As a part of my work as team leader of tranzsend, I regularly find myself pondering two matters that invariably give rise to an ongoing question.

The first matter is the incredible diversity of the work tranzsend does in the world. While the countries we work in may be limited to five (within South East Asia, East Asia, and South Asia), our team of 34 adults (plus 18 children) is involved in a huge variety of ministries.

These ministries can be broadly grouped into five categories: education, business, development, discipleship/training and church planting. Inside these categories our people find themselves involved in matters as varied as growing vegetables, making fish ponds, teaching English, leading Bible studies, preparing lessons, sitting with people, praying with people, learning language, developing a business plan and a whole host of other projects and activities.

That’s a significant breadth of diversity, and I’m struck again by the number of ways through which God is bringing in his Kingdom!

The second matter I ponder is the variety of people making up our team of tranzsend missionaries. We have people who come from backgrounds in engineering, nursing, banking, teaching, pig farming, and even selling drugs (pharmaceuticals, I mean).

All these people come from pretty ordinary backgrounds and it is a constant reminder to me that our God uses ordinary people.

Then I’m faced with the question: If there’s such diversity in tranzsend’s ministries, and if God uses people from all backgrounds, how can I/we help people to see that, in the work of world mission, there may be a place for them?

I’ve been pondering this question for quite some time now and I’ve decided that deep within the thinking of many Kiwis lies a misbelief that “I’m not good enough” to be used by God in any significant way and certainly not good enough to be a “missionary”!

The simple reality is this: if you’re a child of Jesus then you’re good enough! He’s chosen you and called you to be his servant and he’ll equip you to do whatever it is he calls you to do.

Now this isn’t to say that every follower of Jesus will join up with tranzsend to be a missionary overseas. However, before you completely dismiss that as an option, let me ask you: In the light of the diversity of ministries that sit under tranzsend, and the fact that all of our missionaries are ordinary people, are you ready as an ordinary person to listen to God’s call to whatever it is God is calling you to – perhaps even overseas mission?

• Neil Perry is Team Leader of tranzsend. With his wife Barbara he has served with tranzsend overseas in both PNG and Thailand. Neil can be contacted by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .