out there, it is also on our doorstep.