A. Discovering our Commission
(71) We believe that God has called all Christians everywhere to involvement in his mission in the world. Each one has a role to play. Through its Personnel and Regional Offices, the Prayer League seeks to help its members to hear that call and to discover their place of maximum participation.
(72) Many of our members will discover their place of participation at home, in their own neighborhoods and in their regular occupations. Others will discover their place in extraordinary service elsewhere in the world. The Mission expects that God will commission its members to a wide and wonderful variety of participations in his mission of love around the world.
(73) The Mission prays for such commissions. The Mission also hopes to provide opportunities for fulfilling them – that spiritually gifted people from every walk of life may take an active role in sharing the gospel and themselves with those who have yet to know the Savior.
(74) The Mission Council establishes the overall policy and strategic priorities guiding this process. The Council describes the sort of people and gifts that should be the object of our prayers, and the kind of activities we hope them to accomplish around the world.
(75) The Mission Council entrusts the application of its policy to a Personnel Department, which evaluates the calling and specific suitability of individual applicants, supervises their training and orientation, manages their application and placement, encourages their professional development, and processes eventually their resignation or retirement. The Personnel Department functions under the leadership of a Personnel Director, responsible in turn to the General Director of the Mission.
B. Missionary Inquirers
(76) We believe that in answer to prayer God will call persons of his own choosing to offer themselves for missionary service within our fellowship. We will not hesitate to make known the opportunities for service among us. Yet our primary means of recruitment is prayer.
(77) Those wishing to investigate service may contact our Personnel Department. Inquirers are asked to describe their calling and motivation and the specific gifts they may bring to the missionary task. They may be invited to interview. The Personnel Depart¬ment will inform inquirers of various posts and opportunities for service, together with requirements necessary for meeting them.
(78) If an inquirer wishes to take the next step, he or she may be invited to apply for Missionary Candidacy.
C. Candidates for Missionary Service
(79) Candidacy represents a formal and supervised period of preparation for eventual missionary service. Applicants for missionary candidacy are recommended to the Mission Directorate by the Personnel Director, upon completion of a thorough application process and in consultation with the applicant’s pastor, physician and counselor. Applicants will ordinarily meet personally with the Mission Directorate for formal approval of their application, prayer and affirmation.
Qualifications for Candidacy
(80) Candidates for missionary service must:
a) demonstrate a genuine, personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord;
b) know the call of God to lay aside other employment and to take up missionary service, willingly and voluntarily;
c) be willing to look to God for the supply of all their needs;
d) agree with the principles and policies that guide the World Mission Prayer League;
e) apply themselves to diligent preparation for eventual missionary service.
The Candidate Program
(81) Candidates are encouraged to gain practical experience in a regular trade or occupation, as well as in Christian ministry and evangelism in their local congregation. Candidates should prove themselves faithful servants and responsible workers on their own home ground before attempting to serve in another land.
(82) Candidates are encouraged to seek close personal acquaintance with the Mission, its principles and practices, its personnel, its work at home and abroad, and its general spirit. This can be furthered by visits to the Mission Office, participation in Mission prayer events, or by a designated stay at the Mission Home. Such participation enables the entire Mission to become better acquainted with individual candidates, which is helpful in discerning a candidate’s calling, suitability for service, and direction regarding eventual placement.
(83) Candidates will apply themselves to an individually tailored program of preparation for missionary service, under the guidance of the Personnel Department. Preparation may include:
a) Debt reduction;
b) Biblical and missiological studies;
c) Spiritual formation;
d) A prayerful search for guidance concerning an eventual missionary assignment;
e) Participation in a Briefing Course provided by the Personnel Department, etc.
(84) Upon acceptance by the Mission Directorate, candidates may receive financial gifts designated for schooling and other expenses associated with their preparation for service.
D. Missionary Service
(85) Candidates may make application for missionary service upon satisfactory completion of candidacy. Applicants for missionary service are recommended to the Mission Council by the Personnel Director, in consultation with the Mission’s Associate Directors or project leaders who may come to receive an applicant within their area of responsibility. Applicants will ordinarily meet personally with the Mission Council, for formal approval of their application, prayer and affirmation. Acceptance by the Mission Council establishes a candidate as a bona fide missionary of the World Mission Prayer League.
