May 18 1998

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Many Christians may feel called to a career in foreign missions, but churches and mission agencies are not doing a good job of evaluating candidates, according to a missions expert.

Tom Telford, a United World Mission consultant and author of Missions in the 21st Century (Harold Shaw Publishers, 1998), says that nearly half of new missionaries drop out by the end of their first four-year term because churches and agencies often send the wrong people.

Besides a strong relationship with God, Telford says the most important quality a missionary must have is adaptability. "In the United States we're raising up a lot of people who can't adapt to other countries," says Telford, who helps churches mobilize in sending missionaries.

The solution? Weed out misdirected candidates early on, recruit fewer, and train more. "Don't let people lay hands on themselves," he warns. "Only the [candidate's] church knows if they are fit to go."

But Telford's news is not all bad. Television, travel, and immigration have exposed young people to international cultures in ways their parents and grandparents never saw.

Yet, Telford says the next generation of missionaries must be sold on missions in a new way. Younger Christians "want to feel it, taste it, see it before they invest," he says. "They support people. They don't just give to the mission fund." Telford says short-term "vision trips" to a foreign country in which people personally connect with believers outside their own culture often spurs them to support missions financially and may inspire them to return to the field as a career.