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We are delighted to provide this asynchronous, self-directed course to help you better connect with your new SEND International colleagues. Through the years, SEND leadership has noticed that MOP has changed enough that new missionaries are arriving on some fields with vocabulary that is not familiar to more seasoned SEND members. This is creating a disconnect on teams and an update on the process and content of current training, we believe, will help remove that disconnect. MOP Refresh has been designed as an attempt to bridge that gap.

MOP Refresh is a summary of SEND’s core cross-cultural training material. It is not training, but a description of the core, cross-cultural training received by new SEND members. The material is a collection of readings, videos, and reflections from various fields of SEND International.

The course is offered throughout the year. Once you start the course, we would ask that you complete all assignments within one month of beginning the course. So, if you went through MOP a significant number of years ago and you are feeling out of touch with new team members or out of touch with SEND ethos, then MOP Refresh may be a step toward connection.

Through the years, MOP has changed enough that new missionaries are arriving on some fields with vocabulary that is not familiar to more seasoned SEND members. This is creating a disconnect on teams and an update on the process and content of current training, we believe, will help remove that disconnect.

SEND has always taken the preparation and training of its members very seriously. In all our training we try to hold a balance between relevance and timeless values. Because of many timeless values like teaming, spiritual health, personal integrity, and incarnational ministry, much of our pre-field training is substantially unchanged. However, because of our commitment to relevance, parts of the training and some of the training methods have changed over the years.

One obvious major change over the last 15 years is the structure of MOP. Before 2008, if you joined SEND, you would have gone through an onboarding process called COP. This would be different depending on your sending office. After your onboarding process, you would be assigned a coach and begin your partner development. Eventually, at the discretion of your coach, you would be invited to MOP, an in-person intensive training in SEND vision, values, and cross-cultural ministry. The time commitment would depend on when you went through MOP. It ran anywhere from a 5-day intensive to a three-week intensive. After completing MOP, you would continue your partnership development until deployment.

In contrast, today, SEND missionary candidates have a different experience. Once a candidate has been onboarded (now called START in the US office and COP everywhere else) and has reached 66% of their support, they are invited to MOP. Currently MOP is a five-stage process that continues two years into the first term.

• First, candidates participate in MOP 201. This is a six-week online cohesive sequential learning program focused primarily on cultural understanding, cultural IQ, Servanthood and Sacrifice, and Safety and Security.
• Second, the candidate participates in MOP 202. This is a two-week, in-person, intensive training that focuses on preparation for deployment. * This would be the closest experience to what a seasoned SEND missionary would call MOP.
• There is also a mandatory, multi-day security training before MOP 202. This is the responsibility of the SEND Security department.
• After the completion of partnership development, the missionary is deployed. Upon arrival on the field, the member goes through field language and orientation. This is part of their training, but it doesn’t fall under SEND U. The field langauge and orientation process is different depending on the field.
• Six months after arriving on the field, the new member is required to go through MOP 301. This is a one-week online module in basic ethnography, called Learning Culture through Purposeful Observation and it is hosted by Grow2Serve.
• Finally, after two years of field experience, the new member is required to go through MOP 302 or MOP-Recap. This is a three-month review of MOP content that includes six coaching calls with a MOP-Recap coach.
• Before 2012, you would also have a fat binder with all your notes and handouts. Now, all handouts are on Teams and all notes are on your computer and potentially on SharePoint. They are probably at least in the cloud, so they can be referenced from anywhere the member has an internet connection. It is clear that the pre 2008 and current experiences are very different.

Also, while much of the core training has not changed, the content is constantly being refined. Some methods have changed, and some new content has indeed been added. For example, in 2008, SEND adopted a new mission statement – to Mobilize God’s people and Engage the unreached in order to Establish reproducing churches (MEE). This statement has impacted much of what SEND does. But if a SEND member went through MOP before 2008, they may know very little about this new mission statement and how it impacts SEND training. In 2008, SEND U was also created and in 2010 SEND U took over the responsibility of MOP training. Again, if a member went through MOP before 2008, they may know about SEND U but be a little fuzzy about the purpose, responsibilities, and resources available through SEND U.