Qualifications for Missionary Service
Spiritual Qualifications
(86) In addition to the qualifications for candidacy, applicants for missionary service must:
a) heartily agree with the principles and practices of the Mission and earnestly desire to carry them out in life and work;
b) demonstrate the soundness of their faith, in whole-hearted solidarity with the faith statement of the Mission;
c) demonstrate the clear conviction that the Lord himself has called them to missionary service, specifically and personally, and make a firm decision to heed that call;
d) give satisfactory evidence that they are able to live and work with others in peace, love and unity of spirit;
e) demonstrate that they can pray with faith and discern together with their fellow workers the leading of the Holy Spirit for their life and work;
f) be committed to a life of implicit faith and trust in God alone to provide all that is needed for their life and work, both for personal needs and for the work of the Mission as a whole;
g) show themselves ready to endure in times of trial, to meet disappointments with sweetness and grace, to persevere through interruptions, inconveniences and delays without murmuring and complaint, and to bear the failings of others with unbroken patience and unmeasured love;
h) be ready to “accept the plundering of their property” (Hebrews 10:34) and to “rejoice that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name” (Acts 5:41);
i) be possessed of a willing and obedient spirit in all things, willing to go anywhere to do anything helpful for the work of the gospel, or to make any adaptation and that with joy.
When missionaries prove themselves faithful servants of the Lord, they will find in Christ, in his Word and in doing his will, a treasure, a joy and a strength that will far outweigh everything suffered for his Name.
Educational Qualifications
(87) The Mission requires that candidates receive formal or informal instruction in Bible and missiology. Ordinarily this will mean one to two years of Bible school training, or its equivalent. The Mission recommends that candidates and missionaries alike make every effort to sharpen their skills continually as professional, cross-cultural servants of the Gospel.
Other Qualifications
(88) Applicants for missionary service must be debt-free, or demonstrate a reasonable plan to become debt-free before undertaking missionary service.
(89) Applicants must confirm that their condition of health is appropriate for their proposed area of service.
(90) Specific service projects or assignments may require additional qualifications of potential applicants, in consultation with the Personnel Department.
Counting the Cost
(91) Those who desire to make application for missionary service should soberly count the cost of a life that may involve:
a) long and lonely separations from parents, relatives, friends, and customary support systems;
b) living in unstable, disruptive, and potentially dangerous situations;
c) joining a new circle of people, friends and unfamiliar cultural surroundings;
d) becoming an alien and guest in a different society, subject to its norms and laws and the authority of its people;
e) adjusting to posts of larger responsibility and harder work than accustomed, which may require self-discipline, flexibility and humility;
f) adopting the role of a servant, willing to assume humble and thankless tasks and ministries in partnership with national and expatriate colleagues;
g) the loss of financial security or career advancement, being content with less so that others may have more;
h) personal sacrifice and the potential of martyrdom for the sake of the gospel;
i) raising a family and exposing one’s children to these same risks and conditions.
Undertaking Missionary Service
(92) At the moment of formal application, the Personnel Director will recommend assignment to a particular missionary conference, national church body, or other supervising ministry team, in consultation with the appropriate Associate Directors or project leaders. The Mission Council will ordinarily include such assignments in its treatment of applications for missionary service. Missionaries become accountable to the conference or team to which they are assigned for the clarification of their specific ministry responsibilities.
(93) Missionaries approved for service and assigned to a ministry team will be publicly commissioned to undertake their assignment. Ordinarily, a commissioning service will be arranged by their home congregation.
(94) Missionaries will ordinarily remain at home until the Lord, in answer to prayer, supplies the funds needed for travel, equipment and language study, and in other ways opens the door. In the meantime, they will wait patiently for God’s supply – which will surely come, if there has been a true call from God and true faith and dependence upon him.
(95) Upon arrival in their place of service, missionaries are given the early and important assignment of orientation to life and work in their new situation. Newly commissioned missionaries attempt to:
a) understand the goals and aims of the ministry team of which they become a part and to join their colleagues in pursuing them;
b) acquire the local language and constantly use it, by pursuing a definite course of study with examinations prescribed by their ministry team demonstrating a sufficient mastery of the language as to be useful in the work;
c) understand and appreciate the culture in which they are living, get along well with their national neighbors and colleagues, and conduct themselves with good behavior toward all;
d) learn to take care of themselves in every way, manage their own house¬keeping, travel, and personal affairs;
e) “lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).
