Hello,
Here's a loose smattering of thoughts off the top of my head:
Mission agencies:
What do you look for?
Look for doctrine first. Does this org fit my doctrine? TEAM and some other evangelical orgs believe in premillenialism. How much do they stress this? Does this mean historic premil or Dispensational Premillenialism? Do they allow, accept, like 5 point Calvies? Are they baptistic or pedo?
Example: I was rejected by the Baptist group ABWE as a "hyper-calvinist" because I affirmed all 5 points of Calvinism, even that unpopular L. So glad to be a reject from them Fundies! Ironically, their missions magazine, the next month, featured William Carey.
Then, look at the personality of the org;
---is this mainly a mercy ministry org, a teaching org, a church-planting org, a translation org, etc. TEAM, and some others look like church-planting orgs, since they want to "establish reproducing churches" - a phrase that I like.
EXAMPLE: I was trained through Wycliffe Bible Translators, but knew that I could never join them because of their narrow focus on translation. I believe translation is a servant task to the broader task of discipling the nations and wanted to be a "missionary who might translate" rather than primarily a "translator" - if that makes sense.
Then, examine their authority structures;
---is this org top-down and authoritarian, or do they come alongside you and try to assist and develop you and grant you broad freedom, within certain limits? Example: it seems to me that the IMB (Southern Baptists) have more rules and hoops and treats its peoples more like employees, whereas my org, World Team, has really come alongside me to develop and nurture me.
Example: I know missionaries who have had to switch orgs due to a mismatch. Others were forced through hoops that they resented or merely dictated to. However, I actually have older mentors from my org that send me articles, invite me to training opportunities and make sure they are emailing me and helping me develop over my "career" - i.e., they are helping me be useful and increasingly effective over the long-haul.
Missions locations:
Are you sure that you want to serve in South Africa? How sure are you of that? There are many needs around the world. South Africa is needy, but what about other under-served areas as well?
Are your personalities a good match for desert, heat or cold, urban or rural, etc? I have an allocation questionnaire that I will email you that asks you many questions about our preferences to see what locations might stress you out more than others.
Missions role: Are you sure a teaching role is what you want? Why not a direct discipling or church-planting role? There are many roles one can play on the field, direct evangelism, mentoring church planters, teaching in Thrid World seminary locations, Bible translation, etc.
The chronology of your decision-making process; in what order and by what priorities do you decide things?:
It seems as if you and your husband already have a very specific role and job and location picked out. Are you open to finding a good org first and asking them where their greatest needs are and redirecting yourselves there, or do you want to pick your place and then try to find an org to get you there? I would suggest actually that the former strategy is more healthy than the latter; that finding a good organization is a prior step than finding the place, in regards to most places.
While I acknowledge that some people might feel a particular call to teach seminary at a school in South Africa, I am more comfortable with a family presenting themselves to an organization and saying, "Here we are, examine our gifts and abilities, and we are flexible as to what you suggest for us." My org, World Team, prays and researches, tests, and interviews and tries to suggest several locations where they believe individual missionary families might best fit given their particular skills, personalities and giftings and abilities.
Your education:
How expensive is WSC? How much debt will you incur? How much education do you need? How many years more of school do you want to go through?
Also, most missionaries don't drop out and come home due to lack of academic preparation. They come home due to conflict and emotional drain. Emotional preparation is vitally important. What sort of pre-field training will you undergo? I would suggest something that prepares you for cross-cultural work. Many US Seminaries are not strong in preparing someone for crossing cultures.
As a pre-field supplement, I would suggest something like CIT - the Center of Intercultural Training (
Center for Intercultural Training (CIT)) to keep you on the field and prevent unwanted missionary attrition, which runs at over 5% per person per year. Other orgs have training schools, "jungle camps", pre-field training, etc, to prepare you for the non-academic, but very real rigors of missionary life. WSC probably will not prepare you for this sort of thing.
If you are not careful, you might find yourself much poorer and only little better prepared for the field. Others that I know are academically adequate, but they cannot work effectively in teams without conflict, or their wives burn out, stress out, and have to come home.
Are you all training yourselves emotionally? How do you as husbad/wife handle conflict? Do you have any addictive behaviors that might flare up during periods of culture shock/culture stress? Can you handle dirt, poverty, changes of plan without getting snippity or bitter? Accumulated stresses of heat, changes of plan, aggravations with people, tiredness and learning a new language can erode your happiness. Are you prone to depression?
A Missionary Reading List: Please begin a reading program on current trends in missions. Maybe take the Perspectives Course (
Home - Perspectives) and subscirbe to some missions journal like EMQ (Evangelical Missions Quaerterly, the IJFM (The International Journal of Frontier Missions,
IJFM Home Page), Missions Frontiers, etc, to be aware of what is happening today, what trends of thought are most influential.
I can email a list of suggested reading if you desire.
Your local church: Also, what does your local church say? How are they preparing you. A missionary family is like a large sailing vessel which needs a solid port. Is your home church a good port from which to launch and how are they advising you?
My initial thoughts: Sorry, but it sounds like you could research some other orgs a little better before jumping in with TEAM. Before I committed to an organization, I applied/interviewed/talked with 8-10 other groups. I went through some portion of the application process with 4 and met representatives from 3. This decision is a major one. You should be talking to at least 4 or 5 before you choose one. I am not saying that you are picking the wrong org, but I believe that you have not invested yourself into adequate research to have confidence in your decision.
Look at: Pioneers, World Team (my org
World Team, I am happy with them), World Harvest, MTW - Mission to the World if you are PCA, and some others.
Also, sorry, but I would also re-examine your educational plan one more time before jumping in. Historical theology is low on my priority list of vital fields of study to engage in for teaching in Africa. Also, do you need linguistic training, basic medical training, etc? AIDS is huge in Africa, will you have any role in this?
What is your denomination, your beliefs? What orgs would fit you?
---------- Post added at 07:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:05 AM ----------
P.s.
MONEY: the money from your house will be gone within a few years after selling your home. What is your long-term plan for sponsorship? Is your church going to support you and also go to bat for you and help you gather adequate monthly support and recommend you to other churches? Are you gathering a network of people to pray for you, even now, as you walk trhough all of these decisions?
---------- Post added at 07:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:19 AM ----------
P.s.
MONEY: the money from your house will be gone within a few years after selling your home. What is your long-term plan for sponsorship? Is your church going to support you and also go to bat for you and help you gather adequate monthly support and recommend you to other churches? Are you gathering a network of people to pray for you, even now, as you walk trhough all of these decisions?
