CANDIDATE ORIENTATION

When?

Candidate Orientation is available in January and in July. For upcoming dates and schedules, see our Upcoming Events webpage.

Where?

Orientation is held at BMW's International Office in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Why?

Candidate Orientation has three main purposes:

1. To Help You Get Acquainted With Us
   Orientation is a time for you to learn the nuts and bolts of BMW's global missionary ministry. You will learn the values that guide us and shape our ministry. You will have the opportunity to evaluate through interaction with the administration to determine if you want to partner with BMW as a mission organization. You will be presented with materials and sessions dealing with BMW's:
   

   • Purpose, core values, vision, history, philosophy of leadership and ministry, financial policies, personnel policies, and field procedures.
   • Organizational structure of board, administration and staff.
   • Current ministry teams and fields.
     
     
2. To Help Us Get Acquainted With You
   Our goal is to send out missionaries who are both competent and confident in their knowledge of the Word of God so that they can be effective witnesses in a host culture. Skilled administrative personnel evaluates your character, ministry skills and experience which you will need to live and function in a cross-cultural church-planting team. Your personality, leadership abilities and giftedness will be profiled to determine your potential team placement. Also, your knowledge of Bible and theology will be evaluated through testing. Informal interaction with the administrative personnel will help you to learn about the team God has called you to partner with on the field.
   
   As part of this evaluative process, the Board of Directors will conduct a personal interview with you before they act on your application.
   
   
3. To Help You Prepare for Missionary Service During orientation you will be given information, you will have hands on training and participate in activities dealing with culture adaptation, language acquisition, evangelism, discipleship, church planting, leadership development, support-raising, deputation, communications, displays, pastoral relationships, trends in missions and theology, faith, calling, team dynamics, family in ministry, etc. These materials are presented by missionaries, administrators and board members who have experience with these topics.
   
   We believe that the family is a missionary team, serving together. So, if you are parents of youth, we train your youth (ages 9-15) at the same time you are receiving instruction during Candidate Orientation. We have sessions that prepare them for ministering alongside you during the deputation process, reinforcing the need to serve others rather than expecting to always be served, and helping them to prepare for adapting to another country, language and culture. There are fun sessions, too, that make you wish you were allowed to be in the youth program! These activities give opportunity for camaraderie and laughter, as well as give them ideas about how to be good guests. Entering into ministry brings dramatic change to the lives of the entire family, but especially to the kids. We want to make that adjustment easier.
   
   Every effort will be made to place you on a team where you will experience encouragement, support, camaraderie and be compatible with other team members. Each new appointee must have an invitation from the field before they are assigned to a specific field. So it is an important part of the initial process for you to visit the field and get acquainted with the field personnel and they with you.
   

If you would like more information or to make reservations for an upcoming orientation, please contact our Director of Mobilization.