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At Reliant we love to see our employees called into greater opportunities. On a regular basis our employees sense God is calling them from the U.S. to an international ministry. This page is intended to help you understand the steps along the way and the timeline needed. The transfer process includes an assessment and a Hiring Decision between Reliant and the leadership of the international ministry. That decision may result in identifying areas in which the employee needs to develop before being invited to this new role. The employee is only free to announce a change and officially raise funds for the new ministry after the hiring decision has resulted in a New Ministry Offer. For these reasons, we encourage current employees to communicate wisely to friends, family and ministry partners. Helpful language includes comments like: "I believe God is calling me, and I've started a discernment process with my leadership"; "I hope to be released to an international assignment"; "Our hope and dream is to minister internationally, and we are preparing ourselves for that"; and "We hope you will continue supporting us if we are released to our new ministry." 



Steps in the Transfer Process

The process for a current U.S. employee with Reliant to transfer to an International role includes the following main stages:

Establish the Ministry Partnership (if needed)


All employee roles at Reliant result from a partnership between Reliant and the ministry where our employees serve. Usually, a move overseas indicates a need for a new partnership. Even if the ministry is being managed by a large church, there are usually supervisors for the particular location who will want to understand how we partner together. 
The process for establishing a partnership with Reliant includes the following:
  • Partnership Call is completed with Reliant's International Team and the new supervisors.
  • Reliant MOU signed by new partner ministry
  • New supervisor is oriented to need for a budget & international support goal
  • MTD coach identified, if needed

For an international employee, the partner church/ministry is most often the receiving church (located internationally). However, there are scenarios where Reliant partners with the sending church (located in the U.S.). It is important to determine whether the receiving or sending church is the appropriate partner for Reliant and continue the rest of the process with leadership from that church/ministry involved.

Refresh Assessment Process (8-10 weeks)


When someone is already an employee with us, we know they have been effectively assessed for their current ministry. An international move triggers new levels of stress and the need for greater preparation. Also, at Reliant we make sure that a new ministry's supervisor has had the opportunity to interview our employees for the roles they will carry. This is valuable to each party in the discernment process. 

Application


  • International Testing in partnership with International Missionary Personnel Consultants (IMPC)
  • Ministry/Health Assessment (completed through Breezy, our application Hub)
  • References from spouse and current supervisor

Interview Process


A potential international candidate will go through up to 3 interviews.

  1. IMPC Interview - The candidate will have the opportunity to debrief their International testing results with a licensed counselor, who will provide a summary report to the candidate, Reliant, and the new local supervisor.
  2. Local Supervisor - The person who will be the new supervisor of the worker in the international location will have the opportunity to hold an interview after receiving the Ministry/Health Assessment and IMPC report.
  3. Reliant - The candidate will be interviewed when needed by a member of the International team or a trained Reliant Assessor.

Decision


The local supervisor and Reliant will make a decision in regards to the transfer. 

The standard time for this process, once a transfer is initiated, is 4-6 weeks.

New Ministry Offer


A new ministry offer is an affirmation that the employee is well-suited for the new role and that Reliant and the new ministry leadership believe God's blessing is on the transition.

At this point, the employee will be released to work out their plans for release and transition from their current ministry. In most cases, the employee is carrying responsibilities that need to be transitioned to other people, and we expect our employees to leave well by making the space for a healthy transition.

In best-case scenarios, Reliant hopes that the current ministry views themselves as "senders." One aspect of that is that the current ministry continues to supervise the transitioning employee during their fundraising and international preparation season. Not every ministry situation can allow for that. If the current ministry is not able or willing to provide oversight, Reliant will look to the receiving ministry to provide this oversight. 

International Orientation & Support Goal Development

International Orientation 


Once an employee has been approved for the international team, they will need to be oriented to many of the unique distinctives of the international program. Usually they will attend an International DNA held directly after virtual trainings. In cases when this is not possible, they will need to schedule a call with the International Liaison. During an orientation, we will cover topics such as:

    1. International Support Goals
    2. Pre-Launch International Checklist
    3. Administrative functions
    4. International Health Insurance
    5. International Member Care
    6. Crisis Management

Support Goals and MTD

Typically, US-based employees will need to raise additional funds for their international assignment, both monthly and one-time expenses. Once International Transfers have determined thier new support goal, they will be required to raise:

  • 100% of monthly recurring gifts

  • 100% of one-time gifts OR a 3-month buffer of expenses in MTD account

The amount of time needed for this fundraising varies greatly depending on things like the amount of funding currently developed and the amount of time the employee can give to the process. 

