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The 10 Questions Everyone Asks. David Stevens, M.D., M.A. (Ethics) CEO - CMDA. If God has fit you to be a missionary, I would not have you shrivel down to be a king - Charles H. Spurgeon. 1. How do I know I ’ m called?.
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The 10 Questions Everyone Asks David Stevens, M.D., M.A. (Ethics) CEO - CMDA If God has fit you to be a missionary, I would not have you shrivel down to be a king - Charles H. Spurgeon
1. How do I know I’m called? • God does not have to come and tell me what I must do for Him, He brings me into a relationship with Himself where I hear His call and understand what He wants me to do, and I do it out of sheer love to Him... When people say they have had a call to foreign service, or to any particular sphere of work, they mean that their relationship to God has enabled them to realize what they can do for God. • - Oswald Chambers • The General Call • The Specific Call • How to Know? • Being On Call • Cautions While vast continents are shrouded in darkness... the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign mission field. - Ion Keith-Falconer
2. Where Should I Serve? • 7,000,000,000 people • 820 million (11.5%) evangelicals • 2.84 billion unreached • 6,921 people groups • Most in 10/40 window • 8% of missionaries • 0.01% of finances • 2/3rds people God cannot lead you on the basis of facts that you do not know. - David Bryant
Explore • Read • Listen • Attend • <medicalmissions.com> • Contact • Visit • Global Health Outreach • WMM • Skills and Needs • Pray I have but one passion - it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ. - Count Zinzindorf
3. How Do I Pick a Mission Agency? • Consider • It’s theology • It’s focus • It’s strategy • It’s experience • It’s support • It’s success • It’s management • It’s culture • <medicalmissions.com> • Experience it! ? When God's finger points, God's hand will open the door. - Clarence Jones
4. How Do I Prepare? • Physician • Specialty? • Extra Training? • Nurses • NP, MPH, Midwifery • PA’s • Dentists, Pharmacy • Other I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God; first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done. - J. Hudson Taylor
5. What about raising support? • Benefits • Barriers • Your Support Team God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies. J. Hudson Taylor
Time together Lack of negative influences Common challenges Enhanced maturity Good resources Rich experiences Breath of perspective High achievers Frequent transitions Sense of identity Commitment Rootlessness Restlessness Separations Resources 6. What About My Children? ADVANTAGES CHALLENGES Are you willing to trust me with everything except your children?
7. What About Safety? • God is in Control • Bad Things Happen to Good People • Great Risks Often bring the Greatest Rewards for God’s Kingdom “Five years we never went outdoors without a volley of curses form our neighbors.” C.T. Studd - Missionary to China
8. How can I avoid burnout? • The devil’s favorite tool. • Marathon not sprint • Self-care • Accountability • Delegation • Training • Keep at it If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him. - C.T. Studd
9. Can I have a Spiritual Ministry? • Must prepare • Must prioritize • Can’t do all of it • Complementary • Ordination When he landed in 1848 there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872 there were no heathen. - said of John Geddie, missionary
10.What Will be my Biggest Challenges? • Growing spiritually • Adaptability • Other missionaries • Separation from family • Medicine is only part of the equation. Obedience to the call of Christ nearly always costs everything to two people- the one who is called, and the one who loves that one. - Oswald Chambers
Great Mission Resources at CMDA Bookstore Or At <cmda.org>. Your Call Quarterly Resource – Center for Medical Missions
What are we here for, to have a good time with Christians or to save sinners? - Malla Moe • Do not think me mad. It is not to make money that I believe a Christian should live. The noblest thing a man can do is, just humbly to receive, and then go amongst others and give. - David Livingstone • This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. - Jesus • Christians don't tell lies they just go to church and sing them. - A.W. Tozer • I will lay my bones by the Ganges that India might know there is one who cares. - Alexander Duff • The evangelization of the world in this generation. - Student Volunteer Movement Motto