1. What is unique about Global Gates?

The niche Global Gates has in the missions world is reaching unreached peoples and places through the spread of the gospel from within global gateway cities.

2. How do I know if God is calling me to serve with Global Gates? 

As with most big decisions in following the Lord, you should devote much to prayer, Scripture, and counsel from your church and other Christians. Know who you are in Christ and what He is calling you to do. 

You should also learn a lot about Global Gates. Know our story. Know what we focus on and what we don’t focus on. Begin asking if God is aligning our stories for a greater purpose together or if an alignment would actually hinder either of us from fulfilling our role in God’s story. Send us questions and set up times to meet with our personnel. If you move forward with applying to serve with Global Gates, our application process is designed to further seek counsel from others and know each other more deeply to discern God’s will. 

3. What are the qualifications of Global Gates missionaries? 

Learn More Here: https://globalgates.info/long-term-missions/

4. Where does Global Gates work?

Visit our primary locations page to see the main cities where we have workers. We would consider placing missionaries among the priority unreached people group communities in our UPG matrix or other locations worldwide that match our vision. Because our missionaries are seeking to reach the ends of the earth through global gateway cities, they are often strategically involved in spreading the gospel to people’s home countries and other diaspora communities around the world.

5. Could I join Global Gates to work in North America and then later move overseas?

We primarily mobilize missionaries to work in North American global gateway cities. However, at times, our missionaries decide to move to the home countries of the people they are working among. As we are a mission organization focused on the geographical realities of a 21st-century world, we are also seeking to be flexible with our missionaries’ responses to the transient nature of missions in a globalized world. When such occasions arise, we work with our employees to determine the best course for administration. Sometimes that means we bless our missionaries with a send-off to another organization, second them to another organization, or work out details to continue to be their main administrative and coaching support.

6. How does a Global Gates missionary receive a salary?

Global Gates missionaries raise their own salary and ministry expenses through our organization. Global Gates leadership recommends coaches, resources, and training for fundraising, which usually takes several months. Leadership also helps in setting a budget for salary and ministry expenses. When a worker has a commitment for their budget from ministry supporters and at least two months’ reserve salary in his/her account (plus the moving/start-up costs needed), they are able to receive a paycheck as employees of Global Gates.

7. How do missionaries know how much support to raise?

Our human resources department and support raising coaches provide new missionaries with budget templates and guidance on setting a reasonable budget. All budgets are approved by the personnel committee of our Board of Directors.

8. How long does it take to approve missionary candidates?

First of all, make sure to view our application process. After all references, inventories, etc. have been received, a full-day interview takes place. A follow-up call usually takes place within a week after the interview. If Global Gates and the candidate decide to move forward, we seek final approval from the personnel committee of our Board of Directors who usually reply within a week.

9. Is there a way I can affiliate with Global Gates or learn from Global Gates without joining your organization?

If you’re involved in Kingdom work as ministers of reconciliation among the unreached peoples of the world, we’re affiliated already! Thankfully, many individuals and churches are seeking to welcome and love their unreached neighbors. We are humbled that many of you ask us for help! As an organization, we are wanting to stay focused on reaching unreached peoples in global gateway cities. Our local teams affiliate and partner with a myriad of churches, networks, and individuals in their endeavors. We are also seeking to produce resources that help others develop in their work. We regularly accept invites to teach seminars and speak in churches, many of which are available on the Internet. We are doing research and developing upgnorthamerica.com to aid the larger church in learning about and engaging the unreached people group communities of North America. We train many people not formally affiliated with our organization through short term mission trips, our Pathways missionary training, and Strategy Coordinator trainings. You can also subscribe to our newsletters to keep up to date on resources and learning opportunities. Feel free to contact us with specific inquiries.

10. To what extent are GG workers/teams permitted or encouraged to partner with other organizations?

Tremendously! We train our missionaries to ask the WIGTAKE (What’s it going to take?) question with their work. When asking that question, it inevitably moves our workers away from doing what they can do to forming strategic partnerships to do what needs to be done. Those partnerships range from community development projects with local Muslim associations to church planting with people and organizations closely aligned in theology and church polity.

