International Field Worker (CP)

Epicentre Church — Field Worker Role Description

Role Title: Epicentre/Antioch Field Worker

Classification/Hours: Exempt Ministerial

Reports To: Epicentre International Ministry Pastor / Sending Church

Compensation and Benefits: As determined through approved Field Budget

Purpose
The field worker fulfills the vision of Epicentre Church/Antioch Movement to spread a passion for Jesus, His people, and His purposes in the earth by creating opportunities for all peoples to encounter God and be inspired to live a life abandoned to Jesus while living and working professionally in a cross-cultural context (outside of America).

Key Responsibilities

1) Professional Life
Work with excellence for a company, NGO, or other entity as an employee who works unto the Lord and in service to the industry or whatever community platform.
- Exemplify servanthood in the workplace
- Provide co-workers and clients with a view of the Person of Jesus through daily work life and interactions
- Live as a lover of Jesus in the workplace, sharing and showing the love of Christ
- Be an example of Christian ethics and morality in the workplace
- Handle finances and stewardship of resources with integrity and above reproach in the adopted culture
- Embrace simplicity and purity while adapting culturally to the context you work and serve among (let your lifestyle be consistent yet set apart with the standard of living of your co-workers)
- Make disciples in the context of work
- Look for opportunities to connect local believers, and possibly field staff, to the workforce (making a way for other sowers)

2) Antioch Team
Strengthen the ministry of the Antioch team in the region through participation with a specific Antioch team.
- Be involved on the team as a volunteer and as a key member to the extent that your job will allow
- Actively participate in meetings, retreats, etc., and implement team decisions as able and as defined by the Team Leader
- Guard the unity of the Church through alignment in ministry to the vision of the team
- View ministry as a part of the whole
- Submit to the Team Leader as direct leader in matters of church planting and outreach, as well as mutually to other team members
- Submit to the Team Contract/MOU and its provisions for Epicentre field worker
- Contribute to vision and ministry of the team
- Equip indigenous believers for works of service
- Sow the gospel in the lives of others
- Meet with Team Leader for planning, accountability, and coordination along team values, purpose, and vision
- Support the work of the International Field Office as able

Responsibilities in Epicentre Church
1) Training
- Complete Antioch Training School (CPI) and all sending requirements and First Term Track requirements

2) Financial Plan
- Show sufficient funds available (statement showing you can be self-supporting on the field and not require support)
- Keep on record a financial plan listing income and expense categories for life overseas

3) Policy Manual
- Read, obtain clarification on, and sign the Epicentre Employees Handbook manual to understand how field staff and teams work

4) Ministry Partner Development
Rally people to provide prayer, spiritual, and logistical support, including:
- Build a prayer shield
- Identify support components
- Develop a strategy for building support teams
- Identify potential supporters (spiritual and logistical)
- Contact and schedule appointments with potential supporters
- Communicate vision and support needs
- Ask people and churches for support
- Communicate with supporters on a regular basis

5) Testify
When in Pasadena, support the vision of your sending church by providing testimonies, Lifegroup report nights, etc., to increase awareness of what God is doing in the nations.

6) Train
Provide teaching in the congregation and Discipleship School, and in Lifegroups (as invited), to equip others to work intentionally overseas.

7) Discipleship & Mentoring Process
Process with your International Ministry pastor regarding your departure and your involvement on the field and at home. Provide quarterly updates to the IM department about work life and team life on the field.

8) Pastoral Care
Choose a trusted friend/RCG who will serve as your lead advocate back home while you live overseas.

Field Entry and Acculturation
1) Read, sign, commit, and submit to your team’s contract or Memo of Understanding (MOU)
2) Obtain visa and necessary documents
3) Determine with the Team Leader strategically where and how you should live in the city
4) Initiate relationships with co-workers, neighbors, and gatekeepers
5) Assimilate language and culture
- Submit to the language learning plan as outlined by your Team Leader/International Ministry pastor
- Plan for discovery: How will you become an expert on this people group? Develop a strategic plan for diving deeper into the culture
- Initiate contact with nationals
- Listen
- Observe behaviors and non-verbal communication
- Analyze communication exchanges for contextual meanings
- Analyze how values, meanings, and attitudes influence behavior
- Hypothesize and test hypotheses
- Draw conclusions and readjust as necessary
- Incorporate final conclusions into behavior
- Ask someone to adopt you culturally
- Network with other expats who have acculturated well
- Memorize the Word in their language (if available)
- Work towards at least an intermediate ability to hold conversations in people’s heart-level languages
- After the first term, continue language learning to reach a level where you can pray and teach the Word of God in your target language
6) Settle into the daily life of your new community (fiscal trading/banking, bills, establishing home and furnishings)
7) Contribute to team life immediately

Church Planting
1) Support the team’s strategy to reach your people group
2) Find the people of peace and begin discipling the lost in a culturally relevant way
3) Incorporate new disciples into contextualized, worshiping communities
4) Identify, develop, and coach leaders as they lead and multiply the initial contextualized, worshiping community
5) Identify, develop, and coach local apostolic leader(s) to oversee the indigenous church planting movement
6) Fully hand off leadership to local leaders and leave with healthy, organic relationships intact

Expectations of Epicentre Field Workers
Epicentre field workers are sent to make disciples, gathering them into worshiping communities which multiply other worshiping communities. This is best accomplished by:
- An intimate relationship with God
- Maximizing engagement into culture and cross-cultural relationships
- Operating effectively through times of trial
- Leading or coaching leaders of house churches (Lifegroups)
- Effectively contributing to the team and its goals/mission
- Quickly resolving conflict within family and the team
- Seeking to bless God’s team on the ground, contending for unity, and refusing to gossip or judge

Credible Presence
Each Epicentre field worker demonstrates a credible presence in their host culture by working within the culture they serve. They are not tourists or residents but participants and contributors to the economy and prosperity of the land. While in this role, they will seek to connect their credible presence to the work of the Kingdom through personal outreach, providing space and place for Epicentre/Antioch Teams to interact with their network, and through connections for employment and ministry opportunities for indigenous believers on the ground.