There is no fast-track to successful international ministry. It takes a great deal of equipping and preparation for long-term success on the field. While we know every situation is unique, this page outlines the standard timeline for new international applicants, from the time they apply with Reliant to the time they launch to the field.
Application and Development Phase (2-4 months)
A 3-part application including general information, a ministry readiness assessment, and a moral conduct/emotional health questionnaire
Applicants complete a set of online assessments that is reviewed by a clinical psychologist. Reliant and the applicant are provided with an initial summary, which the applicant will debrief in an interview with one of IMPC licensed counseling professionals. A final report is provided to Reliant with a final recommendation for placement and development opportunities.
In conjunction with the applicant's local ministry leadership, Reliant will provide a personal development plan to work on prior to launch. In some cases, certain steps will need to be completed before attending Reliant's training.
Initial Ministry Team Development (4-12 months)
This is a 3-day virtual training (2 days cover support-raising and 1 day covers international-specific topics). Trainees will also have around 10 hours of pre-work to complete before attending.
All workers will be offered a support-raising coach to encourage them throughout their initial MTD phase. Coaches will help establish goals based on your desired launch timeline. Coaching may be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on the amount of time the individual is spending on support-raising.
Your primary job when you are on-boarded with Reliant is to raise the funds needed for your ministry. This means that you will likely need to step back from some of your local ministry responsibilities in order to concentrate on developing your ministry team. We use the term "Release to Assignment" to indicate that you have finished your initial Ministry Team Development responsibilities and are ready to enter your ministry role. Or in other words, you get to purchase your plane tickets and launch!
To be released to assignment, you must meet 100% of your recurring monthly goal and have an account balance that is 3x your monthly goal.
Fixed-term workers should have 100% of their one-time goal through received or promised gifts.
Usually people remain as Associate volunteers during the majority of initial MTD, so that their account balance can build up for launch expenses. However, some workers may need to begin receiving a small paycheck so that they can devote more hoers to MTD. Once you reach 25% of your monthly recurring goal, we can hire you at part-time and determine the right amount of salary to provide for your needs while still building up the needed funds in your account. Some workers choose to ask for large one-time gifts up front to sustain them during the support-raising season.
Field Preparation (1 month)
When a new worker reaches approximately 50% of their support goal, they will be enrolled in our Crisis Management course through LEARN and asked to begin working on a crisis management checklist and creating contingency plans.
All workers will also be required to have some level of security training:
Basic Threat Level: Online course through Concilium
Moderate/High Threat Level: In-person security training through Concilium or CIT.
All workers should receive some level of cross-cultural training. This is usually a one-month in-person training and may also include some language acquisition training based on field requirements. You should plan to attend toward the end of your initial support-raising phase, usually when you are between 80-100% of your goal.
See Pre-field Cross-cultural Training for details.
4 Comments
Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org)
Unknown User (kate.pendola@reliant.org) Should a completed international Release to Assignment get sent to hr@reliant.org or international@reliant.org?
Unknown User (kate.pendola@reliant.org)
I believe we want international missionaries sending that form to international@reliant.org (since I am the one that will follow up with them to do their hallelujah call, not KZ). The form does say to send the form to hr@reliant.org, and if that happens its not the end of the world (we don't need to change the form), but it would be good if the instructions on this page to say send to international@reliant.org (since this page is only for international missionaries).
Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org)
user-1a794 I see this page is waiting for your approval after changes Kate made.
user-a88de