Why Go with Avant?
Avant highly values the process of spiritual formation and life-long learning. In addition to the variety of training that missionaries typically receive before becoming members of Avant, opportunities are provided throughout the entire missionary life cycle and career for ongoing personal, spiritual and professional development.
Training and development opportunities include:
Pre-field
- Avant Start: Avant Start is one week program for membership candidates focusing on confirming your fit and providing an orientation to the mission, vision and culture of Avant.
- Avant Go: As new members get close to field depature, Avant Go provides another week of focused training and orientation.
- Other pre-field development opportunities: Member Care, mentoring, coaching, training and discipleship before you get there.
- All Avant pre-field training and coaching is designed to prepare you to thrive in your cross-cultural ministry with Avant.
On-field
These are just some of the components of ongoing training and development resources available for missionaries on the field:
- Language training
- Ministry team development
- Regional conferences and workshops
- Leadership development
- Coaching opportunities
Avant works with you from day one to build the prayer and financial support team needed for effective field ministry. Most new members will attend a "support raising boot camp" soon after becoming members, and a support raising coach will help you set and reach goals during your pre-field preparation.
Other tools provided to help with this process include timely and accurate receipting of donations, a wide range of communication tools to connect well, and database services to provide you with clear and usable information and connecting points for your ministry partners.
Avant is committed to the overall well-being of its missionaries and teams. Member Care is the process of mutually living out God’s love to us and through us, and occurs through normative, proactive, crisis and restorative care.
The Avant Member Care Team provides:
- Missionary candidate assessment
- Pre-field mentoring, coaching, training and discipleship
- On-field pastoral care
- Services for missionary children (MK's)
- Personal coaching and counseling
- Crisis Care assistance in the event of kidnapping, natural disaster, political unrest, etc.
- Referrals for missionaries who experience crisis or need professional counseling
- Restorative care following significant life transitions and crises
- Post-field / end of assignment debriefing, counseling and care.
MK Care
The life of a missionary kid can be full of rich and interesting experiences, but there are also unique challenges, especially in the face of inevitable major change and transition. Avant's Member Care Team includes trained personnel that focus on the needs of our MK's. Services include MK retreats, coaching, counseling, and assistance with life changes such as returning to their home country to attend college.
MK Education
Avant has personnel dedicated to help families with education needs and choices for their children. Some Avant ministry fields have a K-12 MK school available for missionary families. These schools present opportunities for our MKs to receive a quality Christ-based education, as well as numerous opportunities for school teachers to serve on the field as teachers and mentors for our Avant MKs and missionary children from other mission agencies.
Some of the MK schools available to Avant families...
- Black Forest Aacademy - Kandern, Germany
- Christian Academy of Guatemala - Guatemala City, Guatemala
- Evangelical Christian Academy - Madrid, Spain
- El Camino Academy - Bogotá, Colombia
- GDQ International Christian School - Tirana, Albania
- Puebla Christian School - Puebla, Mexico
In order to DO the work of evangelism, church planting and disciple-making, we first need to BE disciples committed to an intentional process of formation. Avant believes this is best facilitated in the context of community. Team members actively participate in the continual care and development of one another through frequent gathering together, communication, peer mentoring, mutual accountability, and prayer.
Your colleagues in Avant will pray for you, your ministry and your family consistently, and the Avant home office team begins every work day with a half hour season of prayer for the specific needs of Avant's global workers. Before you depart for field ministry, you will also build your own prayer team of friends and family who will under gird your work on the field.