Mission calling
What makes some people willing to serve God anywhere?
 By John Sniffen
What convinces men and women to give up the comforts of home or a profitable career to serve in mission around the world? Whether it’s a dramatic revelation or a gradual realization, the call to service overseas comes differently to each mission worker.
As the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries who served 40 years in Africa, Nancy Dimmock grew up among people committed to global mission. But it still took lots of time and patience and listening to figure out what God was calling her to do with her life.
“Raised as a ‘mish kid’ in Zaire (present day Congo), I had a very strong desire to return one day,” says Nancy. “During my early college years I struggled with feelings of alienation and isolation and of being a misfit in American society.”
One day during her junior year, Nancy was studying the book of Acts. “The early verses of chapter 18 jumped out at me. Paul was forced to go to Corinth and wait there for an unknown period of time. Did he just endure? No. He went to the market and began to preach. And the church was established and grew in that place.
“The Lord seemed to be saying that I needed to be willing to stay in the United States and give it my all, like Paul did in Corinth,” she says. “I slowly began to realize that God had things to teach me ... that could only be learned (for me) in the U.S.A.”
Nancy joined a local church and became involved in campus ministry.
“What I learned during the next couple of years was that loving, serving and obeying God are the priorities of life, especially (and hardest of all) in the mundane things of every day,” she says. “The ‘where’ doesn’t really matter — needs are everywhere to be met and people are everywhere to be loved.
ALL ABOARD FOR MISSION: Medical mission workers Dr. Leslie Morgan, right, and Dr. Beverley Booth, left, and PC(USA) international health and development coordinator Bob Ellis waiting outside the Lalitpur, India, train station while visiting the health care facilities of partner denominations. Photo by Gail Bingham“The irony is that God used this involvement in the U.S. church to ultimately confirm his will for me to serve overseas. By then, however, I had ‘gotten the message’ and was willing to serve him anywhere.”
In 1985 Nancy started serving as a mission worker in Africa with her husband, Frank. Nearly a quarter of a century later, they live in Lesotho, where he serves as the PC(USA)’s Africa Health Liaison. While raising their seven children, Nancy found time to found and coordinate a crisis nursery, an orphanage for children whose parents were victims of HIV/AIDS.
Ingrid Reneau’s call also took time to discern. In fact, mission work was not her first vocation, but her third. A native of Belize who came to the United States at age 13, Ingrid initially pursued careers in the secular world, first in banking, and then as a professor.
“I had a successful, promising academic career, but there was always an unrest inside me, “ she says. “There was an inkling that this wasn’t it for me.”
Ingrid says she heard God’s call while on a silent retreat. The where and how were not spelled out, but she knew it had something to do with education. So Ingrid left academia and for several years took low-paying jobs with the United Methodist Church, helping primary then high school students.
FAMILY AFFAIR: Nancy and Frank Dimmock, right rear, with children in Decatur, Ga., in 2007 while on a U.S. interpretation tour.“I was learning to rely on God for everything,” says Ingrid. “That was very difficult, because I’ve always been independent.”
Then a mission worker from Sudan asked Ingrid to come help build a school in the southern part of that war-torn nation. While she was considering the request, political conditions in Sudan worsened, and the plans were postponed.
“I said, ‘No problem. Waiting is wonderful,’” recalls Ingrid.
But a seed had been sown.
Ingrid was eventually put in touch with Presbyterian Bill Andress, co-moderator of the Sudan Advocacy Action Forum, a grassroots Christian organization working for justice and peace in Sudan. He led her to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission recruitment process, and, as she says, “the rest is history.”
In response to requests from PC(USA) partners in the region — two Presbyterian denominations and an association of Christian organizations — in 2007 Ingrid began helping to expand the country’s church-sponsored school system, a key education provider. Her work involves improving administration and teaching methods.
After nearly five decades of civil war a fragile peace is holding in southern Sudan, but the government does not offer much in the way of public services or education. There is little funding for education or for training, paying and supporting teachers, says Ingrid. “Most of the children do not get an education.”
Waiting also was involved in the mission call of Leith and Carol Fujii, who teach English at the Bangkok Institute of Theology in Thailand. When they married in 1982, they felt mission service was in their future, but they did not receive an assignment until 1998.
“I knew God had put the mission field on Leith’s heart, but I sure didn’t anticipate the uncertain and faith-stretching journey ahead,” says Carol.
Following completion of service in the U.S. Navy, Leith entered seminary, but his first year ended with him “theologically confused,” Carol expecting their first child and “the money running out,” says Carol.
MORE THAN TEACHING: Leith Fujii, who helps Thai seminary students learn English, participating in a discussion at Bangkok’s Mumpraporn (Blessing Corner) Church. Photo by Joseph WilliamsThat’s when Church of Christ Presbyterian Church in Chicago called Leith as an assistant to the pastor. Knowing the couple intended to go overseas eventually, “they received and supported us with no strings attached.” With the congregation’s support, Leith completed his Master of Divinity degree.
During their time in Chicago the Fujiis met Thai natives living in the city and became interested in Thailand. They traveled to Thailand and India, and Leith came home convinced God was calling them to serve there. Carol was not so sure.
“I wasn’t happy to leave our church, and asked a lot of hard questions,” she says. When a missionary appointment to Thailand came through, however, they both felt good about the outcome.
Teaching English was not the mission Leith originally envisioned, but “nevertheless it is the role God has for me.” Because there are few theological resources in the Thai language, Thai students must be competent in English to pursue advanced studies in theology.
