Step One is all about getting to know you! We’ll meet over a number of con­ver­sa­tions in person or on Zoom, so we can get to know  each other. Our Per­son­nel Man­agers are the ones you’ll be dis­cern­ing with and they’ll talk about what oppor­tun­it­ies there are that might fit the person God has created you to be and the life cir­cum­stances you are in. Well discuss the qual­it­ies and train­ing you’ll need to have and the steps you’ll need to take to prepare before your formal application.

This is an oblig­a­tion free process, won’t be rushed and will allow lots of time for rela­tion­ship build­ing, ques­tions and prayer.

If it seems there’s a good fit between us, we’ll ask you to com­plete a formal applic­a­tion. This will include name and contact details of ref­er­ees who know you well. For long term Mission Partner applic­a­tions, we will include more formal assess­ments which include a medical exam, a police check and a psy­cho­lo­gical assessment.

If that sounds intim­id­at­ing don’t worry! These pro­cesses will all be clearly explained in Step One during inquiry and nothing will happen without your full per­mis­sion. This process is set up for your benefit and the benefit of the over­seas com­munity you’ll be serving in and will better help NZCMS under­stand how to prepare and support you.

This is the cul­min­a­tion of the mutual agree­ment to move for­wards together after Step Two. We’ll set a time for you to meet with our National Dir­ector and our Per­son­nel Man­agers. This is all about form­ally hearing your story, sense of call and where we all feel God has best pre­pared you to serve. Through spend­ing this day together, we seek to form­ally discern the way ahead.

Fol­low­ing our face-to-face dis­cern­ment day, we’ll make a recom­mend­a­tion to the NZCMS Board. Our recom­mend­a­tion may be accept­ing you as a partner, explor­ing matters that arose during the Dis­cern­ment Day or sug­ges­tions for further train­ing or pre­par­a­tion to serve over­seas. At this stage there may be a clear place of service and timeline to leave New Zealand, but not neces­sar­ily. We are com­mit­ted to walking with you through every step in pas­toral care and concern.

This is the final step! Everything is ready – you know where you’re going and have a clear time­frame. To make your accept­ance offi­cial, we will send you a Part­ner­ship Agree­ment Form for you to sign. Then it is all go in getting the prac­tic­al­it­ies final­ised. For long-term Mission Part­ners this will include, pre­par­ing a budget and linking you to sup­port­ing churches to connect with them. This is then fol­lowed by NZCMS spe­cific train­ing com­pleted prior to depar­ture, poten­tially inclus­ive of a five-month, global mission train­ing school in Mel­bourne. If you’d like to read through the in-depth applic­a­tion process we have you can down­load the full PDF here. Insert Down­load “Is God Calling You Over­seas” PDF button.

Our com­mit­ment is to support you through every step of the process through sup­port­ive rela­tion­ships and this con­tin­ues while you are over­seas and when you return home. At each stage of your service we will walk with you and help prepare you for what comes next.