Program areas at Village Missions
Christianity Programs: Rural Ministry. Provide spiritually qualified missionaries to rural churches. Village Missions recruits, screens, trains and hires prospective candidates for ministry. Candidates are assigned to churches upon acceptance. District Representatives come alongside to provide guidance to the church, and mentoring and supervision to the Village Missionary. Village Missions also provides salary support, as well as a group health plan and related benefits. Approximately 80 of 200 churches served in the US and Canada received full or partial salary support in the year.
Christianity Programs: Candidate School. Village Missions conducts orientation classes to screen and train prospective Village Missionaries. This is the final step in a rigorous screening process where the the call of candidates to the ministry is validated and their final acceptance is determined. We hold Candidate School in the Spring and Fall of each year. This week-long event gives potential missionary-pastors a good look at Village Missions: our history, policies, mission, and vision. At the same time, we get to know the candidates. The candidates are trained for rural ministry and spend time in prayer together. They get to know the International Service Center staff. At the end of the week, the candidates hold a service where they share their testimonies and Executive Director John Adams gives a short message. The public is invited to this service. As part of our continuing efforts to find new Village Missionaries to bring to Candidate School and send to fields who are waiting for leadership, we take special time to pray each month. To join in with us, visit our RIPE page https://villagemissions.org/ripe/.
Christianity Programs: Conferences. The acronym R.E.S.T perfectly describes what we hope to achieve for each missionary. Renewal, Encouragement, Strengthening and Training. Village Missions gathers our missionaries together in 6 locations throughout the US and Canada each summer for mutual edification, encouragement and equipping. Summer 2020 conferences were suspended due to Covid, however virtual sessions and smaller regions gathering were undertaken as permitted in order to continue ministry to missioanries.
District Representatives: In FY 2020, 2 new DRs were added to bring the total to 8. The timing was providential as Covid brought opportunities to minister to Village Missionaries in more intensive and personal ways. These are veteran missionary couples who serve as "shepherds to shepherds" recruiting, screening, training, mentoring and providing ongoing support in their region to 25-35 missionary couples. The District Representatives also counsel the churches they serve, developing an awareness of the particular needs of the church, and the skills of the missionaries, working to assure successful placements of missionaries.
Contenders Discipleship Initiative (CDI): Contenders is a two-year, online tuition-free program offered by Village Missions to equip Christians for ministry within their local church and to prepare those who are called for full-time ministry as missionary pastors. The curriculum is offered free of charge to all and are suitable for a Sunday School or Bible Institute setting, or independent study. The CDI program involves two components: 1)Biblical Education and 2) Mentoring for Ministry. The Biblical component is a rigorous but compact curriculum delivered in six courses. The Mentoring component is provided by a pastor/mentor. Successful completion of the Contenders Discipleship Initiative program satisfies the educational requirements of Village Missions for missionary applicants. CDI is proving its value as Covid restrictions limit personal contact and drive the demand for educated shepherds to serve in small group contexts.