While you discern living in mission, VMM tries to help you. This is an exciting time, yet one with much paper work! The discernment and application process provides opportunities to ask questions, explore motivations and understand more fully the meaning of mission. Listening and reflecting are the primary tools of this process. VMM takes this process seriously and seeks to provide opportunities for the discernment of God’s movement in your life. May God bless and keep you during this discernment process.

3. Fill out the Application Form if you think VMM would be a match for you. This provides VMM with further information about your story, skills, and possible ways for you to live in mission. Once received, your application will be thoroughly reviewed to assess how your gifts and skills might best be used in light of VMM's work and possible placements throughout the world.

4. A questionnaire will be sent. This thought-provoking questionnaire is meant to provide you with a tool that aids in personal reflection on different aspects of life that are pertinent to living in a cross-cultural project. Once the initial paperwork is complete, the VMM staff considers you for an invitation to an Introduction Discernment Weekend which is typically held near our U.S. headquarters in Milwaukee, WI.

The next VMM Introduction/Discernment weekend is scheduled for Thursday evening, May 4, 2006 through mid Sunday, May 7th. Priority will be given to individuals who have completed the application process by March 31st, 2006. Please feel free to contact the VMM office at (414) 423-8660 with any questions or concerns you may have.

5. During this three-day gathering you will spend time with VMM staff, returned VMM missioners, and other individuals, like yourself, who are discerning mission in their life. You will learn more about VMM and life in mission, hear the stories of other missioners and pray together. You will be interviewed and have an opportunity to ask all those questions you’ve been wondering about during this process. At the end of this weekend, together we will discern your next step.

6. If your journey with VMM continues, you will be matched with a Companion, an experienced VMM missioner who will assist you and the VMM staff in your preparation. You and your Companion will be in regular contact.

7. We will begin the placement process matching you with a mission project which fits your needs and the skills you bring. We listen closely to your hopes and aspirations and invite you to be open to the needs of the VMM community.

8. You will attend one week of VMM specific training and a two-week Ecumenical Mission Personnel Orientation (EMPO), a training session with other missioners preparing for domestic or foreign service. After the EMPO, the final decision is made and you are commissioned into VMM. If you will be serving in Africa, you will attend an orientation in Europe before beginning your mission service.

9. We ask that you contribute to the cost of your mission service through our Partners in Mission program. Through this program you are encouraged to involve your local faith community in sending you to mission. They do this through their prayer and financial support to VMM's mission. All costs are subject to VMM’s guidelines and policies and are fully discussed during the Introduction Weekend noted above.

10. Last, but not least, keep PRAYING! Prayer is a necessary component through any discernment process. VMM Members throughout the world designate Tuesdays as a special day of prayer for VMM and all who journey in mission. To know the blessings of God throughout this time of discernment is crucial. Please join members of VMM in prayer on Tuesdays, by accessing the weekly Tuesdays Reflection, written by one of our current missioners, Cecily Mills.

This application process can take up to one year for application, training and placement. However, this timeline is largely dependent upon your personal needs, as well as, on the availability of an appropriate project placement.