"We've been keen to have a course like this that we can recommend to those considering serving with us, this course is a great resource to be able to recommend."
Benefits
Lifetime access to...
▶️ 5 Videos recorded by lifelong missionaries Ross & Christine Paterson
💭 Questions to reflect on
👥 Invite to our Private Facebook Group
Your Tutor
Ross Paterson’s original call from God, in the early 60s, was to serve China – her people and her Church. He has been faithful to that call, going first to Taiwan as a missionary in 1969. He has been involved in establishing and operating a number of internationally respected ministries. Today, Ross travels across a number of nations, preaching and teaching and sharing their desire to see the church of Jesus Christ embrace a biblical burden for world mission. Ross is the author of several books, including the Antioch Factor!
Your tutor
Christine was brought up in a mission environment – her parents served together for over forty years as missionaries in Africa, where she spent her early years. This unique background has helped her to be the support and ministry partner for her husband Ross in the various countries and continents to which the Lord has led them over the years. A qualified coach and cross-cultural tutor, as well as blogger on the topic of crossing cultures, Christine has lived and breathed this for decades!
"I would recommend this course. It gave me understanding of the different parts of the body [of Christ]."
In this first video in a short series on the topic of calling, lifelong missionary Ross Paterson starts with a fundamental question: Does everybody need a call? Do we all get a call? Or is it only the exceptional Christians who receive a ‘proper’ calling from God?
In this video, lifelong cross-cultural worker Christine Paterson explains why it is important to know your call. It will also cover what holds us back from hearing God’s call and what brings us to a place of willingness to hear it.
There is a difficult balance to achieve when teaching on the topic of calling. I remember a guy saying, “The trouble is if you challenge people on their call, they say ‘help, I know I’m no good, I’m going to give up’. On the other hand, you can get people who run with a call that isn’t a call, and that leads to a lot of pain in their lives and other lives.”
We used to run a school of mission in Thailand, and our record was a girl who arrived from her home country and wanted to go home on the very first night! So how do we find a balance between those two extremes? This is where testing the call comes in. Here are four practical steps to help.
In this penultimate video, we’re going to summarise the questions of calling by asking four simple, but vitally important questions, starting with this searching question: Your life is a story – who is going to write that story – you or God?
In this bonus session of the series on the topic of calling we will look at the important issue of those who don’t feel called, which we felt was a common problem and, therefore, important to address.
Firstly, people may feel discouraged and overlooked by God, asking ‘am I not good enough that He would call me too?’ Or they might feel relieved not to be among the ‘called ones’ and feel free to pursue their own career or passions.
As this is a self-study option, you can take as long as you need!
You will still have lifetime access to the material after you have completed it.
You will have access to our exclusive paid FieldPartner Learning Community, where you can post in the discussion spaces.
All students are also invited to participate in our free FieldPartner Community Facebook Page.
All of our courses are available in English, with automatic translation available for the onscreen text, but not videos. We also have extensive material available in Chinese. Check it out here.