• FEATURE: Future missionaries and their mentors share how a simple one-on-one plan keeps them on course toward missions
  
• TOOL PACKAGE A Readiness Assessment Evaluation, Building Guide and Personal Planning Sheet will help your church prepare future missionaries.
  
• GREAT IDEAS Practical ideas to help you develop a mentoring program for those interested in missions

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MENTORING FUTURE MISSIONARIES

About five years ago, College Church of Wheaton, IL, initiated a one-on-one mentoring/accountability partner system as part of their missionary preparation program. Today they have over 20 "alumni" who completed the program and are now serving in missions.

Bruce Wilson, missions pastor, explains the goal: We want our mentors to be cheerleaders for our prospective missionaries. Our missionary preparation program includes 25 action points or areas of preparedness. The individual mentors provide encouragement through the process of completing these steps and preparing for field service.

Monthly Accountability
Each person in the missionary preparation program completes an accountability report monthly and shares it with his/her mentor. This report provides a framework and specifics for discussion and prayer. (See sample in this month's Great Ideas.)

Molly, who is heading for a teaching ministry in China, loves having someone committed to pray for her. She and her mentor, Nita, already were friends and shared an interest in China, so it was natural for Molly to choose her as a mentor. They meet once a month for breakfast, then get away to a quiet place to pray about the things they have discussed.

Molly is grateful for Nita's input. "We keep each other accountable for prayer and quiet time and address other things that could be distracting and emotionally influence our plans for missions. Nita has been praying about some things in my family, too. She has made some helpful suggestions, and recommended books to read and people to talk to. Recently the two have agreed to read the book, Jesus in Beijing, and talk about what they learn.

Nita adds, "It's been a great relationship from my perspective. What a joy to be able to fan the flame of her missionary heart! It's something anyone can do."

Tim, who is preparing for ministry in the Middle East, appreciates that his mentor, Harry, helps him clarify his goals. "I tell him what I want to do, and he helps me think about how I can get there step by step, which is good for me," he says. "It's more of an accountability relationship than a mentoring relationship. I share my goals for the coming month and share prayer points. Harry gives me encouragement and we pray together."

Two-Way Blessings
Jim and Diane have been mentors for David and Carmen, friends of theirs prior to their commitment to go to Africa. Diane says, "We are thrilled for what they are doing and felt privileged to be asked to meet with them monthly and keep them accountable. It was an eye opener to see the kinds of assignments they needed to complete before heading for the field.

"When we meet, we ask them what they are reading and learning," Diane explains. "We want to know how we can help them and how we can pray. They ask how they can pray for us, too, and the two-way street has built deeper relationships.

"Initially it was just the four of us," Diane continues, "but we encouraged some of our friends to join us in this commitment to David and Carmen, and they recruited others, too. Now we have expanded into a prayer team that meets together once a month."

Carmen and David have deeply appreciated Jim and Diane's encouragement: "Sometimes there seemed to be so much to do that it was overwhelming. They helped us gain perspective and get a realistic picture of how to tackle what needed to be done."

Start Early
Missions Pastor Bruce Wilson suggests that the preparation and mentoring process begin in high school. "Currently we have three high school students in the program who are awesome. It's great to get them thinking about missions now. By the time they have finished college, they will have a high degree of preparedness for missions.

"But we also have many people in our program who sensed God's leading to missions later," he continues. "Ideally we would like to have them in the program for at least three years before they go to the field because we are looking for good preparation and significant investment in our church, which takes time."

Your Encouragement Will Count
Bruce encourages churches of any size to consider introducing a missionary preparation program using mentors. "It's not a massive logistical job because I give the people in the program the responsibility to identify a mentor and follow through with meeting regularly. And the mentors don't need to be experts in missions. Primarily they need to be dedicated encouragers."

Carmen summarizes: "When we went to candidate school and talked to other appointees, we realized how fortunate we were to be in a church that had a program like this. We are very thankful!"

ASSESS & INCREASE MISSIONARY READINESS

A package of three practical tools: (1) a Readiness Assessment Evaluation to help your prospective missionary determine his/her strengths and weaknesses in seven basic areas, and (2) a Readiness Building Guide and (3) a Personal Planning Sheet designed to help the future missionary and his/her mentor design a church-based approach to building character and competence for cross-cultural service. Access this tool package at www.dualreach.org/missions/bm~doc/mntr-t6.pdf.

EFFECTIVELY MENTOR FUTURE MISSIONARIES

How do missionaries recommend local churches mentor future cross-cultural workers? Their suggestions as well as practical hints from those who have developed mentoring programs and served as mentors can be downloaded at Great Ideas, www.dualreach.org/missions/bm~doc/GI-6.doc.