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You Can Be an IT Missionary
(A Wycliffe Member)

What Is a Member?

A Wycliffe member is a person…

• Who is led by God to work full-time in the Wycliffe Bible translation movement,
• Who passes through a number of qualification activities to become "accepted",
• Who gets a working assignment through a process of skill evaluation, prayer, mutual discussion of the often numerous assignment options and formal invitation(s) from one or more Wycliffe entities,
• Who may go through various training (i.e. technical, language, and field orientation, etc.) depending upon the requirements of your Wycliffe Organization (WO) and the entity where you are assigned,
• Whose ministry needs for prayer, financial income and practical support are met through a team of partners that God assembles around the member. This team typically includes one or more churches or groups and forty to seventy individuals or families. The financial partners can donate through their countries WO (if available) or the appropriate WO for the member's nationality. That WO also often provides many of the financial services that an employer typically provides for an employee (health insurance, various withholdings, retirement savings, etc.),
• Who spends a period of time building and maintaining a partnership team for prayer and financial support (specific fund amount varies dependent upon assignment location),
• Who has voting privileges (which help steer the organization) and reporting responsibilities (which provide accountability).

Counting the Cost

Becoming a member of Wycliffe is a very serious level of commitment. It may be a major lifestyle change for you. While the majority of applicants for membership make it through the screening and preparation process, some do not. If you are married (not required!), it is not a step you take without the total support of your spouse. In some countries, Wycliffe allows only one spouse to be a member but the norm is for both spouses in a married couple to become members. This is definitely a decision in which you want to follow Jesus' instructions: "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it" (Luke 14:28, NKJV).

To hear the story of how one computer missionary was called click on the mp3 file below.

Anderson Interview Dick Troyer, 2009-02-09 Download "Anderson", MP3 sound file, 3MB [641 downloads]

Counting Your Blessings

On the other hand, it is an amazing privilege to play a role in delivering God's good news to the nearly 300 million people who at present cannot understand it. You have the potential to witness someone receiving God's word for the first time and will also hear many stories about how God's word has touched lives.

The Kind of Members We Seek

Wycliffe is not looking for perfect people, because every Christian is still very much a work in progress. More than 70 years of experience has shown that people with certain attributes make good Wycliffe members who can handle the stresses and challenges of working in Bible translation.

Wycliffe places a lot of weight on the evaluation of an applicant's church or Christian fellowship group. We believe that the leadership of the body should know the applicant(s) well and have a good feel for their spiritual maturity.

To see some of the issues that could hold you back, click   readiness issues. Please, don't consider yourself not qualified until you have talked with a Wycliffe advisor.

If you are interested in becoming a member CLICK HERE to find out more about the skills questionnaire.

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