Grounding the Next Steps: A Personal Fitness Assessment
by Steve HokeLike high altitude mountain climbing, short-term or long-term mission takes careful planning and preparation. If you “train” right and “pack” well, you’ll be ready to handle the unexpected and weather the difficulties. Before you get started, here’s a “mini-personal fitness assessment” program with three levels - self-awareness, sensitivity, and practical skills. Greater self-awareness will lead to greater sensitivity, which, in turn, will help you develop greater practical ministry skills.
Self-awareness level. You’ll carry your culture with you - whether you’re conscious of it or not. Self-awareness begins with a clearer understanding of yourself. Until you see yourself as you really are, you’ll see others from a distorted point of view. The first part of your personal preparation program helps you gain a balanced perspective with the use of two very simple tools.
1. Taking a cross-sectional view: Profile of a critical role needed today. The first self-assessment tool allows you to see how who you are today matches with the profile of a critical role needed in missions today, that of a cross-cultural church planter. This is only one of a variety of important missionary roles needed today, including the Bible translator, the provider of technical services, the mentor-coach, and the tentmaker. Some of the new roles include serving as facilitators, along-side trainers, leader developers, and side-by-side encouragers. But we’ve chosen this role as a baseline profile because it takes into account some of the most important personal character traits, ministry skills, and knowledge areas you will need to have.
2. Evaluating your readiness. The second self-assessment tool asks a series of questions as you read through the case study of two actual couples as they prepared their next steps into missions. Their stories and the issues raised may give you a framework from which to see the importance of evaluating your own readiness at this time.
3. Journal worksheet: How do I shape up for missions? The third self-assessment tool is a journal worksheet asking guiding questions for you to think and pray about in all three related areas - self-awareness, sensitivity, and practical skills. Jotting down your honest assessment of where you see yourself now will serve as a helpful benchmark as you continue to grow spiritually, mentally, and relationally.
The better job you do of self-evaluation at this initial phase, the better you will be prepared to respond honestly and thoughtfully to the questions of others as you take your first steps into missions involvement. You’ll be packed and ready to go. You’ll have a sense of, “Hey, I’ve already thought and prayed about that. I’m ready to take the next step.”
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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