mission residency track

the mission residency track is specifically designed for those endeavoring to be SENT by their local church in the next few years to an unreached people group long-term to make disciples and plant churches.

(for those still desiring to go long-term but not among the unreached, this would still be part of your sending process, albeit with some tweaks.)

vision

what

when Jesus said make disciples “of all nations” (matthew 28:19), he meant it, and yet there are still billions without adequate access to the gospel today, including hundreds of millions who have never even met a follower of Jesus. each group runs the length of a school year (late august to early may) and is comprised of people committed to seeing the great commission completed around the world. as we see in the passage above, we will seek first to meet with God and understand how to abide daily in Christ, walking in his presence. missions begins and ends in worship. we will seek to live here what we hope to live overseas - obedient lives characterized by God’s presence, personal holiness, disciple-making as a team, abundant prayer, christian community, and more.

as a community, with the help of a personal discipler, we will walk together through topics necessary for thriving on the field - identity in Christ/character/purity, how to learn a language, raising support, resolving conflict, spiritual warfare, church planting, contextualization, theology of suffering, and more. beginning in october of the group, we will personally help you select an agency and team.

please prayerfully consider and process with someone on our mobilization team if you will be able to meet the following commitments in addition to your current job (most people keep their jobs while doing the group, but in some cases it is worth changing employment to be able to better prepare for the field):

  • move from where you currently live to live in the group’s community (in maryland heights, off dorsett road)

  • 4 hours in the weekly large group meeting

  • 3 hours weekly meeting with God in his word (broken into roughly a half-hour each day)

  • at least 2 hours weekly with lost people alongside other group members and believers we train

  • 1-7 hours weekly in corporate prayer with the group (depends on what the group decides)

  • 2 hours weekly reading learning assignments

  • cost of the group: no more than $2,500 (must be support-raised), including a $200 non-refundable deposit due on the date you commit to the residency.

  • attend 3 weekend retreats: one in september, one out-of-state in october, and one in spring

  • cultivate an individual prayer team to begin and continue walking alongside you

  • teach others what you have learned by leading your own disciple-making team in spring

here are the desired outcomes upon completion of the residency for all participants:

  • his likeness: your life is characterized by abiding in Jesus, walking by his Spirit, and living victoriously over sin

  • his laborers: competent and confident amongst the lost in the harvest by leading others to lead others

  • his launched: committed with clarity toward reaching the unreached full-time (clarity of where/when to go)

we know that this is a lot, and we also know that Jesus is worthy of more worship than he is receiving right now. if we trust his voice, we must believe him when he says that the harvest is plentiful – it’s just the laborers that are few (luke 10:2). we are praying that you may be the answer to our earnest prayer for more laborers!

resources

  1. fill out the mission residency track application.

  2. personal interview with the sLi team (this must be done in person).

  3. you must be a member of a local church and have pastoral approval from your local church to apply.

requirements

note

each home church will have a specific process for you to complete — in addition to this — to be officially sent by them as a “sending church.”