“Whether through classroom instruction or welcoming people into our lives, we rejoice in being able to invest ourselves in the goal of raising up and training servant leaders in the Thai church,” says Leith.
Mission workers, pastors, Christian educators and others in the church community often play key roles in mission call stories.
Choon Lim credits his mission call to a personal encounter. Choon serves in a college ministry he started for Taiwan’s aboriginal population. His wife, Yen Hee Lim, a registered nurse, works at a center for children with disabilities and in a mobile clinic, traveling to remote mountain villages.
Taiwan was not the Lim’s first choice. They wanted to go to Ethiopia.
“Our mission board asked us to go to Taiwan and suggested that we meet Don McCall,” says Choon. McCall had served as a missionary in Taiwan for three decades before retiring due to illness in the late 1990s. As they left McCall’s house, he said to them, “I give you my mission torch. Please go to Taiwan and serve the people.” But the Lims left without saying yes.
Six weeks later Choon learned that McCall had died. He went to McCall’s house and prayed with McCall’s family. Choon says the Holy Spirit moved his heart and he silently told God that he would go to Taiwan and serve.
As the college ministry in Taiwan grew, the Lims needed more space. So in 2003 they moved into what turned out to be McCall’s former Taiwan residence. “Even now our electric bill is in Don’s name, and the water bill is in former mission worker Bob Montgomery’s name,” says Choon. “They left Taiwan, but their spirits are still here and guide us and empower us to do God’s work.”
Harry and Debbie Horne are in their third decade as mission workers. Harry teaches Bible and biblical language courses in Lima, Peru, and Debbie is the site coordinator for young adult volunteers.
Harry says his call began 50 years ago at the time of his confirmation at First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, Fla. “My pastor said, ‘Read the Bible every day,’ so I started reading through Matthew,” he recalls. “That’s a pretty powerful Gospel, and of course it ends with the Great Commission.”
The call continued to grow within him and was confirmed at a mission conference five years later, before he entered college.
Debbie says her call was different, “more of a natural transition.” Her parents went door-to-door evangelizing for their Methodist church, and she had an aunt and uncle who were missionaries in Africa, so she grew up hearing their stories. She assumed that mission work was in her future.
Then she met Harry.
“On our first date he told me he was called to overseas mission,” she says. “God is full of surprises.”
Meeting one’s life partner also played a part in Les and Cindy Morgan’s mission story. The Morgans are returning to Bangladesh this fall, entering their third decade of medical mission work in that overpopulated and impoverished nation on the north shore of the Bay of Bengal.
Cindy says she long felt, even as a pre-teen, she should be open to God’s call, but not especially to mission work. She went on to college and then medical school, but did not feel that call.
“Then I met Les,” she says. “And it was not so much where Les was in the journey, as it was who Les is. It didn’t matter where Les went, because I knew I was supposed to be with Les.”
As a young man in Shreveport, La., Les knew he would go to medical school, and he had an inclination to do something besides set up a practice at home.
“Frank Alexander, my pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Shreveport, helped me get connected with opportunities for young people at the General Assembly level,” says Les. Eventually, through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.) Youth in Mission program, Les spent the summer after his junior year in college working with Presbyterian missionaries Stewart and Larry Ann Bridgman in the slums on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
“It was an extremely formative time,” recalls Les. “When I flew out of Dhaka in August, I had a feeling I’d be back.”
Twelve years later (in 1989), with the youngest of their three children only seven months old, the Morgans went to Bangladesh on their first appointment. They work with the Church of Bangladesh, advising its health ministries and often traveling throughout the country to visit its 75 congregations. The heart of their work is fellowship.
“The table we meet at is spelled with a big T, and it’s where we abide in fellowship and communion with the people we are called to serve,” says Les.
Cindy says she feels called to be with the women of Bangladesh, “because they are very much marginalized.” She provides education, training and support, “but mostly I’m showing the presence of the church.”
While studying for her certificate in spiritual formation at San Francisco Theological Seminary earlier this year, Cindy says she had a revelation. “I was reading the story of Samuel receiving his call in the book of Daniel. Samuel thought he was receiving a call from Eli, but it was really God talking.
“It was then that I heard God saying to me, ‘Cindy, you only thought it was Les who brought you to Bangladesh, but it was I who wanted you there.”
John Sniffen is associate editor of Presbyterians Today.
Could God be calling you?
Global mission in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is centered on the following four challenges:
- Witnessing and evangelizing worldwide
- Equipping the church (globally) for transforming mission
- Engaging in ministries of reconciliation, justice, healing and grace
- Living the good news of Jesus Christ in community with people who are poor
To learn more about how you can become a mission worker or help support mission workers around the world, go to the Mission Service Recruitment Web site.
Missionary Motivations
In A History of Presbyterian Missions, 1944–2007 (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) Caroline N. Becker lists six reasons why people do mission service:
- To witness
- In response to a call or commission
- To help the local church
- To serve people’s basic needs
- In response to influential past experiences
- To follow a spouse
About one-third of the mission workers “articulated a commitment to overseas service, which grew out of their desire to serve as Christ’s witness,” writes Becker. “This motivation was expressed in a number of ways, such as “to serve Christ and his church,” “to share the gospel of Jesus Christ” and “to share God’s love/the love of Jesus Christ.”
More than half of the mission workers said their motivation remained the same throughout their careers. Of those who noted a change in their calls, a majority mentioned “a particular shift of focus in their ministry from programs to people.” They “grew to see the need for empowering the people where they served to continue the work that they were doing,” writes Becker.
“As one missionary stated, ‘At first, I saw myself as doing something, and increasingly I saw myself as one helping others to be engaged in ministry.’” |
