“Life with Jesus is an adventure, and do you trust Him enough to say 'Yes!' to that adventure?” When I heard a conference speaker say that, it was the encouragement that I needed to step out.
Jenna Montgomery was born in Scotland and first joined OM in 2003 for a gap year on board Logos II. After completing studies in Modern European Languages (French and Spanish) and Human Resource Management, she worked for 10 years in Human Resources for the City Council in her home city in Scotland. In 2019 she joined OM in Spain, initially involved in discipleship and evangelism and then later took on the roles of Field Personnel Officer, People Care Co-ordinator and international HR projects. She is married to Mario and lives in the south of Spain.
I grew up in a family where my parents loved and followed Jesus; however, when I was younger, I had a lot of different fears, such as fear of rejection and fear of not being good enough, and low self-esteem. That changed when I was around 14 years old and asked Jesus to take control of my whole life. Since then, He has been helping me deal with my fears, and I have much better self-esteem.
I received the encouragement I needed to start looking into options to serve overseas through a conference speaker in 2018. Before the conference I had been asking God to show me whether this was the right time to look into going abroad to work in missions. The very first speaker at the conference challenged us by saying “Life with Jesus is an adventure, and do you trust Him enough to say 'Yes!' to that adventure?” At the time I’d spent 10 years doing work in Human Resources (HR) for my local city council in Aberdeen, Scotland, and serving in my home church. I joined OM in Spain in January 2019 for a two-year commitment, focusing on outreach and discipling. Then, the director invited me to stay longer to work in personnel. After doing that role for three years, I’ve recently moved on to supporting OM workers in Spain through People Care and also doing some international HR projects. Working with OM in Spain means that I get to combine all my passions — meeting new people, sharing about Jesus, speaking Spanish and Human Resources!
I often joke that I don’t know how to do anything work-wise besides HR. All of my professional studies, training and experience have been in HR and it’s what I love to do. I feel God gave me a heart for people and enabled me to do HR well. Doing my previous job in the UK to the best of my ability, with God’s help, glorified Him. Doing my current job in Spain to the best of my ability, with God’s help, glorifies Him. Whilst you don’t have to go abroad to use your God-given skills, I can see how mine have made a difference to the OM team in Spain. In Aberdeen I’d been on a team of about 60 people supporting 7,000 council staff, but the aims of HR are the same everywhere – right people, right place, right time! I hope my colleagues here in Spain feel well-supported and in a good place to fulfil their potential. Providing an efficient HR function, and using ‘soft skills’ in interviewing and active listening, can make a big difference to someone’s experience of an organisation, especially in the process of joining and settling into a new country. And it’s great to have been involved in recruiting and supporting Spaniards to serve the least reached. The evangelical church here is small but it’s exciting to see people with a vision for sharing the gospel in and beyond Spain.
If you’re wondering how God can use your professional skills in missions, it’s wise to explore the future impact of serving in missions on your professional development and pension situation. It’s also important to keep in mind what you will gain from the experience - I’ve gained new transferable skills in Spain, such as living and working in a different language and culture, which I can bring to any future role. And then there’s the bigger picture. So many people in the world have never heard the gospel. Telling them is the responsibility of all believers, you don’t need a specific calling for that. But if you are abroad and/or serving in an organisation, you need a network of people around you, doing finance, HR, IT, etc. These professions help others to ‘go’, so you’re using your professional skills to invest in God’s Kingdom, and that’s exciting!