The tentmaker's work
1.
Choose a vocation
considering your
aptitudes, gifts, interests, what is helpful in a needy world, what skills
are marketable and what will support a family.
2.
Vocations needed
most are education (TEFL, math, science, teacher education, curriculum
development), science and engineering, computer science, business and
finance, health care, agriculture, business development, and operating a
business.
3.
Background job research.
Use the Internet to research the kinds of jobs needed related to your
vocation, the credentials required, the companies and organizations
involved, and how to customize your resume or CV to fit openings. This
research can help you determine where you might need additional training
and experience.
4.
Degrees needed.
Most positions require at least a bachelor’s degree. Many require more.
Requirements are rising. Sometimes experience counts more than a degree.
The exception is TEFL which often accepts any native English speaker. As
Christians our goal is to genuinely serve people well and bring honor to
Christ. A minimal approach is inappropriate.
5.
Experience required.
Besides a few entry-level jobs, you generally need two or more years
experience. Employers are also looking for successful cross-cultural
experience. You can use work study programs, internships abroad,
multinational organizations, Peace Corps, the Mennonite Central Committee,
etc.
6.
Terms
of employment
usually include round
trip travel for the family, good salaries and health insurance, sometimes
housing and schooling for the children.
7.
Language learning.
Many positions abroad
are in English, yet learning a local language will enhance your cultural
adjustment, gain the confidence of local people, and help to sensitively
share the gospel.
8.
Finding employment.
Consult your own
college department, professional journals, newspapers, magazines, the
Internet, and the Global Opportunities web site. Network with people and
befriend internationals.
9.
Starting your own business
can demonstrate Christian values and give needy people jobs. But you
usually need experience, capital, and far more hours than a salaried
position. Red tape and excessive taxation are problems too.
10.
More
practical skills
such as cooking, sewing, homemaking, home maintenance and auto repair
enhance daily living. Practical skills can help you make friends in
another culture and earn the right to talk about the Lord.
11.
Recreational skills.
Sports and hobbies are also valuable bridges for friendship and sharing
the good news.
Spiritual preparation
to live out & share the gospel.
1.
Relationship with God.
Everything flows from
the quality of your relationship with God. How are you doing at being
filled and renewed daily through time alone with God in devotional reading
and prayer.
2.
Relationship with family.
You will face great
stress in a new culture. Work proactively on your family life: read,
attend seminars, and seek counsel from sharp, godly couples. How healthy
is your marriage and family and how well prepared are you for the stress
of cross-cultural work and witness?
3.
Relationship with work.
Work is central to human beings created in the image of God. God is the
great worker and we were designed to be co-workers with him and rulers
under him to manage and care for the world. Thus legitimate work in itself
is meant to be a sacred, God-honoring activity through which we “feel
God’s pleasure.” We are called to honor Christ through our servanthood
toward employers, customers, co-workers, and the larger community.
Excellence, ethical integrity, genuine caring, Kingdom values, and
natural, meaningful witness should mark us as Christians. We should also
be engaging and impacting the thought world of our vocation. How well do
we understand the areas of honoring Christ in work and how well do we
practice them?
4.
Relationships with others.
Team building and
conflict resolution skills help work together, overcome disunity, and put
common goals first. How much of a team player are you? How well do you do
conflict resolution and ongoing cooperation?
5.
Bible
knowledge.
How would you summarize the whole Bible in a few sentences? How many
books of the Bible can you summarize? What O.T. prophecies about Jesus
were fulfilled in the N.T.?
6.
Bible
memorization
is a good way to have
your sword always ready. Then the Holy Spirit can help you recall them at
crucial moments and locate them in your foreign language Bible.
7.
Inductive Bible study skills
observe what the passage really says and interpret what the writer meant
with application for today. How effective are you in Bible study,
especially in discovering what the writer is doing in a passage?
8.
Leading Bible study discussions inductively,
whether evangelistic or for discipling and fellowship. Ask questions to
help participants discover and draw conclusions from the details. Adapt
your leadership to nonbelievers. How effectively can you lead a group to
discover the message of a text versus telling them what it says? And how
well do you lead a group to respond to and act on the truth?
9.
Evangelism–learn to fish.
Tentmakers answer
questions about God from seekers made hungry for God by observing
Christians around them—their integrity, quality work, caring relationships
and words about God. How effective are you in the workplace? In each of
these areas?
10.
Investigative Bible studies for nonbelievers
are discussions of Gospel narratives. Participants answer questions about
the text. They discover who Jesus really is and commit themselves to him.
How effectively can you lead a group to discover the truth of a passage
for themselves without telling them what it says? How effective are you in
understanding the author’s purpose in a text and in preparing questions to
lead people through a text?
11.
Christian doctrine.
Learn the main Christian doctrines as propositions with supporting
passages. What would you include in a half-hour talk about God? Or
justification by faith? Or the incarnation of Jesus?
12.
Defending the faith
when your Christian beliefs are challenged. How do you answer that there
is no God? Or there are 33 million of them? That all religions are
basically the same? That the Bible is not true?
13.
Church-planting and other ministries.
Self-reproducing,
indigenous churches are the ultimate goal. How ready are you to start one?
To lead people to Christ and disciple them in a group and coach them into
becoming a church which is led by the local people from the outset? What
do you know about baptism, communion, church leadership? Can you preach,
teach children, or sing?
14.
Spiritual warfare.
Sin and temptation assault us also through the evil world system and our
own sinful vulnerability. We must put on the full armor of God. How
prepared are you to maintain your focus and spiritual vitality in an alien
culture, with minimal support, and many pressures?
15.
Missions training
including the biblical
basis of missions, its history, geography, growth, trends, issues,
strategies, mistakes to avoid, current ideas, cross-cultural living and
witness.
Where to prepare
1.
Christian institutions
offer science and
philosophy, etc., from a Christian viewpoint and a wide variety of Bible,
theology and missions courses.
2.
Secular universities/colleges
have better name recognition overseas and offer a whole range of careers.
The secular campus is one of the best training grounds in the world. Throw
yourself into the campus Christian fellowship and it’s training. You are
already on your first mission field.
3.
Why
not combine schools?
The best academic and
spiritual training can occur on a secular campus, supplemented with
Christian training courses.
4.
Financing your education.
For ways to avoid
being burdened with debts, see our GO Paper, Students and Graduates:
Financing an Education.
5.
How
long will it take?
All of the pieces mentioned above can be fit into four or five years, if
you take advantage of all the learning opportunities