Once you reach your goal, you will be approved to buy plane tickets and leave!

Cross-Cultural Training

Reliant employees who are serving internationally for more than 9 months are required to have cross-cultural training. Usually Reliant employees utilize  EQUIP training through CIT and COMPASS training with MTI. Reliant's International Program Team needs to approve any alternate cross-cultural training. The request for acceptance of alternate training needs to be initiated by the leadership of the supervising ministry.

You should plan to attend 1-2 months prior to launch.

Getting Started

When you wish to move internationally, it helps if you reach out to Reliant 6-12 months prior to your desired deployment. Answering the following questions will help us serve you and begin the transfer process. 

  • When do you plan to start MTD for your international role, and how much time do you plan to devote to MTD?
  • When do you plan to transition away from current job responsibilities?
  • Do you need to change your employment status while you raise additional support (you have the opportunity to change to Associate or a Part-Time status in order to accrue funds more quickly)? If so, when?
  • When do you hope to attend cross-cultural training?
  • When do you hope to complete your fundraising? (Fundraising must be completed in order to be released to your new assignment.)

  • When do you hope to move to your international ministry location?

Differences between U.S. and International Employment with Reliant


As U.S. employees with Reliant consider transitioning to an International role, there are various aspects of employment with Reliant that are similar and others that are different from employment in a U.S. role.


USInternational
SalaryMarket-basedHybrid Approach
Support Goal (and tool used)
  • Offered market-based salary is used to determine support goal
  • Support Goal Calculator tool used to submit

Insurance

(when benefits eligible)

BonusesMinistry Expense Bonus planned into support goalInternational workers are eligible for monthly Ministry Expense bonus, as well as International Bonuses for unique needs related to living internationally.
TaxesReliant withholds state tax based on where you are residing and working.Reliant does not typically withhold state tax for international workers. We ask all international workers to educate themselves on local tax guidelines for their state of permanent residence and to notify Reliant if they desire for state taxes to continue to be withheld.

Questions?

Adrienne Lansing

Email: adrienne.lansing@reliant.org

Phone: 407-801-8397

Title: International Liaison

Department: International

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6 Comments

  1. Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org)

    Unknown User (kate.pendola@reliant.org) Do you want this in Missionary Policies or International? It read more like an International space page to me.

    1. Unknown User (kate.pendola@reliant.org)

      Yeah, good question Ed - user-1a794 and I thought through that and actually decided we wanted it in Missionary Policies (since the audience we're going for is current US missionaries). We thought it would be more likely to be seen by the people who are needing the info this way. I'm open to discussion on that though!

  2. user-1a794

    Ed and Kate, Yep, like Kate said, open to discussion.  I think we could update the title.  What we are experiencing is that there is rapidly increasing number of US folks who want to move to int'l.  We learn late in their process becuase we don't have information available to them.  An alternate approach would be a solomon page w title:  "So you would like to change ministries" ... and then we have Transfer Ministry page, which links to : new supervisor, new location, new partnership, going int'l.  

  3. Unknown User (kate.pendola@reliant.org)

    Unknown User (kate.pendola@reliant.org):

    Table on this page should moved to a separate child page, linked in the Intl Orientation/Support Goal Development step/section.

    Split out the transfer process stages, based on how Cori structured her page (Process for Transferring from a Reliant Role in the US to an International Placement)

  4. user-a88de

    Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org) - could we change the Questions? to have my contact information on it since I will be the one handling this process going forward

  5. Julie Thomas

    Julie Thompson & Mike Easton - Kristina has been going through all the pages in the Missionary Policies section to update "missionary" language and do a quick review.  She noticed that "Missionary Resources" is still in this section. (See below; I can't add an inline comment in a drop down.) What should we change it to? (cc: Kristina Lilly)