A story-driven walkthrough of the Virtual Missions Kit—tailored for the mission-minded (but passport-averse)

It all started with a mildly chaotic email thread.

She wasn’t a missionary. She wasn’t even totally sure what counted as a missionary anymore. But she did care. She followed the updates, she knew the acronyms, and she tried really hard not to let her eyes glaze over during the Missions Committee meetings. So when someone dropped a link into the chat with the subject line “This seems cool?” and a mysterious URL—globalswitchboard.io/virtual-missions-kit—Susan clicked.

Five minutes later, she was intrigued.
Ten minutes later, she was invested.
By the end of the week, she had a launch plan.

Step 1: “Wait… I can do missions?”

The first thing that caught her attention was the Skill Assessment—a short, intuitive tool that promised to match people with real ministry opportunities based on the skills they already had.

She took it.

Turns out, her years of communications work, occasional social media savvy, and freakish love of proofreading could actually serve real missionaries around the world. Without leaving home. Without selling everything. Without figuring out vaccinations or visas.

“It felt like I took a huge step forward into the mission field just by offering a very small amount of my time.” —Zane, Switchboard Volunteer

She immediately forwarded the link to her pastor. And the other six people on the missions committee. And her friend Barb. (Barb loves PowerPoint and feeling helpful.)

Step 2: The Deep Dive

Over the next few days, Susan explored the full Virtual Missions Kit (VMK). It had everything—from rollout timelines and presentation slides, to FAQs and printable handouts. It even included stories of people just like her and churches just like hers using Switchboard to engage in missions in a whole new way.

“This tool changes how we think about mobilizing people toward the Great Commission.”
—Keaton Koch, Pastor of Mobilization

She learned that:

• Switchboard isn’t a program or a course.
  
• It’s a platform that connects volunteers with Great Commission needs.
  
• Every church member could take the assessment, make a profile, and get matched with global ministries that needed exactly what they had to offer.
  

It wasn’t complicated. It wasn’t expensive. It wasn’t even weird.

The only thing standing between her church and a whole new way to participate in missions… was trying it.

Step 3: Testing the Waters (With the Committee)

Susan invited the missions committee to take the Skill Assessment themselves. That week’s meeting included the phrase “Wait, this is kind of awesome?” at least twice.

The finance guy discovered he could help a sending agency audit their donation tracking system.
The worship coordinator got matched with a missionary needing help recording a training jingle.
Even Pastor Mike found a match helping a young nonprofit craft its ministry story.

One committee member summarized the whole experience:

“We’ve seen amazing responses when we can offer serving opportunities tailor-made according to people’s skill sets and their time.”

Step 4: The Big Reveal

They decided to announce it during Missions Sunday.

They showed the overview video, invited people to take the Skill Assessment, and printed out Switchboard handouts like it was 1999.

The response?
Better than any bake sale.

People signed up that day. Some joined just to see what “virtual missions” meant. Others found real, meaningful roles that let them support missionaries they’d only ever prayed for.

One woman who’d never been able to go on a trip because of her chronic illness emailed the committee:

“This is the first time I’ve felt like missions was for people like me.”

Step 5: Celebrate and Iterate

Today, Susan’s church is in what Switchboard calls the Celebrate and Iterate phase. (It sounds fancy but mostly means telling stories, sending reminders, and helping people keep discovering how they can serve.)

And sure, not everything went perfectly. (One committee member still prefers printouts over platforms.) But the impact has been real. Their supported missionaries have more help. Church members feel more connected. And that guy who runs the A/V booth now mentors a church plant in India—over Zoom.

Susan isn’t a real person, but her story might as well be. It’s stitched together from real experiences of users who discovered how to engage in missions through the Switchboard Virtual Missions Kit.

Top 3 Takeaways

1. You already have what it takes.
   The Skill Assessment helps you discover how your God-given skills and experiences can serve real ministries around the world.
   
2. Your church can mobilize without burning out.
   The Virtual Missions Kit gives you everything you need to get started—timeline, tools, templates, and more.
   
3. Virtual missions are real missions.
   From website edits to prayer guides, from financial coaching to curriculum writing, global ministry needs real people doing real work. That includes you.
   

Ready to see for yourself?

Take the Skill Assessment, explore the Virtual Missions Kit, or forward this article to someone on your missions team.

You don’t have to be a missionary to make a global impact.
But you do have to start somewhere.