
Dr. Jean Barsness
SEND International of Canada, Calgary
Bill Clements
Bethany Chapel, Calgary
Marlowe Janke
Gateway International Church, Calgary
Rev. Rod Masterson
Lead Pastor: Mount Olive Evangelical Free Church,
Three Hills
Charlie McCordic
Director of Global Ministries
& Intercultural Studies,
Heritage College
Len Nation
Innisfail Baptist Church
Lorne Strom
Businessman, Calgary
CrossTraining is an initiative of Global Linking, a registered charitable society. If you wish to make a donation to CrossTraining make your cheque out to Global Linking and designate CrossTraining in the memo line.
Mail your contribution to Global Linking
2635 - 32 Street S.W.
Calgary, AB T3E 2R8
CTG's Program Essentials
(PDF document)
CrossTraining Global (CTG) is a consortium of evangelical Church Assemblies, Bible College Academies and Mission Agencies, serving together to facilitate a personalized, experiential approach to effectively equip Christians for minstry within a cross-cultural context (see CTG Core Values). CTG is an innovative program integrating practical experience, academic study, and personal mentorship, with a strong emphasis on personal spiritual development.
For us it all starts at the cross. Jesus died on a cross. God's wrath and judgment for our sin was poured out on Jesus, who suffered on our behalf—on a cross. We bow in humble brokenness at the cross, in gratitude for His love and forgiveness. Jesus calls us to take up a cross and follow Him. We follow in His steps—crossing geographic, linguistic and cultural barriers to carry God's love to every tribe, tongue and nation.
We are all about training you to cross cultures. Our training is experiential—it is hands-on, mentor guided, culturally relevant, academically sound and church centered.
From September to December, you will serve in an ethnic-specific church ministry, mentored by caring leaders. You will be exposed to another language and minister in another culture. You will participate in modular classes, facilitated by missionary practitioners who come directly from fields of cross-cultural ministry to share from their personal experience. You will grow in Christ-likeness through regularly scheduled spiritual formation sessions.
From January to April, you will serve overseas in another culture, mentored by caring missionaries. You will experience first-hand, what it is like to cross geographic, linguistic and cultural barriers to carry God's love to another tribe, tongue and nation.
God loves the world (John 3:16). Jesus commands us to go into the world and make obedient disciples of the nations (Matthew 28:19,20). The Holy Spirit gives us power to be ambassadors and witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world (Acts 1:8). Revelation 5:9-14 foretells the day when people from every tribe, tongue and nation will gather at the throne and worship God in unison and harmony.
CTG's purpose is to provide student-tailored, experiential equipping for cross-cultural ministry for the glory of God.
CTG invites a wide range of participants into a cooperative cross-cultural training program aimed at launching a new generation of global ministers. Here is a description of the main terms defining our vision:
Consortium: A cooperative group of assemblies (churches), mission agencies and academies (Bible colleges) formed to undertake an enterprise or joint venture beyond the resources of any one member.
Assemblies/Churches: Evangelical churches that provide a context for cross-cultural practica or program support of CTG.
Academies/Bible Colleges: Evangelical Bible colleges, institutes or seminaries that provide academic credit for CTG Modular Courses, Practica and Internships.
Mission Agencies: Evangelical mission agencies that provide Modular Facilitators, cross-cultural or aboriginal Internships, and who send students for training who are in the process of preparing to cross cultures.
Facilitate equipping for cross-cultural ministry: The objective of CTG is to equip individuals for purposeful and effective cross-cultural ministry.
Personalized: mentorship, practicum placement and internship placement take into consideration the calling, character, and competency of each CTG participant.
Experiential: Though CTG encourages academic stewardship its primary focus is on experiential ministry opportunities in both local ethnic-specific church settings and overseas or aboriginal cross-cultural settings.
Character Focused: CTG seeks to develop and enhance Christ-like character in the lives of each participant.
Mentor-based: CTG seeks to foster a meaningful relationship between students and mentors. Mentors include pastors, missionaries, and CTG facilitators. Mentors are encouragers, willing to walk alongside a student as a teacher, listener and friend. They will share their life, failures and successes with the learner. CTG seeks to expose participants to numerous godly practitioners for mentoring purposes. A unique feature of CTG is the friendships forged with many globally engaged individuals who embrace God's passion for the nations, worldwide.
Church centered: It is the conviction of CTG that missions starts with a church and ends/results in a church. CTG seeks to engage the participant's sending/supporting church in the setting apart, sending and supporting of worthy candidates. CTG participants are immersed and serve in ethnic-specific churches in an urban setting in preparation for cross-cultural ministry in an overseas or aboriginal setting. CTG partners with ethnic-specific churches who are willing to "adopt" a student and provide opportunities to serve, learn and grow together and with support churches who provide facility, financial and people resources, partnering in global ministry endeavors.
Experiential: CTG provides experiential opportunities to equip for cross-cultural ministry in both local ethnic-specific church settings and overseas or aboriginal cross-cultural settings.
Spiritual development: CTG places a high value on personal spiritual development. Participants will meet regularly to interact on issues of spiritual health and maturity.
Academic stewardship: CTG students are expected to be wise stewards of their mental capacities by engaging fully in the academic requirements associated with their Modular Courses, Practica, Internships, and Spiritual Formation sessions.
CTG adheres to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada Statement of Faith.