I am a LT PT IMA with RGCR of the EFCA now embarking on MPD.
This is Bob, and this post is the story of a journey through an Acronym Filled Environment, AFE 😉 To begin with, let me make it clear that Gail too is a LT PT IMA, though she reached it through the more exalted path of COS.
If you don’t believe me, take a look at our official picture for the three days of Long Term (LT) information and interviews we just completed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the home office of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA):
We’re both going to be long term and part time (PT) with ReachGlobal Crisis Response (RGCR) but Gail has already been doing that for more than two years, so her transition to paid staff is a change of status (COS), not “onboarding” as mine is. (I have no idea why “onboarding” didn’t get an acronym – maybe it was trendy enough already.)
ReachGlobal is the worldwide missions arm of the Evangelical Free Church and serves more than 500 missionaries. We learned some of the nuts and bolts of how ReachGlobal works and got to interact with people who are headed to places as far flung as Prague, Paris and Brazil. It was a good and edifying time, as we got to meet and converse with many of the key servants of our association and hear their heart for reaching the world: “We invest in disciplemakers to establish the Church where the gospel isn’t known.”
I especially liked the explanation of “where the gospel isn’t known” given by one of the ministry leaders. He said there are three kinds of people who don’t know the gospel: the unreached, the unevangelized and the unclear. The unreached are those whose culture or language has never been exposed to the gospel. The unevangelized are those whose culture or language is only minimally penetrated by the gospel. The unclear are those whose culture has been impacted by the gospel but they themselves have never understood it. In the United States, where most of our work with Crisis Response will take place, we most often encounter the unclear, and much of our task is to show and tell the gospel in ways that make it clear.
Two more acronyms to go: IMA stands for Individual Ministry Account. In simplest terms, this is an account where the money that comes in for a missionary’s support is disbursed for his or her expenses, salary, health care, retirement and home office support. But IMA is also the shorthand for all the different kinds of support that the home office provides to missionaries.
Finally, MPD stands for Ministry Partnership Development. This is the process where Gail and I develop relationships with people who can support us by prayer, encouragement and generosity. Having been accepted as Long Term Part Time staff, we are now embarking on the process of Ministry Partnership Development. We will be raising a modest salary, though most of our living expenses will come out of our retirement savings and investments. We will also be raising funds to support our ministry expenses, which can be significant as we pursue crises all across the United States and sometimes overseas.
Please pray for us as we navigate the acronyms and move into the long term. f you would like to help with our ministry expenses (travel, lodging, etc.) or ultimately with our monthly support, you can make one-time or ongoing gifts to our account at ReachGlobal: Bob and Gail DeGray.
Thanks!
In Him
Bob