Being effective on the field

1. Develop a hunger for the Word of God. 
Know it deeply; study it daily. Spend time meditating on it. 
Base everything you do on it. God’s Word will keep you 
steadfast and focused in hard times. You can fight the lies 
of the enemy when you have it hidden in your heart. It is 
good to have some Bible training before going to the field. 
An Old and New Testament survey is excellent.

2. Develop spiritual maturity. 
Some people think when they are on the field they will suddenly 
 become spiritual.Spiritual maturity is developed through time and trial. We 
cannot rush it, but we can delay it by not properly exercising 
spiritual disciplines. Whatever you envision doing on a 
foreign field, begin practicing right now. The trials, lessons 
and successes from a home venture will mature you and 
provide a spiritual track record for the future.

3. Develop a prayer life. 
The best way to learn to pray is to pray. 
 No one has failed in prayer who has prayed. Much 
prayer will result in much blessing; little prayer, little 
blessing. Not praying is a testimony we don’t really believe 
God is faithful to fulfill His promises. The success of any 
work is through prayer. Learn to spend at least an hour a 
day in prayer.

4. Develop a support team. 
 Ninety percent of everything in ministry has to do with relationships. 
We are not individuals with an isolated call; we are members of 
a body. We suggest 20-30 close relationships with people 
who feel connected in heart and mind to your vision and 
call. There are different approaches to developing these. I 
suggest reading Serving As Senders by Neal Pirolo.

5. Receive confirmation through church leadership. 
Acts 13:1-2 is a good example of how church leaders 
could be hearing from the Lord. The same Spirit who 
spoke 2000 years ago still speaks. The same purpose and 
plan stands. Those who listen will hear. I can often meet 
a person and almost immediately know if they have a call 
to missions. My rate of error is only about 5%. Go to your 
church leaders, share what the Lord has put on your heart 
about missions and ask them to pray for confirmation.

6. Develop an attitude of sacrifice. 
Mission is not an adventure tour or holiday pursuit. 
People die in missions.Years ago the Lord challenged me with John 15:13: “No 
one has greater love than this.that one lays down his 
life for his friends.” This is easy to say but hard to live. 
The Lord will test our motives by allowing circumstances 
to reveal the reasons why we do what we do. Sacrifice requires 
us to do what we may not want to. Many start with 
this attitude but change as the demands of missionary life 
empty us time and again. Read and study Philippians 2.

7. Learn spiritual warfare. 
We have learned the greatest way the powers of darkness attack is by planting doubt about who we are in Christ. Spiritual warfare often means 
weighing what we are thinking against the truth of the 
Word of God. Realizing the power of the blood of Christ 
to cancel sinful thoughts, attitudes and actions is a key 
to fighting the good fight and keeping the faith. You can 
learn more about this through our teaching called Identifying 
and Destroying Personal Spiritual Strongholds.

8. Develop loveliness. 
Psalm 135:3 says, “For the Lord is good… gracious and lovely!” 
There is attractiveness in godliness. The fruit of the Spirit in us will attract 
some and repel others. Kindness without prejudice, joy in suffering 
and hope in difficulty will show others what we really 
believe. Especially important are the words we speak to 
others and about others. One speaker talked about giving 
others beautifully wrapped packages of words.

9. Develop cultural empathy and etiquette. 
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. 
Etiquette is good and acceptable forms of manners in a 
given culture. One of the greatest challenges will be to 
feel and do as those in the host culture. Take a course on 
cross-cultural communication focused on the development 
of culture, attitudes, assimilation and comprehension.

10. Develop endurance. 
In due season, we will reap if we do not fail. The truth is that once the honeymoon of culture wears off and life winds down to a day-to-day grind, 
the tendency is to doubt the call and leave. Questions also 
need to be answered about the possible need to leave the 
field if there is a disaster or looming danger. What is the 
Lord saying? What would He have you to do? Remember, 
our lives are not our own.

Norman J. P. is Executive Director of the Elijah Company, a missionary 
training and mentoring ministry. Visit them on the web at 
www.elijhacompany.org.