International (MNN) — The need for missionaries is great around the world, but the need for support staff is equally as important. Teachers are just one need that can help missionaries stay on the field longer to do more evangelism and church planting work.
Michelle Baxter works with Greater Europe Mission, which is a partner in SHARE Education Services. “SHARE Education Services is a pool of educators that has come from 14 different mission organizations and then put into a central organization to serve all of them. It’s pretty difficult to have one educator to know all the needs of a child from kindergarten all the way up to high school. So, if you pool all the educators in one area then we can all work in our areas of expertise,” says Baxter.
Education is a concern of all missionary families. Baxter says, “It’s one of the top three reasons that missionary families come home is because they feel the educational needs of their kids are not being addressed, and that’s where we step in an try to help.”
There are specific teaching needs right now. “We would like to have Diagnosticians, speech therapists, educational counseling, educational psychology, teachers, just all kinds of educators,” she says.
Baxter likens what she’s doing with the military. She says 70-percent of the U-S military is made up of support staff to help the front lines. She says that’s what she’s doing.
