IT and Engineering Open Doors
IT & Engineering Open Doors
Not all missionaries are preachers or teachers. Some are innovators who apply science and mathematics to develop new systems or structures. Still others are fluent in programming languages that enable them to design websites, apps and networking solutions. Are you someone with these skills?
Examples of IT and engineering in missions
- Jenna works as a programmer for a team of people using media, websites, apps and videos to share the gospel with people who speak Arabic.
- Antonio engineers systems for clean water in rural areas, and this allows him to meet with a wide range of people in one region.
- Beth and Jon are both engineers working on clean power solutions as alternatives to fossil fuels in a Muslim-majority country.
- James runs a company serving organisations that outsource their IT needs and through it is able to share the gospel with industry colleagues.
Expertise, work experience and education open doors for people with specialised abilities to work among other highly trained individuals. And we want to send people through those doors in pursuit of sharing the gospel with those who have never heard it. Jobs in engineering and IT allow access to people and places that are difficult to reach.
Here’s what one Pioneers missionary says about his work in IT and missions...
We recently interviewed John, a Pioneers missionary who has an IT business in Asia. We asked him how he would encourage people who have IT skills and are also interested in missions. Here’s what he told us:
There’s a beauty in how technology is changing the way we work today. People with IT backgrounds are in high demand everywhere. Sometimes it seems like this work keeps you behind a computer or could be done from your own home country. But within the context of missions, IT can provide so many benefits!
“As an entrepreneur in the online marketing space, I have flexibility. So, I schedule my day however it best fits the needs of my family and missions opportunities that come up. Also, my overhead is low, which allows me to hire people more easily. I have an opportunity to provide exposure and economic benefit to a community that might not have it otherwise.”
Interested in seeing if your IT or engineering skills could be useful on the mission field? Pioneers' mission mentors are ready to chat whenever you are!
We’ve seen business and work opportunities provide disciple-makers like you with a clear identity and access to meet and serve people, especially in places where unemployment is high. And that leads to relationships that are natural and break down the barriers to the gospel in people’s hearts.
Their vision was to reach their neighbours, their country and the surrounding area by sending people with the app to run Bible studies in houses and to pass it on to those who believed, encouraging them to do the same.
Pioneers use anything and everything that allows them to share the Good News. After all, Paul was a tentmaker, which is a little surprising if you think about it. And if you think that was outside the box, you should see what today’s missionaries do to introduce people to Jesus.