(96) Upon receiving their assignment, missionaries proceed to their posts without unnecessary delay. If a change in assignment is desired, missionaries should inform their ministry team and await a satisfactory adjustment. Patience and perseverance are needed to overcome doubts and hardships, so that the work may progress successfully.
(97) Missionaries seek to teach the Word of God and the comforts of the gospel wherever possible, though their personal job assignment may take the form of administration, Christian service, or the like. The missionaries’ special treasure, whoever they are and whatever their assignment, is the Bible and its message of salvation for all people in Jesus Christ. They will want to share the Word of God at every opportunity. God’s commission to every Christian is to preach the Gospel to the whole creation and to make disciples of all nations. Missionaries will watch for opportunities to fulfill this calling in a personal way, whatever their specific assignment.
Home Assignment and Return to Active Service
(98) Because of time required for language study and orientation, missionaries are normally expected to complete a four-year term of service before requesting their first home assignment. The length of subsequent terms and home assignment periods is arranged through the Personnel Department, upon recommendation of supervising ministry teams. Normally, twelve months of home assignment will follow four years of service. For second and subsequent terms of service, ministry teams may recommend nine months following three years of service, or four months following two years.
(99) Before missionaries leave their place of work for home assignment, their supervising team acts to approve their return. If return is not approved, the missionary and the General Director will be informed. The missionary will be informed in sufficient time before departure to make possible the orderly disposition of personal affairs and goods.
(100) Arrangements for home assignment are recommended by supervising ministry teams and overseen by the Personnel Department. Ordinarily, missionaries will indicate their intention to return to field service within three months of returning home, and to arrange in a timely manner for reapplication. Those who resign while on the field or after any term of service will continue in regular status for a reasonable period of resettlement and are not entitled to a normal home assignment period.
(101) Missionaries on home assignment who desire to return to field service discuss their intention with the Personnel Department and submit the appropriate reapplication and medical examination forms. Reapplications are recommended to the Mission Council by the Personnel Director, upon satisfactory completion of home assignment or leave of absence periods. Missionaries will ordinarily meet personally with the Council for formal approval, prayer and affirmation.
Holidays and Vacations
(102) Missionaries are entitled to annual holidays and vacations, approved and coordinated by their supervising ministry team. Missionaries will inform the Personnel Department if they intend to travel home during their vacation period. Holiday and vacation travel and activities are funded personally.
(103) Annual vacations are intended for respite and retreat from annual ministry assignments. Annual vacations are inherently periodic; ordinarily, they do not accumulate from year to year nor are they added to the period of home assignments.
Leaves
Leave of Absence
(104) Missionaries may request a leave of absence from active service, for personal, medical or educational reasons. Leaves are arranged by the Personnel Department and reviewed annually. Leaves of absence will normally be limited to three years.
Study Leave
(105) Missionaries may request a formal study leave for participation in an approved program of continuing education longer than their home assignment period. Specific requests will be coordinated by the Personnel Department, in consultation with the corresponding ministry team. Missionaries on study leave may receive designated support and work funds as do missionaries on home assignment. They will not receive, however, support from the General or Missionary Support Funds nor the provision of Mission housing, nor continue on Mission benefits (health insurance and pension), though designated support may be used to meet these needs.
Administrative Leave
(106) The Personnel Department may arrange an Administrative or Emergency Leave for unusual circumstances, such as the need to respond to security emergencies, legal matters, or medical or other conditions not treatable in the country of assignment. Such leaves are considered time under active assignment, and not home assignment time, when calculating the length of field service.
Resignations and Dismissals
(107) Missionaries desiring to terminate their service while on field assignment are to:
a) consult with their supervising team, and,
b) inform the General Director of the Mission in writing, giving three months anticipation of the proposed date of termination.
(108) Missionaries desiring to terminate service while on home assignment or leave must:
a) consult with the Personnel Department, and,
b) inform the General Director in writing, giving one month anticipation of the proposed date of termination.
(109) A supervising ministry team may find it necessary to dismiss individual missionaries. Supervisors may initiate such action in consultation with the Personnel Director. Normally, missionaries will not be asked to repatriate without approval of the Mission Directorate.
(110) Resignations and dismissals are considered by the Mission Directorate. Upon recommendation of the Personnel Director, resignations and dismissals may be referred to the Mission Council for ultimate resolution. Persons leaving the Mission transfer Mission funds and properties under their charge into the hands of the person appointed to receive them for the Mission.
