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Office of International Mission Profile

In grateful response to God’s grace and empowered by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments, the mission of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod is vigorously to make known the love of Christ by word and deed within our churches, communities, and world.

The Office of International Mission, which relates to the Board for International Mission and implements its policies, is responsible to the President of the Synod through the Chief Mission Officer for the work of the Synod in foreign countries as stated in the Bylaws.

Reporting Relationships

• This position is accountable to the Regional Director
• Works closely with the LCMS Communication staff to inform and involve LCMS constituents in a meaningful way in the work of the OIM on the field through support-building, newsletter-writing and home-service presentation reporting

Essential Job Functions

• Commit to an ongoing schedule and strategy for ministry support raising (Network Support Model), Orientation, and initial support building is typically six (6) months.
• Communicate via monthly newsletter to and maintain a relationship with the sending church that includes Together-In-Mission (TIM) congregations as well as other supporting churches, groups, and individuals.
• Complete missionary training and language acquisition plan under the direction of the Regional Director and the Director of Missionary Services.
• Study and observe towards an appropriate understanding of financial culture, dependency, and the general principles of development such that the missionary is comfortable addressing these issues with those not versed in them.
• Receive and prioritize requests for conferences across the region.
• Coordinate and send missionary field staff to teach intensive courses or present at conferences across the region.
• Recruit, assign, coordinate, send, and support short-term presenters (local and overseas LCMS workers and/or local church workers) to teach at seminaries or present at conferences across the region.
• Coordinate the region’s mission training center (pre-seminary) programs, advising church bodies on design and implementation of the program, assisting with starting new programs when requested, and coordinating the production and sharing of associated materials.
• Coordinate the region’s annual missionary continuing education module, selecting a visiting professor and topic, setting the schedule, arranging the field’s pastors to provide daily worship, and acting as host during the event.
• Serve as a member of the Regional Team.
• Visit and maintain contact with seminaries with whom we work, receiving and prioritizing their short-term and long-term personnel requests.
• Additional duties as assigned.

Education and Experience

• Rostered member status with the LCMS as a minister of religion – ordained, required.
• Master of Divinity degree or equivalent required.
• Master of Sacred Theology or PhD
• Experience in cross-cultural ministry or teaching, preferably overseas through the ministry of the LCMS

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• An active member of the LCMS, an LCMS congregation or a congregation of any of its partner churches and personal faithfulness to the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions.
• Solid comprehension of confessional Lutheran theology and ability to clearly articulate same.
• Demonstrated ILR 2 or higher proficiency in local Language preferred. If not proficient, A willingness to participate in a language learning program to achieve such proficiency.
• A strong and proven work ethic and ability to self-start
• Demonstrated adaptability, flexibility, and necessary problem-solving skills to live and work in another culture.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills that facilitate initiating and maintaining relationships with people both within and outside the church.
• Ability to initiate and maintain relationships with people of another culture
• Ability to function effectively in both a team setting and autonomously.
• Demonstrated resilience.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively organize, plan, develop, and teach.
• Healthy physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being that facilitates carrying on sustained work in challenging environments.
• Demonstrated leadership and diplomatic skills.
• A demonstrated ability to travel extensively and maintain performance expectations in diverse cultural contexts, psychologically stressful environments, and physical hardship conditions with limited resources.
• Ability to utilize standard technology on the field – laptop, smartphone, and basic connectivity troubleshooting.
• Ability to use the Microsoft Office suite, particularly Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the email functions and calendar functions of Microsoft Outlook.

Supervisory Responsibility

• LCMS missionaries working in the seminary
• Theological Educators in Region