Skip to main content

Takeaways from CIT

We were blessed to spend the last five weeks at The Center for Intercultural Training (CIT) in Union Mills, North Carolina. We were there along with several other missionaries, learning from each other and from the facilitators who are all seasoned missionaries! Below are some of the highlights of our time.

Spiritual Growth
Our time at CIT was one of incredible spiritual growth! The first week we were there, we had the Engage Retreat, which focused on spiritual formation—allowing God to work in us and change us so that we can be more effective as His servants. A key concept we looked at was examining our desires, and how God ultimately satisfies our desires more fully than anything on earth can. It was truly a transformational week for us, and God continued working in us throughout the rest of our time there as well. We have both experienced new depths in our personal relationship with God.

New Friendships
Another blessing from God was the formation of some new friendships. One of our prayers heading into CIT was that God would help us connect with some of the other missionaries there. God answered our prayers and helped us develop friendships with other missionaries as well as some staff there.

Working as a Team
As we shared in a short update while we were at CIT, one of the topics we covered were working together in a team, both with other missionaries and with nationals. We learned about how we each bring not only our unique personality to the team, but also our family and cultural background. Having all of these differences in a team is a great asset to ministry, because each team member can complement each other with their gifts and abilities. However, we must be intentional to value the differences and not let them cause unhealthy conflict.

Other CIT Topics
Some of the other topics we covered in class were:
-Cultural differences and the importance of cultural awareness
-Folk religion and spiritual warfare
-Ethnocentrism (Believing that your culture of origin is superior to any other)
-Third culture kids (TCKs) and how to help your family thrive in a new culture
-Worldview and how to most effectively share the gospel in different cultures based on their cultural worldview (cultures view the world through either the lens of guilt, shame, or fear)

We still have a lot to learn!
Probably one of the most important things we learned in our classes was that we still have a lot to learn. One of our prayers heading into CIT was that God would help us to be teachable so we could learn a lot. We are thankful for how He answered this prayer and how He continues to teach us.


Thank you for your prayers for us during this training. This was an extremely helpful and valuable time for us as we prepare to serve the Lord in Mexico!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Full Support and Beyond

Full Support! We have shared this with some of you in person already, but we wanted to let you all know we have reached our full support! Praise God for his provision! We know that many of you have been praying for us to reach our full support, and God has answered those prayers. What’s Next? Commissioning Services We shared in our last newsletter that we are having commissioning services at our two home churches, Bible Baptist in Traverse City, MI on April 8, and Suber Road Baptist in Greer, SC on April 15. We are excited for these opportunities to celebrate what God has done and His call on our lives. Visas The main hurdle we still need to cross before heading to the field is obtaining our temporary residence visas. We began working through this process over 5 weeks ago, and we have learned that it takes longer than we originally expected. We are waiting on a letter from the seminary in Mexico that we need in order to apply for the visa. Once the letter co...
Post a Comment
Read more

Collins Family Update: March 2022

Changing Ministry Location Many of you already know that we are planning to move back to the States in the near future. We have shared with many of you the reasons for this change, but if anyone has questions or concerns about this decision, please feel free to reach out to us. We are planning to arrive back in the States in mid-April, and we hope to see many of you then. We are currently pursuing an opportunity to serve in pastoral ministry in the northern Michigan area, and we are waiting for an answer from the church. While we patiently wait for God’s leading in our ministry change, we are continuing to serve in our ministries in Mexico, and we will continue serving via online ministry once we are back in the States. We expect to need missions support at least through the end of May, and perhaps longer depending on how God leads us in the next two months. We will do our best to keep in touch with our supporters as we learn how God is leading our family and ministry. We would ask ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Goals and Habits for 2021

I've set some pretty big goals for the coming year. With God's help and with some encouragement and accountability I think I can reach these goals and so improve spiritually, physically, relationally, and mentally. Here are the goals organized by categories along with the habits I plan to practice to help me reach the goals. Spiritual Goals Bible Reading Goal : Read/listen through Bible 5 times (ESV, NTV/NBLA, NLT audio 3x) Habits : Follow 5 day/week Bible reading schedule reading each passage in 2 translations; listen to audio 3 days’ worth per day; take 2 days a week to meditate on and apply readings. Prayer Goal : Have a regular personal prayer time (besides “praying without ceasing”) Habits : 10-15 minutes of daily scheduled prayer time (praying through lists and/or Scripture). Memorization Goal : Memorize 1 verse/month in English (ESV), Spanish (NBLA) and original language. Habits : Print and hang verses in the kitchen and review daily in the morning. Mem...
Post a Comment
Read more