posted on January 1, 2024
aXcess: Breaking Tough Terrain in North Africa
We are looking for someone who is specifically gifted in evangelism to come alongside our team and the local body of believers in reaching out to the community and training these local believers on how to reach out as well. This job will also entail working toward the discipleship of local believers in house churches, small groups, and one-on-one. We are in a creative-access country, which means that each candidate or family unit will need to find a way to establish a meaningful presence in our community that will provide the opportunity to obtain legal residency.
Position Type
- International worker (IW)–aXcess–Vocational Track or Clergy Track
- Church planting, discipleship, evangelism, leadership development, NGO
- Partially funded
- Creative-access country (CAC)
- Single or couple
Responsibilities:
- Language and culture study for two years
- Evangelism
- One-on-one discipleship of local believers
- Meaningful presence (i.e., have a job or another valid reason to be in country, like retirement)
- Work with the team and local group leadership to determine how to be support and facilitate growth of home groups in our city
Required Qualifications:
Clergy Track
- A recognized bachelor’s degree
- Completion of at least 30 hours of Bible/theology/ministry and 15 hours of intercultural studies
- Spouse must hold a recognized bachelor’s degree and have completed at least 18 hours of Bible/theology, 12 hours of missions/ministry studies (with a minimum of 6 hours in cross-cultural or missions studies)
- Completion of Alliance Polity course
- Completion of Alliance ordination/consecration
- Minimum of two years successful Alliance Licensed Ministry Experience
Vocational Track
- Completion of Alliance Polity course
- Completion of the World Perspectives Mission Course (minimum of certificate level) or equivalent
Both Clergy and Vocational Tracks
- A minimum Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) score of 65
- Because we live in a creative-access country, each candidate or family unit will need to find a way to establish meaningful presence in our community and seek legal residency through either opening a business or joining a business that is already established, finding full-time employment in a field such as teaching English or another foreign language, or seeking a retirement visa (for those applicants 60 years or older).
- The applicant(s) currently must be investing meaningfully in their home church, using whatever giftings that they have.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Hold a degree in their specific field of expertise or hold equivalent experience in said field
Biblical Characteristics Desired:
- Kingdom-minded
- Biblically grounded
- Spirit-dependent
- Competently skilled
- Self-aware
- Self-disciplined
Timeline for Deployment:
Summer/fall 2025. All appointees are required to attend a cross-cultural and language acquisition program and pre-field course/experience prior to deploying.
General Information:
Our work is based in an urban area. The government is stable, and our city has a population of approximately 1.5 million people. Despite some economic growth in the past, the country grapples with poverty, unemployment, and high illiteracy rates, particularly post-COVID. There is a national religion, and while there is a stated civil tolerance of other religions, familial and cultural persecution (as well as, more rarely, government persecution) follows conversion. It is estimated that 0.1 percent of this country are evangelical, although some are becoming disillusioned with the majority religion and the evangelical growth rate is estimated at 4.6 percent (for reference, the global growth rate is 2.6 percent).
Language Expectations:
Language is an essential part of ministry. Those who do not know the language will attend a language study program. The goal will be to speak, read, and write the language at a functional level in order to mentor, teach, and train others.
The primary spoken language in this field is a dialect of the national language. This dialect is a requirement for candidates filling this MOD. We expect all new team members to be in full-time language study for two years. French can be helpful in this context (it is an official trade language) but is not a requirement.
Health Considerations:
There is access to adequate medical care in our city; however, we recommend traveling to Europe for major procedures. A high team value is that each IW finds a good balance of work/ministry, family investment, and rest, desiring that international workers actively seek God’s leading, wise counsel, and guidance from the team in this.
Expectations for Spouse:
Spousal roles vary based on the spouse’s gifts, training, and abilities as well as the needs of the team. It is expected that both spouses will be meaningfully involved in meeting ministry objectives depending on the nature of family roles, children, etc.
Children’s Educational Plan and Options:
We have several options for schooling within our city. Private (French) school as well as an American and Canadian school are available, and homeschooling is also an option.
Compensation Package
The successful applicant(s) will receive a full compensation package with the expectation that, once appointed, efforts will be made to raise a portion of support costs through the applicant’s network of friends, family, local church, or other resources. Information on support costs will be made available upon application. Training and/or coaching in fundraising is available.
Whole-Life Health
As part of an evangelical denomination, we are committed to biblical holism, which is modeled and reflected through our work. Due to this commitment, part of the required qualifications includes optimal emotional, spiritual, and physical health. These will be assessed during the application process.
Importance Clarification
Applicant(s) should be aware that serving in the international world often requires a higher degree of grace and flexibility. For example, overseas teams can be suddenly and unexpectedly impacted by illness, government decisions, financial realities, team changes, or other factors beyond the team’s control. The challenge for applicants is that these factors can sometimes necessitate the sudden redefining of a position, which may take place before, during, or after the application/interview process has begun or is completed.
Questions?
Please email the IPO office at [email protected].