I was called to the mission field, and nothing was going to stop me—not my wife, not two governments, nothing. And then, the call changed. Or maybe it was never there in the first place? Life as a missionary alumnus has brought as many questions as answers.
Reflecting on the early years that led to the development of the US Center for World Mission (now Frontier Ventures), I think of the seeds—the simple invitations, the vision, the community, and the passion of young people—that God used to spark something far bigger than any of us imagined.
Maybe it feels like a glorious homecoming, or maybe it feels like you just had your world yanked out from under you. Maybe you’re excited to worship in your heart language again; maybe you’re deeply missing the beauty and colors of the global church. Or maybe you’re thinking and feeling all these things at the same time. That’s normal.
Have you ever asked God to use you, thinking you knew what that would look like, and then had him do something completely unexpected? When that happens, it’s easy to get disoriented or disillusioned.
We want to prevent attrition in field workers and help people stay on the field longer. When mission leaders see a trend of increasing numbers of people leaving the field, we all want to address it. This instinct is good and understandable.
In 2004, six months into our marriage, my husband heard God’s call to leave his engineering job and do business as mission overseas. We had been praying for the Middle East with a group at church, and one of the leaders asked us to consider moving to Türkiye with him and his family.
If all He did was invite me to Himself. To new life, freedom, forgiveness, and joy, Dayenu.
When my family returned from overseas in 2018, we were spent, reeling, and unsure about next steps. Both my husband and I expected, or at least hoped, that the return was temporary.
“Our times and houses are in His hands.” (Ps 31:15)
After leaving the mission field, a long-time supporter asked me the hardest question in the lobby of our sending church. He gave me a big hug and said, “Doesn’t it feel good to be back home?”
Missionaries leave the field for a variety of reasons. . . . But does returning to one’s passport country mean the God-inspired call to missions among the nations has ended? Surely the heartbeat for reaching the nations remains, even if one’s location has changed.
Church planting movements have sparked considerable debate since they emerged at the dawn of Christianity’s third millennium. Some have viewed them as a Great Commission panacea, while others have dismissed them as illusory at best or sinister at worst. The new book, Inside Church Planting Movements: What 25 Years of Assessments Reveal, addresses important questions about movements.
In India, an incredible movement is taking place. Currently at more than 1 million house churches across 19 states, people from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds are becoming followers of Jesus. They come to know Christ through a simple disciple-making model approach...
Almost 50 years ago, Frontier Ventures was founded on an idea. At the core of it, our thinking goes something like this...
I recently asked some friends to share what misconceptions they had before coming to the field. A common theme was expecting life overseas to be exciting or romantic, with every moment filled with meaningful activity.
“Okay, hear me out!” Lara shouted from across the room. “In the Quran, it says that Muhammad, peace be upon him, was told to pick up the pen and write. What if we, too, can form our own destinies through manifestation?” These types of comments from Lara are not too uncommon. A few weeks prior, we spent at least an hour talking about prayer, fate, destiny and tarot cards. The thing about working in creative communities in the Middle East is that you really never know what is going to come out of people's mouths.
When thinking of Mission Alumni, what came to mind was this picture of my grandpa, a pioneer missionary to Paraguay. He looked like a regular grandfather, yet had an entire collection of knowledge, artifacts, and stories of wild experiences in exotic jungles. I thought the juxtaposition of these two things made for an interesting coloring page.