LONG-TERM WORKERS
Living and working cross-culturally is a privilege that carries a significant responsibility to understand the language, culture, customs, religious experience and worldview of a host culture. We have included resources here to inspire and encourage you toward excellence in selecting, training, sending and caring for those you send. May God's Kingdom come and His will be done in each life and in every place we serve.
For any cross-cultural work to be successful, a firm foundation of trust must be in place between those who go and the sending structure. This article by Jerry Reddix will help you think through and plan for a successful partnership.
Long-Term Cross-Cultural Worker (LTCCW) Check List
Committing to live in a different culture can seem a daunting challenge. There is so much to consider. What do I offer? How should my church help support the work? How do I afford to build a new life overseas, much less pay off the one I’m leaving behind? This checklist is a companion to the above-referenced article on selection.
Caring: Providing Meaningful Support for Your LTCCW
Ongoing care need not be difficult. In fact, it’s easy to overlook. Churches can be so busy with what is in front of them that ongoing support gets set aside. You may think that your LTCCW seems to be doing fine, but how much better could he be if he had more attention from you! What you put into it will be what you get out of it.
Sending: Preparing the Framework and Safety Nets
Great! You’ve selected a person or family to become your very own Long-Term Cross-Cultural Worker (LTCCW). Don’t stop with simply giving your LTCCW money and sending her on her way. Proper preparation prevents problems that would otherwise impede the project. When the sending structure is involved in helping with these details, your church and your LTCCW will experience the blessing of a properly functioning missional body.
Sample International Service Agreement
Created by the Vineyard of Columbus, this document is used for outlining commitments between the church and the LTCCWs sent out. You may also click here for a fill-in-the-blank template.
Cross-Cultural Legal Resources
Visit this section of our website to review a number of legal resources that may prove helpful to you as you encounter various challenges in your cross-cultural mission activities.
The Vineyard Mobile Care Team (MCT) Primary responsibility to care for overseas workers rests with the sending church or partnership. The Mobile Care Team (MCT) has limited availability to assist in training and responding to certain spiritual, relational or ministry related concerns. Visit this area to meet the team and learn how to utilize their expertise.
Additional Resources
- The Safe Travel Institute is an educational institution dedicated to researching and disseminating Best Practices in the area of Safe Travel. The Safe Travel Institute is led by former executives from the US Government (Department of Defense, FBI and the US Intelligence Community) with over 200 years of experience in the fields of Safe Travel, Risk Management and Crisis Support.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its biennial guide on travel health. Generally known as “The Yellow Book” because of its cover, the latest edition of “Health Information for International Travel” can be read online at: www.cdc.gov/travel.
- A Whole New World (Interview) - Missions veteran Don McGregor shares how good cross-cultural training can revolutionize your missions experience.
Please come back and visit this website often as we update and add more resources. Our goal in presenting this material is to assist you as you think through questions that you must answer for yourself, in relationship with your church and partnership. If the path you take in preparation and fulfillment of your calling is grounded in God’s call and you are purposeful in addressing the many issues in cross-cultural life and ministry your chance of success increases significantly.
The material in this section is presented for your consideration. We invite your suggestions and comments. To comment, recommend material or ask a question, e-mail: jerry.reddix@vineyardmissions.org.
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