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What motivates us to do missionary work?
When you would like to work as a missionary, how do you get started and how can you stay involved?
April Holden, who co-wrote They Called Us Love with Deborah Meroff, writes about her personal missionary experience and offers advice for getting involved with organisations like Operation Mobilisation.
I have been working in missions since January 1993. I had first applied to missions when I was 19 but was told I was not strong enough; then I applied again in 92. I started in Egypt where I studied Arabic and culture. I taught in a small private school for missionary children. This was a time when God was preparing me for the work ahead. The time from aged 19 to 29 was also preparation for me. There are no delays in God’s Kingdom only times which God has planned to prepare us for what is coming.
I then went to Sudan in 1996 where I remained until 2014. God used me along with local believers to pioneer and run programmes which rescued and rehabilitated children and youth who were living on the streets. That was a time of many testimonies, miracles and challenges. God rescued more than 300 boys through us and all but 6 remained of the streets. If you would like to read about that time then you can find many stories in our recently published book ‘they called us Love’, by Deborah Meroff. In 2012 and 2013 the Sudanese government picked up, interrogated and kicked out around 200 Christian foreigners. I spent a year on sabbatical due to exhaustion. Then I spent time studying.
After which I went to work in Zambia with OM. I started a department called Hope on the Streets for Children. Our aim is to empower the local community, missionaries and especially the church to work with children and youths who live on the streets and to prevent children going to the streets. We work by spreading the vision, being a voice for the voiceless children, holding discussion forums with churches to hear their heart for the street children.
Our biggest work is training. We train missionaries and the church in trauma and crisis care. We run Introductory workshops, short 1 or 2 week courses, and 6 months informal diploma level. We have 7 modules. Foundational needs of a child and trauma and grief introduction; trauma Intervention; care for caregivers; community transformation project design; care models; train the trainer; child solders. The impact of this has been great with churches starting rescue and rehabilitation programmes for street children. We’ve also found great success with prevention programmes – existing programmes have been strengthened; families of those trained being trained have been positively influenced; personal traumas have healed, and victim support police have transformed their approach. We have three teams HSC Africa Area (Rebecca and I); HSC Zambia led by Alex and Janet Mulenga and HSC Mozambique led by Ephraim Zulu and Sharon Kunda. We are planning to open HSC Ghana and Zimbabwe next year. I am currently based in Mozambique. We are very excited about what God is doing. It is like we threw pebbles and the ripples just go on and on. We have trained 235 people so far and our former students are working in 11 projects, on our teams and in the police. Many are passing on what they have learned to others.
If you are planning to go to missions:
1. Pray with others who are mature in their faith; be patient and listen to where God is sending you. The safest place to be is in God’s will.
2. Have a prayer warrior group who pray for you while you are away.
3. Spread the vision; get many partners on board. This is a joint effort and those who pray, those who give, and those who go are equally important and equally a part of the mission.
4. Study the culture you are going to also read books like Foreign to Familiar, Misreading Scripture Through Western Eyes and The 3D Gospel. Study some language, if possible, but you may pick that up best when you are there depending on how you learn.
5. Speak to other missionaries and understand their experiences; read biographies of missionaries from different eras and places.
6. Prepare yourself spiritually; in addition to Bible study and prayer read such books as Out of Your Comfort Zone and The Way of the Shepherd.
Missionary work isn’t just about those who go. Those who pray and those who give are vital and part of the work. You can pray, give or go. You can also be involved in missions in your own country.
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