Q & A with ACTION missionaries Tom and Beth Potter

Overview: Project: Pag-Asa is a school for local orphans. Currently, Pag-Asa partners with five local orphanages in Manila and provides education for over 40 students. We believe education is foundational for success in life. This is especially true in the process of changing the lives of orphans from being the lowest in society to having a chance to become all they were made to be. Project: Pag-Asa's vision is to create highly educated and motivated young adults who have a chance to improve their lives, their communities, and their country.

1. What are some ministry tasks that you want the intern to accomplish while serving with you? 

We would like short-term teams to gain exposure to global missions. In relation to our specific ministry, we would want interns to gain a new perspective on the needs of neglected children, especially in light of education as a means to a brighter future. Developing an understanding of cultural sensitivity compared to the home culture is very much a move toward understanding the global missions movement. Developing a personal theological perspective of one’s place in global missions would be another goal.

2. What are some key lessons from your ministry and walk with the Lord that you want to impart to the interns to help them as they consider their own individual call to missions or vocational ministry?

Ministry in an intercultural context with a multicultural ministry team has been a huge blessing and great challenge to all those called to global missions. We love having the opportunity to help shape people’s understanding of what global missions looks like, challenging our cultural stereotypes as we move to a more global Christian perspective. 

Short-term trips, in our opinion, are a means to:

• gain exposure to global missions needs
• obtain a global awareness of the work of the Church
• become exposed to the needs of developing countries
• develop an understanding of where the intern or team member fits in the global missions effort
• spur the home church to get more involved in global missions

3. Please list specific skills an intern may expect to develop by the time the internship is completed.

• understand how to work wisely with neglected children and students who have experienced significant trauma
• learn how to work within a differentiated learning environment and in a multi-age, multi-grade classroom
• acquire the ability to interact within the Filipino culture
• gain a broad view of working within an intercultural ministry team
• become flexible so as to be able to roll with the ups and downs of global living
• capture a broader understanding of the global missions movement

Contact a member of our Mobilization Team for more info.