11. What is Global Gates’ view on teams?

In observing the teams God uses in church planting movements around the world, they are vision-based rather than close-knit, completely cross-cultural, and organization-driven teams. As a result, we try to not to even talk about Global Gates teams but rather the type of teams needed to see effectiveness in reaching a people group. Too much focus on building team rather than fulfilling a vision can cause a centripetal force that distracts missionaries from what it takes to reach the vision. That being said, teams and partnerships are important for fulfilling a vision, but the focus for those teams is working toward a common vision, not on how much time they are spending together. Some might liken a vision-based team to a track team rather than a volleyball team. Different members of the team might focus on different aspects of the common goal and might not even regularly work and play with others on the team. For example, a cross-cultural worker might partner with a same-culture believer in evangelism and discipleship, but they might have different levels of engagement with the people and might not hang out together or have regular team building activities. Global Gates encourages our missionaries to build vision-based teams with anyone God will bring to help fulfill the vision. The extent to which these teams identify, work, and play together vary.

12. How is accountability structured through Global Gates?

We try to be field-driven, as our missionaries, teams, and local leaders develop strategies for reaching their people. A coach is assigned to individual missionaries to help them with their strategy and goals. Monthly reports and feedback happen in these relationships and there are hub leaders that oversee regions or large affinities of people that report on the work of our missionaries to our organization leadership. Global Gates has a Board of Directors that oversees organizational compliance, financial integrity, etc. 

13. Does Global Gates take a percentage of funds raised by their missionaries for administrative support? If so, what does this provide?

Yes, such a practice is standard in mission organizations to provide proper support for our missionaries. Ten percent of funds raised by our missionaries are contributed to our administrative fund. Out of this administrative account, we provide organization leadership, materials, member care support, financial processing and administration, ECFA certification which gives confidence to ministry supporters that our organization has sound financial policies, procedures, and accountability, giving reports and newsletters to ministry supporters, general project funds that contribute to the work of our missionaries such as funds for Bibles, etc. Our administrative staff works hard to provide a solid base, like the trunk of a tree, so that the top of our organization, our front-line missionaries, can stay focused on their work and produce long-lasting fruit.

14. Does Global Gates provide insurance?

Currently, our missionary employees are responsible for finding their own insurance or Christian healthshare plans. 

15. If I joined Global Gates, how would I know where to start in the work?

Following the assessment interview, approval by our Board, and proper support raised, we work with our missionaries to put them into a position where they are confident in what they need to do to be effective. For beginning missionaries, we provide a year of equipping through hands-on training. Such trainings can be collective with other new missionaries or individually customized based on the missionary’s growth areas and assignment.

16. Are new missionaries required to go through orientation or training before entering into their assignment?

Our assessment interview helps determine the best path forward for missionaries. Usually this involves a year-long training process, either separate from the missionary’s long-term assignment or in beginning his/her long-term assignment. For new missionaries, you might consider going through our Pathways Internship.

17. Does Global Gates work with international students?

Some of our missionaries have engaged part of their time with international students. However, as Global Gates focuses on intact communities with the potential to start churches that multiply into their homelands, we rarely focus work on highly transient populations like international students.

18. Does Global Gates belong to a denomination or specific theological stream?

Global Gates does not have an organizational affiliation with a denomination. However, some of our missionaries choose to have formal partnerships with denominations or denominational churches. We are followers of Christ, broadly evangelical, who adhere to the Lausanne Covenant.

19. What is your position on insider movements?

We believe God desires, and will ultimately use, individuals and families from “inside” unreached people group communities to reach their own people. In that sense, Global Gates’ goal is to bring about, find, develop, and encourage “inside” workers within unreached people groups to faithfully and biblically transform their communities through Christ. 

In the past few decades, a missions approach called “insider movements” has emerged that is not clearly defined. Some insider movement advocates encourage new followers of Christ to maintain their former religious identity and community membership, but now as followers of Christ. While Global Gates recognizes the need for new followers of Christ to be able to remain part of their culture and to influence family members and friends to Christ, we believe that as followers of Christ mature they find new identity in him. Part of maturing in Christ, correspondingly, is the responsibility to admonish and encourage other followers of Christ in a community of fellowship designed to nurture faithfulness to Christ. We recognize that, as followers of Christ, the Holy Spirit works on us in different ways and that sanctification is a process. As we mature in Christ, we become aware of beliefs, values, and behaviors in our culture that need to be discontinued, redeemed, or embraced for His glory. 

We urge all followers of Christ within unreached people groups to faithfully identify with the worldwide Body of Christ while also faithfully representing Christ within their culture.

20. What is your stance on the local church and missions? 

We love the local church. In fact, Global Gates exists because local churches do not significantly exist among the unreached people groups we work among. That is, there are no, or too few, local churches that could easily incorporate new followers of Christ from an unreached people group due to cultural, linguistic, or other barriers. As a result, we desire local churches to start and multiply that can easily incorporate members from unreached people groups. Our missionaries were nurtured by churches, and are supported by the church, as extensions of the church’s purpose to expand the Kingdom.