W e understand that considering the following steps toward missionary service may be the fruit of years of God working in your life. What you are contemplating is more than a job?it is an opportunity to invest your life in Christ’s service and thereby be changed?it is a calling to offer yourself fully to Him and to serve His Holy Church.
The task before us is awesome; it is primarily one of discernment through evaluation and therefore must be covered in prayer. During this time, we will personally and prayerfully journey with you in the process of exploration and discernment.
The application process, from initial inquiry to New Candidate Orientation, typically takes between four and six months, depending upon each individual’s circumstance and typically includes the following steps:
Pre-Screening
We begin an open non-committal dialogue with you to answer your questions, build a personal relationship, and prayerfully begin the mutual process of exploration and discernment, advising time for prayer and spiritual counsel with your priest throughout the process.
Missionary Questionnaire
When each of us is comfortable that God may be calling you to consider missionary service we gather more information through the Missionary Questionnaire and consultation with your parish priest. At this point, neither you nor OCMC are making any commitments; we are walking together through open doors to further explore possibilities.
Application for Missionary Service
This is designed to gather the information we need for formal evaluation, and to help you ask yourself the questions that are pertinent to confirm your calling, motives, and aptitude for missionary service. Once we have favorably reviewed your completed application we will enroll you in the Missions 101 correspondence course. As a module of our comprehensive training program, Missions 101 is an introduction to the foundations of Orthodox missions, and the joys and challenges facing the missionary as taught by Fr. Luke Veronis, an OCMC missionary for over 10 years. Once we receive all references supporting documentation and completed background review, we will begin to explore potential assignment options.
Applicant Evaluation Retreat
During this three-day retreat, we utilize psychological evaluations, various other assessments and interviews to develop a comprehensive profile of your unique gifts, talents, aptitudes, and calling. We use this information to help customize a placement and job description within the parameters defined by the recieving hierarch, and which matches your gifts, talents and aptitudes; providing opportunity for professional and spiritual growth. When you return home, you will be busy completing Missions 101, and we will be busy working with the receiving field staff and hierarch to finalize a job description, budget, tentative service date and receiving the hierarch’s blessing for your arrival! With your acceptance, and pending OCMC Board approval, you will then be an OCMC Missionary Candidate!
New Candidate Orientation (NCO)
NCO is a week long workshop which prepares you for your pre-field ministry of building a support team. During this week, you will be outfitted with a personal media kit and necessary equipment, then coached both individually and as part of a group in making your presentation, writing appeal letters, assessing your personal network, planning parish presentations, and every aspect of building and maintaining your support team. We also conduct further training in cross-cultural ministry, orientation to OCMC, and more. |  |
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