"And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit
and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the
fathers to their children and the disobedient
to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready
a people prepared by the Lord." Luke 1:17
Our Reason for Existence
"The
Elijah Company stimulates an awakening in me.
I walk each day with a greater sense of purpose
to the fulfillment of the promises and call
God has put on my life. Mission's Candidate
The
Elijah Company exists to provide all the encouragement,
direction and resources we can to help missionaries
get to the field. It wouldn't surprise us
to think that in any average Christian community,
the Holy Spirit would not set apart at least 1%
of the members to be Barnabas' and Sauls to this
generation. Therefore, our goal is to believe
God for the dispersion of 1% of committed Christians
from every community. Remember that in the midst
of a worshiping, praying and loving community,
the Holy Spirit said to the prophets and teachers,
"Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to
which I have called them" (Acts 13:3).
Though
the movement of short term missionaries is great,
there is a need for more people willing to give
up their lives, trust the Lord for support, re-locate,
learn the language and persevere in bringing God's
light to the nations over the course of many years.
We want to help make this happen.
Our
Assumptions
"We
all have a sense of destiny in our hearts. We
have an inner compass that wants to follow God's
purpose and calling. We are placed here to fulfill
a unique and glorious destiny."
People
are at all different stages in their preparation.
Some have had much training but need a "jump start".
Others are merely toying with the idea of becoming
a missionary. Others are quite committed to the
idea but have no real direction or idea what steps
to take.
Everyone
will have a different call in a different place.
Therefore we cannot prescribe to every person
the same pathway in order to pursue their call.
For some, seminary or college is needed. For others,
it is not. Some may need personal discipleship
before further considering a call.
Being
a missionary is more than just having knowledge.
It is having character, faith, experience, a prayer
life, consistent spiritual disciplines and piety.
Piety is a focused devotion of life motivated
by an extreme admiration and respect for another
based on known facts of their personhood. In the
case of a missionary, this person is Jesus.
What
We Believe
"Encourage
missionaries to get mentoring or coaching before
they go out. There is absolutely no comparison
in the results. The Biblical way is on-the-job
mentoring." George Patterson, mission's spokesman
Sending missionaries is a spiritual pursuit.
The Lord sends. Matthew writes, "Pray to the
Lord of the harvest that He would send workers
to the harvest" (Matthew 9:37-38). Throughout
history, He has used human agents to equip. He
has allowed a variety of means and still does.
Normally
the path of mission's endeavors is discovered
with the help of mentors. These mentors provide
experiential knowledge, they advise when they
see unwise moves, they coach in the development
stages, they rejoice in victories, they encourage
and sometimes reprove. A mentor's most important
role is to provide a model. Mentorship can be
formal or informal, intentional or unintentional.
Our
Teaching is Practical
"I
joined the Board of Elijah Company, Inc. because
I saw in the organization a new, fresh, and
exciting alternative to the traditional ways
of preparing people for the field. It's hands-on
and people-focused." Elijah Company Board Member
Many
are healed and set free from lifetime strongholds
during our training. This is important because
most of the difficulties faced on the mission
field come about as a result of undetected spiritual
strongholds. Personal knowledge of Christ' provision
needs to go beyond a superficiality. It needs
to live in our hearts. Identifying false beliefs
is a major part of our program.
Cross-cultural
training (anthropology) is a lifetime pursuit.
Many volumes are written about this subject. It
is as profound as God's creation of man. Our succinct
training aims to heighten cultural receptors and
provide culturally general principles to make
a graceful adjustment into a new culture with
the ability to avoid undue difficulties. We compare
it to physically landing in a new place. Make
a smooth landing and avoid the potholes.
Loving
one another is the great challenge. Most church
splits and mission team failures are a result
of poor or broken relationships. Understanding
people differences is helpful in giving and receiving
communication. It helps us bare the weaknesses
of others and recognize our own. We teach the
four basic temperaments but add to it principles
for reordering attitudes that can break down teams.
A special inclusion is how personalities relate
to culture. But at the core of all relationships
is the willingness to be broken of our own self
will and seek to esteem the desires of others
(Philippians
2).
Our
training is practical, inspirational and spiritually
imparted. Preaching the good news of the Gospel
by life and word is so important. This was the
work Jesus did and that which He ordained us to
do. It is reasonable to believe that a prospective
missionary should also be experienced in sharing
Jesus with others at home. A recent trainee led
someone to the Lord on the bus ride home. This
was a first for him.
Prayer
is the primary means of achieving God's work.
Anyone not seriously involved in prayer should
not go to the mission field. As a sailboat cannot
make it to shore without wind, we can not achieve
God's purposes without prayer. Our aim is to heighten
the need for prayer and fasting in every prospective
missionary and lay down principles and resources
for a better prayer life.
We
teach realities and wrong expectations. In
reality, most of the missionary presentations
in churches shine the light on the positive side
of missions. Few of us hear the heartaches, struggles,
pain, loss and sometimes failure that take place
in missions. It is anything but a walk in the
park on a sunny day. It is, in the strictest sense,
a battle for life and death. We try to be honest
in communicating this to trainees so that they
can better count the cost.
We
teach principles of developing a support team.
A great challenge is to believe that funding will
come in. There is a great chasm to cross as one
leaves employment with guaranteed income to living
by faith. How does one take the first steps? More
important than finances is the need for a prayer
team that really prays. We also focus on this
important aspect.
We
work with churches to mentor and certify individuals
before they go. We provide an Elijah Company
Certification Program. We realized that a doctor,
nurse, pilot or technician all need to be certified
but there are few, if any, certifications programs
for missionaries. Certification is not a test,
but it allows a candidate to demonstrate that
they can really do what they are called to do.
There will always be more things to learn, but
certain basics need to be in place before a person
proceeds in a missionary call. There are ten areas
that we have identified as crucial for missionary
life. Before a person is sent on the field, they
should be able to perform to a good degree in
these areas.
Is
the Elijah Company different from other mission's
training? In many ways it is. There are many
good programs out there. Like most of them, we
will not claim that a person will get everything
they need from Elijah Company, but they will get
a great deal.
What
We Do
We
help provide practical, scriptural understanding,
and mentoring relationships to guide on a trail
toward world evangelization. Elijah Company
Director
- We
offer enlightenment as ones who have been in
missions.
- We
offer counsel regarding steps to take.
- We
teach from personal experience that which God
has taught us.
- We
model the life of prayer and faith.
- We
defer to other parts of the body of Christ those
things we are not equipped to do.
- We
exalt in Jesus Christ, seeking to live in a
fuller measure of the Holy Spirit and delighting
ourselves in the Father heart of God.
- We
seek to be an example in presenting Christ on
every occasion when presented with the opportunity.
"The
harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send
out workers into His harvest field." Matthew 9:37-38
Training
in World Missions
To
learn more about the Elijah Company please read:
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