| School Teachers as Missionaries* Even though you are a Christian you may not know about or realize the important role that teachers of children of missionaries have in spreading the Word of God. You may not know that these teachers are missionaries just like the parents of the children they serve. You may not understand the significant role they play in keeping missionaries on the field and on task. It is the enterprise of school teachers as missionaries that is the focus of this web page and the TIS web site.
Following are four blog posts* from Wycliffe Pray Today about this enterprise. Please read all of them in order to become familiar with the value of and need for teachers of children of missionaries. When you have finished and feel better informed about the role these teachers have in the Kingdom, and if you are qualified, please consider becoming a teacher of these children. Please communicate to others what you have learned and invite those qualified to become teachers.
1. The Need for Teachers
Posted May 27, 2014
“The Lord gives the word, and a great army brings the good news” (Psalm 68:11, NLT).“The Lord gives the word, and a great army brings the good news” (Psalm 68:11, NLT).
Children are a significant part of the Bible translation team, and while it may be their parents who serve in a variety of roles to support and carry out translation, the sons and daughters of staff members are no less important. They are, after all, living out Wycliffe’s mission and vision right alongside their parents, often leaving their home country and encountering new people, languages, and cultures. A primary way that Wycliffe cares for these children and young people is to help provide them with access to quality education.
Through the recruitment and placement of teachers and other staff to support children’s education, Wycliffe is striving to meet the needs of a worldwide team. And by employing different strategies and working in both traditional and non-traditional settings, these education professionals are making a difference not only in the lives of students, but also in the mission of Bible translation.
· Pray for more teachers and education workers to join Wycliffe and support Bible translation through their vital work.
· When Wycliffe staff are confident that their children’s education needs are being met, they are less likely to leave their important work and return home in search of suitable schooling. Praythat teachers and education professionals will understand how they can be an essential part of the Bible translation team.
· Pray that word will spread about the importance of education workers with Wycliffe.
If you are a teacher or education professional interested in learning more about opportunities to serve with Wycliffe, click here.
2. Roll Call
Posted May 28, 2014
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6, NLT).
With Wycliffe families working in a variety of locations worldwide and more than 1,300 children counted among them, there are many needs for education workers. And it’s not only teachers who are needed. Tutors, boarding school house parents, chaplains, school administrators, and others are essential to this ministry to missionary kids and their families.
Currently, Wycliffe’s children’s education staff number more than 200. “We have teachers serving on every continent except Antarctica, but our greatest needs are in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific,” said Wycliffe Children’s Education Specialist Hettie Stauffer. There are over 200 open positions waiting to be filled.
· Pray that Wycliffe recruiters are able to find the diversity of teachers that are needed.
· Right now, there are 20 or more teachers actively engaged in developing their partnership teams. Ask God to provide for them faithful financial and prayer partners to sustain them during their time of service on the field. Pray too, that they are able to complete this step in order to get to their overseas schools by August.
If you are a teacher or education professional interested in learning more about opportunities to serve with Wycliffe, click here.
3. Learning Environments
Posted May 29, 2014
“He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:16, NLT).
Most children of Wycliffe personnel living overseas attend school in traditional classroom settings, especially at the middle and high school levels. Those settings can be small mission run schools with multi-grade classrooms, or larger multi-mission schools, or even secular international schools in an urban area. “All told, Wycliffe provides children’s education workers to more than three dozen international schools worldwide in more than 30 countries,” said Jerry Tucker, Wycliffe’s Manager for Education Roles.
Non-traditional approaches are also necessary. Teaching in these settings can vary greatly. It can take place in one-room or multi-level classroom schools, strategic learning centers, or modular study groups. A private tutor could serve a single family. Or itinerant teachers could rotate between several families, spending a few weeks at each location. Educational consultants can oversee schooling by correspondence or over the Internet.
• By supplying education workers, Wycliffe can help keep school operating costs down. This results in more affordable education options for Wycliffe families who directly benefit from lower tuition costs or special discounts. Ask God to use education workers to greatly impact the work of translators and support personnel.
• Pray that Wycliffe educators will have opportunities to not only instruct in the classroom but also impact the larger school community as well. Pray for good ministry with staff, students, and parents. Pray especially that they will have a positive, godly influence on the students.
• As non-traditional teaching needs arise, pray for qualified teachers to be open to the challenge of teaching in a new environment.
If you are a teacher or education professional interested in learning more about opportunities to serve with Wycliffe, click here.
4. A Ministry of Education
Posted May 30, 2014
“And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me” (Matthew 18:5, NLT).
Commonly referred to as “missionary kids” (MKs) and “third culture kids” (TCKs), the children of parents serving with Wycliffe and other mission organizations spend a significant part of their developmental years outside of their parents’ passport cultures. As a result, they are a unique blend of their home culture and the foreign one in which they live. Educators can play a key role in ministering to MKs who sometimes feel like they don’t fit in anywhere.
“MK education is not a job, it is a calling,” said Steve Walker, an Application and Placement Specialist working with Wycliffe’s Global Service Program. “Every Wycliffe teacher has their own story of how they got here, but it usually has the theme of a love for the Lord and His Word, and a love for children and young people.”
Below are current prayer needs of some of the schools and teachers providing this ministry of education.
• The Rain Forest International School (RFIS) provides secondary education to families serving in west central Sub-Saharan Africa. Located in in Yaoundé, Cameroon, RFIS has many urgent staffing needs. Ask God to provide more teachers for this important school serving more than 100 students.
• In Papua New Guinea, boarding home parents are needed for teens attending Ukarumpa International School. Upper level science teachers and elementary classroom teachers are also some of their top teacher needs. Pray that more teachers will respond to these critical needs and fill the vacant teaching roles in time for the beginning of the next school year.
• ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers are in high demand in many schools. Pray specifically for ESL teachers to join the team.
If you are a teacher or education professional interested in learning more about opportunities to serve with Wycliffe, click here.
* Used by permission from Todd Nelson, Vice President for Prayer Ministries, Wycliffe Bible Translators USA. | 
