Message Magazine Online - Vol. 53, No. 02, Summer/Fall 2005

In This Issue

• A Faith-Building Adventure
  By Donna Messenger
• Answering the Call
  By Michael G. Loftis, President
• Missions: Marathon or High Hurdles?
  By Bill Commons
• The Rearview Mirror
• Before I Was a Missionary
  Thoughts from South Brazil Missionaries
• The Prefield Journey
  By Jim Ruff
• The Missionary Family
  By Russell E. Ebersole, Jr.
• The Power of a Tract
  By Kathy Laughlin
• Into Life Eternal
• Candidate Class 2005

The Prefield Journey

By Jim Ruff, Associate Director of CEIM

Long-time members of your church have recently been appointed as missionaries with ABWE. They returned home from ABWE’s Candidate Seminar with their suitcases in the back seat of the car and a notebook that seemed to fill the trunk. As they described their experiences to the church body the next Sunday, they frequently repeated one phrase: “prefield ministry.”

Many people use the word deputation for the period of time in which a missionary raises his support. A number of years ago, ABWE changed that term to prefield ministry, because it emphasizes the “ministry” aspect of the time spent in preparing for cross-cultural ministry. 

The terminology is not all that has changed. There was a time, not so long ago, when the appointed missionary had one focus: raising the support that would get him to the field.  Now there is a dual focus: not only must each missionary prayerfully look to local churches and individuals for support, he or she must also complete a personalized course of assignments and training programs before leaving for the field.

These assignments are customized by the staff of the Center for Excellence in International Ministries (CEIM), ABWE’s training division, based upon the training and experience the missionary brings to ABWE, the field, and the type of ministry the missionary will perform.

Determining “prefield development assignments” is a straightforward task. First, Wayne Haston (CEIM director) and Jim Ruff (CEIM assistant director) review the documents—including transcripts—that each candidate submits in the application process. Then, during Candidate Seminar, Wayne and Jim interview each candidate to prepare a provisional list of assignments. The list is then given to the candidate’s regional administrator for additional suggestions. Ron Berrus, the executive administrator for Missionary Care and director of Prefield Ministries, receives the list to assist him in the counsel and direction he provides during the missionary’s prefield ministry.

After the candidates are appointed by the ABWE Board, they are given copies of their assignment lists. Within weeks, those assignments are added to the Tracker, a program ABWE developed to enable the prefield missionary to review assignments and report their completion.

If there are any assignments that involve mentoring or gaining more local church ministry experience, CEIM and the sending church work together to prepare the new missionary for prefield ministry and his future field ministry. No missionaries are cleared to leave for their field until both ABWE and their sending church are confident of their readiness.

Included among their assignments are two major training programs: the Field Preparation Seminar, which candidates attend after having raised eighty-five percent of their support; and the Core Ministries Institute, which will prepare them for cross-cultural evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.

As a result of this change in approach, missionaries now have a broader goal as they begin their prefield journey: to look to the Lord of glory for opportunities to serve, witness, gain needed support, and gain the knowledge and training that will prepare them for excellence in their new, life-long ministries. 

For more detailed information, visit the ABWE Prefield Development page.