Suggested Criteria for
Overseas Missionary Selection
Preliminary:
Missionaries serving in foreign settings face challenges of learning a new language and culture, and frequently face hostile religions and worldviews.
- What evidence is there of candidates having strong cross-cultural skills? These would include previous overseas experience and foreign language proficiency.
- Are they oriented toward spiritual warfare?
- How have they prepared for the field/roles ahead?
- How does their spiritual gifting compare with their anticipated ministry?
- By Jim Sutherland
- Category: Missions
Overseas Partnership Principles and Priorities
Is a genuine partnership with American ministries possible?
RMNI has worked with many overseas partners in Africa, Asia and Southeast Asia since 1993. Can a fruitful partnership develop between Americans and other Christians, despite clear differences in what each brings to the table? Yes, if assumptions, expectations and goals of both are clearly understood and agreed upon at the outset and reiterated as necessary, and if the aim is to serve the other. There is no completely equal partnership between individuals or organizations, cross-cultural or otherwise. As in marriage, partnerships are complementary. 
Each brings strengths and weaknesses. Americans lack cultural intelligence, and knowledge of local languages and needs, but have money, educational resources, operational systems and technical expertise. Africans and Indians, for example, bring cultural and language proficiency, knowledge of local needs, networks, and often exemplary Christian lives, but frequently need what American have.
- By Jim Sutherland
- Category: Missions
Testimony of God's Deliverance from the Khartoum war between the government armed forces and rapid support forces
“I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord,…” (Psalm 40:9-10)
I am Rev. William Jada Daniel Loro, the current moderator of Equatoria Presbytery in the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan.
Why I was in Khartoum, Sudan
I have been treated for the Hepatitis B virus since 2015. According to the doctor who first prescribed the medication in Egypt, I should have regular checkups at least every 6-12 months to monitor the effectiveness of the medication and to do an abdominal scan. I was late for my checkup due to financial constraints. By the grace of God, the church where I am serving helped me with money to do the checkup in Khartoum. I left Juba on Saturday, the 8th of April 2023, one day before Easter, reaching Khartoum that evening. On Sunday morning I celebrated Easter in one of the Episcopal churches near where I was staying. The following day I went to the hospital with my friend Michael Angelo Modi. The checkup went well, the doctor commenting about the really good test results. The only test remaining was the viral load, which the Al-Faisal specialized Hospital doesn’t have, so the doctor sent me to the nearby Al-Fidel Hospital. There I was told to return after one week to collect the results. So on Saturday I went to Khartoum city to meet my friend Michael, and to get the results. At 9:00 am I received a call from where I was staying that there were gunshots in the Souba area, where Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been based. Before the conversation finished I heard gunshots in the military command site not far away. Immediately people begin to run in different directions, especially to bus stations. I and my friend tried to reach our bus station. Unfortunately, since drivers had fled to safety, there were no busses. We wondered what to do then. We ran to Khartoum Christian Center (KCC), a Pentecostal church. KCC was the center we used to worship in before the separation of South Sudan from Sudan in 2011. It is closer to the presidential palace than to the RSF command area. The area was controlled by the RSF, but the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) was fighting them. We knocked on the gate, but the gate keeper did not open for us. Near that church there was another hospital. Someone from the hospital saw us stranded at the gate and called us to enter the hospital, because bullets might hit us, as firing was now everywhere.
- By Rev. William Loro
- Category: Sudan
Missiology article published!
No research documenting African American overseas missionaries has been available for over 20 years, of which we are aware. That research in 1998 was in an unpublished doctoral dissertation, also available on this website. An article summarizing some of that earlier research, primarily to assist mission executives in recruiting African Americans, can be downloaded here (PDF). Prior to 1998, systematic research by Wilbur Harr (1945) and Sylvia Jacobs (1982) focused upon Black missionaries in Africa. We hope this work will inform, assist, and motivate toward realizing the huge potential of the African American church for global Christian mission!
This is the accepted manuscript for the (very slightly updated) article appearing in the April, 2023 edition of Missiology: An International Review. We deeply appreciate the assistance of many in the African American mission mobilization community, as well as significant help from mission executives. Walt Robertson, our webmaster, posted research surveys and oversaw data-gathering since around 2000. We’re grateful for invaluable critiques of peer reviewers, and encouragement provided by Missiology. Unusually, we credit the assistance of intercessors who prayed for years that this work would reach the academic and, hopefully, the general missions community.
While the authors hold the copyright, and while you may freely download and print the article, Sage Publications controls reproduction beyond personal use—please see the text box on p. 1 for permissions.
https://rmni.org/files/afam/HistoryandResearch/African-American-Missionaries-Serving-Overseas.pdf
- By James W Sutherland, Richard Coleman and Jacinta Russell
- Category: Overseas Missions
A Street-based Model of Inner-city Ministry
Most of what I’ve learned in inner-city ministry among the materially poor over 30 years can be summarized as: Be Good News, Be uncomfortable, Be consistent.
- By Jim Sutherland
- Category: Urban Ministries
Pace Ministries - Dr. Dorris Ngaujah
I have been in Kenya 14 years now. My current title is Assistant to the Director and Founder of PACE Ministries. I do a lot of things, but teaching is probably my best description. I help with staff chapel as well as lead the Sunday worship and teaching for our primary and secondary students. I have a hand in developing partnerships; I mentor students. Our ministry sponsors two schools and I am a part of the administrative team.
- By Dr. Dorris Ngaujah
- Category: Overseas Missions
Church Global Missions Resources
Here are some useful resources for your local church to help educate and motivate folks to go global.
- Here is a 33-page handbook for Black churches to use to develop their global missions program. Many resources are detailed. It's available for printing and distribution in your church. It was updated in August 2013.
- This PowerPoint™ presentation, African Americans and Global Missions, provides an overview of what missions is, a brief history of African American missions and scriptural reasons to engage the Great Commission. You may use and modify it according to your needs.
- David Mays, who was an expert church missions mobilizer, wrote How to Operate an Effective Missions Team.
- JoshuaProject.net is working on "Bringing definition to the unfinished task."
- By Jim Sutherland
- Category: Af-Am. Missions
Reconciliation Report
Servant Partners
Read and Join
Race Matters:
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Annual federal financial information
for this ministry can be accessed at:
Partnering in missions with:
and