(The text of our “Why AFM?” brochure is also written below)
AFM’s Vision is to do Frontier Missions Anglicanly,
planting biblically-based, multiplying, indigenous churches and dioceses where the church is not yet established, among the 3 billion people and 7,000 unreached people groups still waiting to hear the gospel for the very first time. Partnering with members of the worldwide Anglican Communion and other Christians who live near or among unreached peoples, AFM equips and sends short- and long-term missionaries who harness the spiritually formational power, practices, and rhythms of the sacraments, liturgy, and church tradition to disciple believers from Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, animistic, and secular backgrounds. We serve Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.
Having a sending agency is valuable
Spreading the gospel among unreached people groups1 in frontier mission fields is a grand and glorious calling, full of many hardships but much joy. Initial and ongoing training, an effective entry platform, and a well-developed strategy to reach people are a few of the future missionary’s essential concerns. Safety and security, raising kids on the mission field, and unforeseen emotional responses to the stress of living in a new culture are additional factors every future missionary needs to prepare for. The father of the modern missionary movement, William Carey, once said,
“I’ll go down into the pit if you’ll hold the ropes.”
The role of Anglican Frontier Missions (AFM) is to “hold the ropes” for our missionaries, that they may be equipped and supported to thrive as they serve in areas of deep spiritual darkness. We “hold the ropes” by providing a host of essential support systems and services.
- Training
AFM’s staff customizes pre-field training to each missionary’s specific needs and goals. Our training team has a combined 50 years of experience in church planting among frontier unreached people groups2 and works together to welcome, prepare, and equip missionaries to flourish in their country of service.
Training topics include language and culture acquisition, safety and security, ministry development, missiological and theological formation, professional development, sender relationships with one’s home church, family and team relationship building, spiritual formation, and overall integration with staff. While the bulk of training occurs before missionaries launch to their country of service, AFM’s training continues throughout missionaries’ tenure with AFM. We provide several critical areas of training:
- Entry Strategy & Cultural/Linguistic Acquisition
The first two years on the mission field are the most critical. AFM ensures that our missionaries arrive on the field with the requisite tools to learn the local language and adapt to the local culture. Further, we help missionaries create an entry platform (most countries where we serve do not grant religious visas) and a coherent strategy to reach the people God has put on their hearts. AFM’s strategy coordinator training immerses future missionaries in church planting movements methodology (big picture) as well as helping them discern their specific role and calling (small picture) in their country of service.
- Security and Safety
We live in an unpredictable world, with foreign governments increasingly snooping on our digital communications. AFM’s security training helps missionaries significantly reduce the likelihood of their vital communications being intercepted. We train in how to assess and mitigate the risk inherent in frontier missions, as well as how to form contingency plans to manage any situations that may arise.
- Fundraising
One challenge of being a missionary is raising money to fund the mission. AFM’s fundraising coach works with missionaries to set up customized plans to raise not only financial support, but also prayer support. Before transitioning to his current training role with AFM, our coach served as a missionary for ten years. As a result, he has ample experience navigating the delicate balance between trusting God and actively inviting the church and individuals to financial partnerships.
- Forming a Home Church Support Team
At AFM, we believe that the local church is the primary agent of missions. As a mission agency, our role is to assist the church in its calling to complete the Great Commission. Thus, AFM coaches missionaries on how to set up and maintain a support team at their sending church for the duration of their missionary service. We call these support teams “Barnabas Teams,” named after Paul’s traveling companion Barnabas, whose name means “Son of Encouragement.” In addition, The Rev. Dr. Chris Royer, our Executive Director, communicates with churches’ rectors (senior pastors) to arrange for a Missionary Commissioning Service before each missionary launches to the field.
- Anglican Theology and Missiology
AFM believes that particular characteristics of Anglicanism—liturgy, sacraments, and the prayer book tradition—are treasures (and not foreign intrusions) that God has given His church for spiritual formation in local, indigenous cultures. Thus, during our pre-and on-field training, we inculcate an Anglican missiological ethos into our missionaries. We also partner with the Anglican Communion, the third-largest ecclesial body in the world, to place our missionaries among or near unreached frontier people groups. While being Anglican is not necessary to apply for missionary service, we do expect that applicants be respectful of the Anglican tradition and learn more about Anglicanism’s contextualizability on the mission field during pre-field training.
- Member Care
One of our core values is taking care of our missionaries’ mental, familial, and spiritual health. We are blessed with exceptionally experienced, qualified, and fun member care coordinators. During the pre-field stage, AFM missionaries spend five days in Lakeside, Montana. In the mornings, missionaries and member care coordinators get to know each other as they work through the curriculum together. In the afternoons, missionaries journal and reflect upon morning sessions while enjoying nearby Glacier National Park. Once missionaries arrive on the field, our member care coordinators strengthen this relationship from the “distant land” of Montana through monthly video conferences, ensuring that missionaries’ spiritual, emotional, and familial needs are being met.
- Financial Services
AFM has a financial system in place that receives and processes donations and then disburses funds as needed to support the missionary’s ministry. All AFM missionaries receive a monthly report from our accountant, detailing the taxdeductible gifts that we receive in their names and the monies disbursed from their accounts (https://anglicanfrontiers.com/give). Our financial system ensures timely reporting and IRS recordkeeping compliance—both are intended to make financial decision-making on the field simple and worry-free. We also encourage each missionary to save for retirement, and we can facilitate regular deposits into IRAs. AFM’s assessment on each gift received is 12.5%, which is less than most mission agencies. This assessment on gifts to missionaries, in conjunction with fundraising done by the Executive Director, is used to cover the cost of the services that we provide.
- Prayer
Prayer is the undergirding of AFM’s entire ministry. We send out monthly prayer bulletins to all our supporters and partners. We also gather weekly to pray for specific needs shared by our missionaries. When missionaries serve through AFM, they can be assured that we will regularly cover them in prayer and that their urgent prayer needs will be promptly brought before the throne of grace.
If you’re reading this brochure, you’re clearly gripped with Jesus’ Great Commission (Mt. 28:18–20). Praise the Lord! If you feel called to serve God as a missionary, we suggest you ask yourself:
- Who will equip me/ us professionally, culturally, linguistically, emotionally, and (especially) spiritually to go to the mission field?
- Who can connect my ministry to the larger church in America and the Anglican Communion throughout the world?
- Who will add credibility to my future ministry as I visit churches and individuals, asking them for financial support?
- Who will provide legal, logistical, financial, and member care support?
AFM has been sending short- and long-term missionaries to frontier fields for over 25 years. Our heart is to serve God through serving Christ-followers like you who are called into frontier missions. So why AFM? Because holding the ropes is what we do.
I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.” Rev. 7:9–10