E. Missionary Children
(111) Monthly allowances are provided for missionary children. Missionary children are eligible for support while:
a) their parents remain in the service of the Mission;
b) they remain unmarried;
c) they continue to receive half of their total support from their missionary parents; and,
d) they remain under the age of 19, or under the age of 24 and a full-time student.
(112) Parents are personally and financially responsible for the education of their children. Parents may receive specifically designated gifts for the education of their children. The Mission may also provide additional help as additional funds designated for the education of missionary children are received.
F. Retired Missionaries
(113) Retired missionaries remain members of the Mission family. The retirement provisions of the Mission are applied to those who have made their missionary calling a life’s work. Care is given that the retirement transition is thoughtful and orderly.
(114) The normal age of retirement from the Mission is 65 years. Continuation of service beyond age 65 is approved by the Personnel Department on a yearly basis. Missionaries should set the retirement process in motion well in advance of their retirement age. Retirement status is approved by the Mission Directorate, upon recommendation by the Personnel Director.
G. Short-term Volunteers
(115) Short-term volunteers are persons who feel called by God to volunteer some months or years for ministry within the Mission’s fellowship. They may have completed another career elsewhere, may have already years of professional, technical or managerial experience, and share with the Mission an enthusiasm for the Lord’s work around the world. They offer themselves freely for assignment to short-term postings and responsibilities, as the Mission may need from time to time.
Qualifications and Training
(116) The Mission expects of short-term workers the same qualities of character and evangelical testimony that it requires of long-term missionary candidates. It is important that short-term workers:
a) experience personally the call of God upon their lives;
b) exercise their faith within the fellowship of the church;
c) learn to depend upon God’s gracious provision for all of their needs; and
d) find themselves in agreement with the principles and policies that guide the ministries of the World Mission Prayer League.
(117) Ordinarily the Mission understands short-term volunteers to be personally responsible for the material support of the ministries they propose, including travel costs to and from their place of assignment as well as living costs while there. Short-term workers should also be of good health and able to withstand the rigors of overseas life and ministry.
(118) The Mission may require specific training prior to short-term service, depending upon the variety of service proposed. The Mission recommends that all short-term workers participate in the Mission’s Briefing Course.
Making Application
(119) Those wishing to volunteer for short-term service make inquiry to the Mission’s Personnel Office. Applications are be submitted to the Mission’s Directorate, upon recommendation of the Personnel Director.
Supervision and Accountability
(120) Prior to departure, short-term volunteers are responsible to the Personnel Department for supervision, planning and orientation. Upon departure, they are accountable to the ministry team to which they are assigned, whether a national church, a regional grouping of the Prayer League, or some other supervising agency. The team will make and supervise their ministry assignments. Volunteers who desire to shorten their intended period of service should consult with their respective supervisors.
(121) Short-term volunteers may participate in the regular fellowship and business meetings of their ministry team, subject to its policies and procedures. For business meetings, they will ordinarily be permitted voice participation only.
Upon Return Home
(122) Short-term volunteers become stewards of a global experience and ministry perspective unavailable, perhaps, to many of their peers. They do well to undertake this stewardship with prayerful intentionality, becoming alert to opportunities for applying their experience and perspective to their own life-style and ministries.
(123) The Mission asks, however, that volunteers observe the Mission’s basic commitments to non-solicitation and prayerful dependence upon God as they share their experience with others. Short-term volunteers may want to consult the Personnel Department for practical orientation in this area.
H. Seconded and Associate Missionaries
(124) In light of the Prayer League’s commitment to partnerships in mission, missionaries may be formally seconded to national churches or other agencies or projects. Likewise, personnel from other entities may be seconded to the Mission. In consultation with the appropriate Associate Directors or project leaders, the Personnel Department will elaborate written agreements for seconded workers describing the responsibilities of sending and receiving agencies, lines of authority and accountability, and other guidelines. The Mission Directorate will approve seconded missionaries upon recommendation of the Personnel Director.
(125) The Mission may create “associate” or other categories of missionary laborers to accommodate seconded workers, individuals in secular employment who desire to serve as “tent-makers”, or others as may present themselves from time to time. The Personnel Department will consider these on a case-by-case basis and, as it thinks advisable, define terms of service and association within the fellowship of the Mission. The Mission Directorate will approve associate missionaries, upon recommendation of the Personnel Director.