Sending Well – Safir Global Training
Any job worth doing is worth doing well. Those words – perhaps spoken by my parents or a sports coach – bring back many memories: me in a rush to get through a task, and my parents trying to instill in me the value and importance of doing it well.
When it comes to global missions, this truth takes on an even greater importance. A ministry leader recently shared, “In the race to mobilize and send, corners are being cut and inadequately prepared workers sent out.”
Let’s face it, the unreached are just that for real reasons—difficult language(s), tough living conditions, resistant cultures, geo-political turmoil. The list could go on. If our goal is to send effective workers into the harvest field, even to the most challenging places, how do we do that well?
To answer that question, I would like to use the idea of a scrimmage. That’s where a coach sets up a practice game with real competition, tension, and pressure. We will keep score, use the clock, probably even have a referee. Why? Because the coach realizes that a real game will have all of that and more, and the players need to be ready for the real thing.
How does this apply to global missions? If we want to send well, to see effective workers taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, they must be prepared for “the real thing.” For Safir Global Training that preparation involves three components—community engagement, classroom teaching, and mentorship.
Community engagement involves learning to communicate and connect in a new and unfamiliar cultural context. How can I learn the language of the people around me? How do I “do life” in every way in my new surroundings? What does it mean to build meaningful relationships in order to share the clear message of the gospel? All of that and more can be best learned by actually doing it. Theory provides a framework, but practicing it teaches us how to do it well.
Classroom teaching gives an opportunity to more deeply understand what the learner is experiencing in real life. It also provides a platform for those teachers who have lived, studied and worked in a cross-cultural setting to share their insight and wisdom. The content becomes more relevant when it can be applied to everyday life.
Mentorship is equally vital. Like in the previous sports analogy, the coach or mentor plays such a critical role in preparing an effective global worker. This is someone who has walked this road–who knows the joys and struggles, who understands what it is like to learn another language, and who is committed to seeing new church planters thoroughly prepared. The many combined years of Safir staff members’ field experience leads to meaningful and life-shaping interaction with students.
Any job worth doing…this proverb can apply to many areas of life. But how much more when we consider the life-giving message of the gospel that has been entrusted to us so that all may hear?
Safir Global Training (suh-feer—ambassador/messenger) is an eight-month program located in Western Asia designed to effectively equip cross-cultural global workers. Safirglobaltraining.com
Barry & Ruth Rempel live in Western Asia and serve with Safir Global Training as Program Coordinator, instructor, and mentors. They have been active in global ministry for nearly 40 years. They have two adult daughters and four grandchildren.