Further, there have been various shifts and movements in cultures and economies around the world that have had significant impacts on training methods. For example, communication channels and online education have developed and changed over the last 20 years. To take advantage of these new trends and technologies, what used to be a single intensive, in-person, training is now both an online experience (MOP-201) and an in-person experience (MOP-202). This gives new members more time to absorb material and frees up the in-person time to be less lecture and more experiential and facilitated learning. The ease of global communication has also allowed us to develop and include two more aspects of training. In 2012, MOP-up or MOP “under pressure,” which is now called MOP 302 or MOP-Recap, was added to member training. As stated above, MOP 302 takes place two years after deployment. It is a series of six coaching sessions, usually over three months, to assess how well the principles learned in pre-field training are being implemented by the new missionaries. Later, in 2018, another post-deployment training was added to MOP, MOP 301. As stated above, this is a course on the platform Grow2Serve called, “Learning Culture Through Purposeful Observation.” It is a one-week online course in basic, practical ethnography that the new SEND member takes about six months after arriving on the field.

Some training content has also changed over the years. In 2011 modules on teaming and team leader expectations were added to MOP. In 2013 a fast-food visit and debrief and a mosque visit and debrief were added to the in-person training. These modules give participants an opportunity to practice and refine their cultural observation skills. Because of the rise in electronic communication, in 2014 internet security was added to MOP. In 2015 ethnography was integrated into MOP training. In 2018 a separate and formal security and child protection training was developed and included as mandatory training separate from MOP. In 2020 CQ assessment and debrief was integrated into MOP and in 2021 Kingdom Development Goals were also integrated into MOP training. Finally, while our core values have not changed, our training is always being refined. The MOP curriculum is adjusted and refined every year in response to evaluations from participants, feedback from receiving fields, and the personal research and development of the SEND U staff and facilitators. Training in working with national churches, intercultural teaming, church planting, discipleship and many others have all been refined over the years.

These changes over the last 15 years have created potential gaps in expectation, understanding, and vocabulary between new members and seasoned members of SEND. These gaps have the potential to create more gaps on teams as new missionaries join more seasoned cross-cultural workers. To create more conceptual unity across the mission, SEND U has developed MOP Refresh for those who went through MOP a significant time ago. The course covers both core training that may have been absent during the MOP experience of a seasoned missionary and current content that may be unfamiliar to seasoned SEND members. This is not an attempt to improve the training of the seasoned missionary. It is an attempt to help the experienced missionary understand how new team members are being prepared, create more conceptual unity across SEND, and reduce potential gaps in training and vocabulary on field teams.

1. SEND’s Values
2. SEND’s Organizational Structure
3. SEND Mission Statement: Mobilize
4. SEND Mission Statement: Engage
5. SEND Mission Statement: Establish
6. SEND’s commitment to Working with the National Church
7. SEND’s commitment to Teaming
8. SEND’s commitment to Intercultural Teaming
9. SEND’s commitment to Lifelong Learning
10. SEND’s philosophy and ministry strategies for Church Planting
11. SEND’s philosophy and methodologies for Disciple-Making
12. SEND’s CQ Assessment Training
13. SEND’s Kingdom Development Goals (KDG) Training
14. SEND’s Ethnography training
15. SEND’s commitment to Data Security
16. SEND’s commitment and policies related to Safety & Security
17. SEND’s Child Protection Policy

These topics present the core of who we are, and our commitment to serving together. The seventeen topics listed above are not sending-area specific, but are part of the Member Orientation Program (MOP) training for all SEND members and partners.

Please move to the next activity to get comfortable with assignments. Next you will update your profile and then move on to the course syllabus.

If this is your first Grow2Serve course, we recommend reviewing the assignments under “Helps” below. Otherwise, continue doing the assignments in order. If you do have questions later, you can always return to the help section.

If you have any question feel free to contact SEND U staff member, Alfie Mosse at amosse@send.org.