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?
The General Call
The Specific Call
How to Know?
Being On Call
Cautions
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
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
6. What About My Children?
ADVANTAGES
Time together
Lack of negative
influences
Common challenges
Enhanced maturity
Good resources
Rich experiences
Breath of perspective
High achievers
CHALLENGES
Frequent transitions
Sense of identity
Commitment
Rootlessness
Restlessness
Separations
Resources
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