Billions of people around the world need to hear about Jesus. Will you go and carry the love of Jesus and make disciples?
Could you be part of what Serving In Mission is doing today and help us in our gospel task?
Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is at the heart of what we read in the New Testament. From the birth of Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection, to the founding and spread of the early Church, there is one main theme … for the whole of humanity to be reconciled with God through the proclamation of the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Why we send mission workers today
Focus on the least reached
Less than 10% of mission workers serve among the least-reached people groups. They don’t have many local churches to work with, and probably can’t openly share their faith in public, so this small number of mission workers has the task of reaching more than 3 billion people.
This is an impossible task without the help of churches in the UK investing their prayers, people, and resources, to allow every people group to hear about Jesus.
A changing world
Throughout the early 2000s, it seemed the world was advancing towards a peaceful, interrelated global society with greater links and a shared set of values. That has drastically changed and the daily news is full of wars, unrest, resistance to immigration, competing moral values, and growing anti-Western sentiment, to name just a few issues.
Sharing the gospel is more complicated than ever and we need Holy Spirit inspired solutions if we are to reach the least reached.
Church leaders need training
We usually take for granted the education opportunities in the UK. If we want to study a subject, we have thousands of courses, books, websites and media, to train and equip us for ministry. But 95% of the 2.2million pastors globally have no formal training for ministry.
We need the global church to be strong if we want it to reach every person with the good news of Jesus.
Prayer:
Lord God, where are you calling me to carry your gospel? Who have you put on my heart? Equip me to share your love with them.
Who can serve?
Serving in Mission UK has more than 150 mission workers serving around the world in many different roles. We are part of a global mission organisation with 4,000 people working in intercultural teams from 70 different countries. We have people from different cultures, ages, professions and cultures serving. There are opportunities for a range of people to get involved.
Meet some of our workers.
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Caitlin Ng
Caitlin is serving in Ayutthaya, Thailand with a Faithful Witness team seeking to reach the least reached.
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S and K
S and K serve in the Middle East.
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Neil & Amy
Going to serve in South Asia.
Our Faithful Witness programme introduces the gospel strategically to communities living and dying without hearing the good news of Jesus.
Where can you serve?
We have hundreds of opportunities available to join different country teams across the globe. SIM works in more than 70 countries around the world. We work in massive cities like Tokyo or Mexico City, and rural areas in places like Thailand or Nigeria. We work in hospitals and theological colleges, as well as schools, children’s programmes, refugee centres, and many more.
We have church partners in every country where we are active, who invite you to come and work alongside them using your skills to support them in building God’s kingdom in their community.
Where is God calling you to serve?
Why serve with SIM?
We provide training
Before you travel to where you’ll be serving, we’ll get you well prepared through our orientation programme.
You will have training, orientation and language learning in the country you’ll be living in.
Support and care
There will always be people close by to support you as you serve, to guide, answer questions, even help if you’re sick.
It’s one of the main reasons you should consider serving with us: you won’t be doing this alone.
Working with your church
If your placement is one year or longer, we’ll work with your sending church to put together a ‘Stronger Together Plan’.
This is an expression of the partnership we’re making with you, your church, and your receiving team.
Safety and security
We have great staff in the country you’re going to who will make sure that you’re serving in areas that are safe and suitable.
And if something goes wrong, we have emergency procedures and contingencies in place to look after your wellbeing.
Growing in your faith
This a significant opportunity for you to be formed and developed in your faith.
Just as the blacksmith takes a raw piece of metal and forges it into a beautiful and useful tool, so we want people to allow themselves to be shaped and enhanced by their service.
Making disciples
We hope you get opportunities through your placement, your involvement with the local church and the friends that you make, to meet regularly and open God’s Word together, to worship, pray, and teach others more about being a servant of Jesus.
I experienced first-hand how God radically transforms lives and is moving way beyond my imagination.
Daniel McCalmont – served short term in North Africa
Priority opportunities
Every month, we highlight three opportunities that have been brought to our attention as urgently needing a worker to serve in. Often these are strategic ministries, or places where work can’t continue unless the right people are in place. Maybe you are the person who can be an answer to prayer?
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Faithful Witness
Through Faithful Witness, SIM works with partner organisations and recruits from churches across the globe, to share the good news in difficult places and where there is little or no Christian witness.
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Sports Friends
Sports Friends is a ministry which reaches out using the universal language of sport. It attracts young people and creates an environment for relationship building which leads to opportunities to share the love and word of God.
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The Engage Programme
Working with a local church, we serve the community by sharing the gospel and offering hope and activities that empower individuals.
The
Forged
Programme
Everyone who serves with SIM begins on our Forged programme, to become familiar with the culture, learn the language, and grow spiritually.
We’re not looking to send perfect people, but people of gospel faith, who are ready to be shaped and refined by God, ready to grow in obedience, and to go all-in on the risky, yet beautiful life as a follower of Christ.
We’re looking to send people who are eager to offer their God-given gifts, take on new experiences, and discover more of what it means to live as disciples of Jesus through serving him.
Flexible duration
We have designed ‘Forged’ to find opportunities relevant to your availability and abilities.
You can go for a few weeks, or up to 2 years. It can be an experience by itself, or the launch pad for serving on long-term mission.
Support and care
Serving In Mission is a large international mission organisation with an extensive support system around the world.
Each country has key leadership in place to support all SIM workers in that region, to provide care and ensure their safety, support, and development.
Development
We see the Forged Programme as an opportunity for people to grow in their faith and develop their skills and gifts in a cross-cultural context.
This will equip people to be able to serve and lead whether that is back in a church in the UK, or in a cross-cultural context.
Serving Long Term
If you want to serve with SIM for more than two years, you will need to apply to become a Member when you are coming up to the end of your first two-year term. You can still apply initially with the intention of serving long-term, but we will ask that your first two years of service are as part of the Forged Programme. We then have a few extra steps for you complete to change you to a Member.
If you have previous experience of serving overseas, it can sometimes be possible to join directly as a Member. Please talk to us about this.
We journey with you. From the moment you enquire, through your application and preparation process, while you are overseas and when you come home, our People Care team are supporting you.
The sending church
It is the role of the church to send men and women as mission workers. Agencies like SIM support and facilitate mission activities and provide training, guidance and expertise to support workers and equip churches. Anyone that serves with SIM has to be rooted in a local church and responsible to the leaders of that church. So we encourage everyone, at the outset of their enquiry process with SIM, to include their church leaders in the discernment process.
Our People Care Team
It can be surprisingly complicated and take a lot of work to go and serve successfully overseas. That’s why we have a dedicated and experienced team to help support you and make sure your placement is well organised. They’re also there to support you when things don’t go as planned. Working in partnership with you and your church to help you carry the gospel to where God is calling.