PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Despite the incredible progress the church has made in evangelizing the world during the 20th century, a significant part of our world remains unreached by the Gospel. Nearly two billion people remain without an adequate witness to the claims of Scripture. To compound the challenge, nine out of ten missionaries, and ninety-nine out of every hundred dollars given to missions, go to already Christianized groups. What’s more, because of the skyrocketing cost of education and the lack of opportunities to gain experience in a church while working among those they are called to serve, it can be difficult for those who have been called to the unreached to actually get to the places, and the people, they have been called to serve.
The second challenge is much more local. Churches like WCAG, which sit in the middle of a changing religious demographic, are faced with the challenge of trying to reach hard-to-reach people, like Muslims and Hindus. As a church, we must learn a new set of skills in order to be used by God to reach these people. Where do we turn to get this training and embrace this challenge, while at the same time keeping the global challenge of missions at the forefront?
We believe the answer to both challenges is the same—the Missions Training Program. In partnership with the Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM) and Global Initiative (GI), WCAG plans to invite a young missionary or missionary couple to come serve on staff for two years. Candidates must have finished their seminary education, be called and committed to go to unreached people around the world, and be within a margin of debt that, with our help, could be retired before applying for missionary appointment.
The two years of pastoral experience would enable the Missionary in Training (MIT) to become ordained, gain ministry experience, and establish a strong home base from which to itinerate, all the while providing an opportunity to engage Muslims and Hindus right here in St. Louis. Upon successful completion of the two years, and upon appointment by AGWM to an unreached country/people, the church would pay off a significant portion of their school loan and help launch them into itineration, and then on to the field.
During the two year training, they would serve in all the ministry departments of the church. They would regularly work with and speak to our children, youth, adults, men’s and women’s groups, as well as attend board meetings, work on large events, etc. In partnership with Global Initiative, they would help our congregation learn how to minister cross-culturally to people of other faiths, as well as help lead outreach efforts to these unreached in our area. This program would also allow us to develop a deep and sustained connection to the missionary who would be going to a place where they will need such a connection, and it would help us reach those God has placed all around us in the process.
The second challenge is much more local. Churches like WCAG, which sit in the middle of a changing religious demographic, are faced with the challenge of trying to reach hard-to-reach people, like Muslims and Hindus. As a church, we must learn a new set of skills in order to be used by God to reach these people. Where do we turn to get this training and embrace this challenge, while at the same time keeping the global challenge of missions at the forefront?
We believe the answer to both challenges is the same—the Missions Training Program. In partnership with the Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM) and Global Initiative (GI), WCAG plans to invite a young missionary or missionary couple to come serve on staff for two years. Candidates must have finished their seminary education, be called and committed to go to unreached people around the world, and be within a margin of debt that, with our help, could be retired before applying for missionary appointment.
The two years of pastoral experience would enable the Missionary in Training (MIT) to become ordained, gain ministry experience, and establish a strong home base from which to itinerate, all the while providing an opportunity to engage Muslims and Hindus right here in St. Louis. Upon successful completion of the two years, and upon appointment by AGWM to an unreached country/people, the church would pay off a significant portion of their school loan and help launch them into itineration, and then on to the field.
During the two year training, they would serve in all the ministry departments of the church. They would regularly work with and speak to our children, youth, adults, men’s and women’s groups, as well as attend board meetings, work on large events, etc. In partnership with Global Initiative, they would help our congregation learn how to minister cross-culturally to people of other faiths, as well as help lead outreach efforts to these unreached in our area. This program would also allow us to develop a deep and sustained connection to the missionary who would be going to a place where they will need such a connection, and it would help us reach those God has placed all around us in the process.
