Window of Opportunity
Posted on 1st December 2015
Perhaps I jumped on a bandwagon, perhaps I followed my heart, perhaps I responded to a call of God. Either way, one weekend in early November I found myself meeting extraordinary people as I travelled through Afghanistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Iran, Syria - or so it seemed. And all by crossing...
Five Permissions Missionaries Need
Posted on 1st November 2015
In a recent article, I explored the "Six Permissions Most MKs Need." This is a companion piece, one that recognizes the different needs of adults in ministry.
Extending these permissions might reduce the pressure that becomes toxic to missionaries. Sometimes that pressure is self-inflicted - derived from the unachievable standards they...
Life Stories
Posted on 1st October 2015
Stories. We all tell them. They are the means by which we communicate our histories, and our identities, past and current. We use them both to connect with those around us, and to highlight the distinctions between our selves. They form a crucial element of our social worlds. I have...
How to Lose Supporters (without even trying)
Posted on 1st August 2015
There are several ways to lose supporters (probably more if you try hard enough) but from our experience the No.1 danger area is relationship.
Yes, the 'R' word, so fundamental yet so misunderstood. Thought by many to involve a one-way stream of information but while relationship and communication are...
How to be a bad mission trip teammate (and how to be a good one)
Posted on 1st July 2015
There are good mission trip teammates, and there are bad ones. But what distinguishes between the two? How can you make sure that you're not one of the bad teammates? Here are four qualities that you need to embrace (and four you need to leave at home) if you want...
Called Together
Posted on 1st June 2015
Jesse always imagined her future a certain way: I'll go to college, get married, move abroad, raise a family at the edges of the earth, and make Jesus known in a land that has never heard.
But then her dreams turned into waiting, and waiting turned into a decade, and now...
Cultural Humility: Offending and Mending
Posted on 1st May 2015
Of all the difficult things we do in cross-cultural moves, finding places to live is near the top. We want to create space and place - we want to create home. And often our expectations are a planet away from our reality.
At one point while living in Cairo, we were...
Year Out: 10 things I've learnt so far on my gap year
Posted on 1st April 2015
If you're considering a gap year, do it. It's the scariest, most challenging thing I 've ever done, but I 've had the best time of my life - and it's not even over yet! I think one of the things that I've learnt is to push myself. Pushing myself...
OSCAR's Survey of NHS-gap Insurance Providers
Posted on 1st April 2015
The NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 came into effect on 6 April 2015 and have implications for access to free secondary NHS healthcare in England for missionaries. OSCAR has surveyed many of the insurance providers to see if they have insurance products that might cover the gap for...
Satellite Phones: Do you need one?
Posted on 1st March 2015
For your missionary work, you may not have been thinking of satellite phones. Maybe you think they are too bulky, too complicated to use, too expensive. If you won't be in a remote location, an international cell phone would be a cost effective method of staying in touch, but if...
