Participants in Spectrum serve their first year aboard one of OM's ship, where they gain multi-cultural mission experience and learn to work with other missionaries from around the world. (Wycliffe USA photo)
International (MNN) ― Do you feel God leading you toward the mission field, but you aren't sure where you would want to go or what you would want to do?
Approximately six years ago Wycliffe Bible Translators and Operation Mobilization joined together to create a program that allows young people, ranging in age from 19 to 26, a chance to explore various aspects of missions.
They called it Spectrum, and the experience lasts two years. President and CEO of Wycliffe USA, Bob Creson, said, "The power of the partnership really is to give young people a two-year opportunity to let God work in their lives to see what they might do in relation to being involved in missions. So, they do a year on the [OM] ship and then do a year in a Wycliffe assignment somewhere in the world. During that two-year period, we believe that God will speak to their hearts and give them added direction for their future."
Aboard an OM ship, participants learn how to live and work with other team members from countries across the globe, as they also participate in street ministry and book distribution.
During their year at Wycliffe, participants can choose which area of Wycliffe to become involved in, such as translation, teaching, publishing, linguistics, or medical, which exposes them to the various aspects of Wycliffe.
Why is it called Spectrum? Creson said, "These opportunities that are offered in Wycliffe USA, as well as OM USA, just give young people a spectrum of opportunities to consider in terms of what God might be doing in their lives."
The program was established six years ago when Wycliffe and OM realized, almost at the same time, that they shared a common focus at their ministries. They came to this realization when OM USA's president, Andrew Scott, paid Wycliffe a visit: "Andrew actually came down here to visit us ... and [we] were just exploring. And immediately we began to realize there's a strength in what we could do with OM ... So, as we began to look at the way in which OM USA and Wycliffe USA are focused on giving people the opportunity to hear this Good News of the Gospel, in a language and form they understand best, there was real power in a short-term opportunity partnership."
Now years later, the partnership is still going strong, and Spectrum has proved an invaluable tool in helping young people prepare for the mission field.
As Wycliffe presses on with its Last Languages campaign, both ministries realize it is a historical time in the world of missions, as ministries make the "final push" toward the remaining unreached people groups.
So now more than ever, Creson said they need willing workers to enter the harvest field and proclaim the message of Christ.
Use Spectrum as your first step to getting involved. Visit wycliffe.org/gsp to get started.
