{"id":912,"date":"2009-01-30T20:47:28","date_gmt":"2009-01-31T01:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/?p=912"},"modified":"2010-02-27T08:30:15","modified_gmt":"2010-02-27T14:30:15","slug":"so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html","title":{"rendered":"So you want to be a Missionary."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/images\/be-a-missionary.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" border=\"0\" alt=\"So you want to be a Missionary?\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>I get a lot of emails through <a href=\"http:\/\/www.missionary-blogs.com\/\"><b>Missionary-Blogs.com<\/b><\/a> from people who are interested in being missionaries. &nbsp;These are people from all over the world, from all different backgrounds, with all different motives.<\/p>\n<p>I try to give them some ideas to get started. &nbsp;Obviously, my suggestions depend on what <i>specifically<\/i> they&#8217;re asking. &nbsp;But there are a few common things that I&#8217;ll often suggest. &nbsp;(Note: I&#8217;m talking about <i>cross-cultural<\/i> mission work specifically here)<\/p>\n<p>So, I thought I would share it here to see what you think &#8211; maybe you have something to add!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Prayer and Bible Study:<\/b> &nbsp;This one should go without saying, but sometimes you need to say it. &nbsp;Of course, we should all be seeking God through His Word and prayer.<\/li>\n<li><b>Church leadership:<\/b> &nbsp;I often encourage people to talk to the leadership in their local church. &nbsp;Why? &nbsp;Because you need their support, you need their guidance, you need to work together with other believers. &nbsp;That relationship with a group of believers, and leadership, is critical &#8211; we know from Heb 10:25 and Heb 13:17, which talk about meeting together, and our spiritual leaders. &nbsp;We can&#8217;t ignore passages like these, then try to teach others to obey them.<\/li>\n<li><b>Know your passions:<\/b> &nbsp;I often ask people &#8211; what are you interested in? &nbsp;What are your passions, your gifts? &nbsp;What work experience do you have? &nbsp;Many people don&#8217;t realize that missionaries are car mechanics, computer experts, radio hosts, construction workers, writers, painters, nurses, cooks, teachers&#8230; there&#8217;s lots you can do!<\/li>\n<li><b>Network:<\/b> &nbsp;Now that you have some ideas, go find some missionaries who are doing things that interest you. &nbsp;Or missionaries at the same stage of life (ie retired, with young children, students&#8230;). &nbsp;Finding <a href=\"http:\/\/www.missionary-blogs.com\/\">a missionary who blogs<\/a> is great, because you can often get a more intimate view of their lives. &nbsp;But email, and ask questions. &nbsp;Contact mission agencies, and ask for more contacts. &nbsp;Sit down with a few people, if you can.&nbsp; We did this before joining <a href=\"http:\/\/caminternational.org\">CAM<\/a>; we talked to representatives of several mission organizations face to face, and corresponded with missionaries on the field, asking the tough questions.<\/li>\n<li><b>Books:<\/b> &nbsp;There are some books that I recommend to people interested in serving the Lord in another culture. &nbsp;The first is Send Me: Your Journey to the Nations. &nbsp;[<b>Update:<\/b> &nbsp;There&#8217;s an excellent new edition (2009) of this book out now &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0830837175\/jcotsweb-20\">Global Mission Handbook<\/a> &#8211; packed with great tips, resources and guidance for aspiring and new missionaries &#8211; or even experienced ones!] &nbsp;Also on my short list of <i>must reads<\/i> are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0830816577\/jcotsweb-20\">Cross-Cultural Conflict: Building Relationships for Effective Ministry<\/a> (great for understanding the concept of culture), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0801064856\/jcotsweb-20\">The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict<\/a> (a book everyone should have on their shelf), and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/080102613X\/jcotsweb-20\">Let the Nations Be Glad!<\/a> (a classic look at what the Bible teaches about missions).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There&#8217;s lots more that could be said, but there are a few ideas that I think will help someone who is considering serving in another culture. &nbsp;I know there are some people with experience reading this post &#8211; <b>what would you add (or delete!) from my list?<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I get a lot of emails through Missionary-Blogs.com from people who are interested in being missionaries. &nbsp;These are people from all over the world, from all different backgrounds, with all different motives. I try to give them some ideas to get started. &nbsp;Obviously, my suggestions depend on what specifically they&#8217;re asking. &nbsp;But there are a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[209,208,210,1637],"class_list":["post-912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-missions","tag-cross-cultural","tag-missionary","tag-missionary-blogscom","tag-missions","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>So you want to be a Missionary. - Finding direction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"So you want to be a Missionary. - Finding direction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I get a lot of emails through Missionary-Blogs.com from people who are interested in being missionaries. &nbsp;These are people from all over the world, from all different backgrounds, with all different motives. I try to give them some ideas to get started. &nbsp;Obviously, my suggestions depend on what specifically they&#8217;re asking. &nbsp;But there are a [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Finding direction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-31T01:47:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-02-27T14:30:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/images\/be-a-missionary.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e27f701e051dfb9c158f9637b14f8685\"},\"headline\":\"So you want to be a Missionary.\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-01-31T01:47:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-02-27T14:30:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html\"},\"wordCount\":554,\"commentCount\":7,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/images\\\/be-a-missionary.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cross-cultural\",\"missionary\",\"Missionary-Blogs.com\",\"Missions\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Missions\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html\",\"name\":\"So you want to be a Missionary. - Finding direction\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/images\\\/be-a-missionary.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-01-31T01:47:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-02-27T14:30:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e27f701e051dfb9c158f9637b14f8685\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/images\\\/be-a-missionary.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/images\\\/be-a-missionary.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"So you want to be a Missionary.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Finding direction\",\"description\":\"The personal blog of Jim and Shari Cottrill, Canadians living in Mexico.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e27f701e051dfb9c158f9637b14f8685\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/36d84585b0d8eabd2c03be43e3103e0b0807c4b8ed5a648aa7225232af05697e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/36d84585b0d8eabd2c03be43e3103e0b0807c4b8ed5a648aa7225232af05697e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/36d84585b0d8eabd2c03be43e3103e0b0807c4b8ed5a648aa7225232af05697e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/CottrillCompass.com\\\/blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/administrator\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"So you want to be a Missionary. - Finding direction","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"So you want to be a Missionary. - Finding direction","og_description":"I get a lot of emails through Missionary-Blogs.com from people who are interested in being missionaries. &nbsp;These are people from all over the world, from all different backgrounds, with all different motives. I try to give them some ideas to get started. &nbsp;Obviously, my suggestions depend on what specifically they&#8217;re asking. &nbsp;But there are a [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html","og_site_name":"Finding direction","article_published_time":"2009-01-31T01:47:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-02-27T14:30:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/images\/be-a-missionary.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jim","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e27f701e051dfb9c158f9637b14f8685"},"headline":"So you want to be a Missionary.","datePublished":"2009-01-31T01:47:28+00:00","dateModified":"2010-02-27T14:30:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html"},"wordCount":554,"commentCount":7,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/images\/be-a-missionary.jpg","keywords":["cross-cultural","missionary","Missionary-Blogs.com","Missions"],"articleSection":["Missions"],"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html","url":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html","name":"So you want to be a Missionary. - Finding direction","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/images\/be-a-missionary.jpg","datePublished":"2009-01-31T01:47:28+00:00","dateModified":"2010-02-27T14:30:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e27f701e051dfb9c158f9637b14f8685"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/images\/be-a-missionary.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/images\/be-a-missionary.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2009\/so-you-want-to-be-a-missionary.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"So you want to be a Missionary."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/","name":"Finding direction","description":"The personal blog of Jim and Shari Cottrill, Canadians living in Mexico.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e27f701e051dfb9c158f9637b14f8685","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36d84585b0d8eabd2c03be43e3103e0b0807c4b8ed5a648aa7225232af05697e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36d84585b0d8eabd2c03be43e3103e0b0807c4b8ed5a648aa7225232af05697e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36d84585b0d8eabd2c03be43e3103e0b0807c4b8ed5a648aa7225232af05697e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jim"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/CottrillCompass.com\/blog"],"url":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/author\/administrator"}]}},"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}