Connect with... Erica Dorsey

Ministry: Finance Manager, Papua New Guinea
Sending Church: Oak Grove Church of Evansville, Wisconsin

From early on Erica was familiar with “the frontline evangelistic side of missions” because her parents were friends of missionaries. But she “had never thought about the logistics side of it and the necessary support staff.”

That changed when Erica visited missionary friends in Papua NewGuinea (PNG) in 2012. But even before that, she remembers that “God had been working in my heart to encourage me to surrender absolutely to His will, whatever that might be.”

She was afraid of what God might demand. But the words of Scottish missionary Andrew Murray put her at ease: “Come to God now, and prove how gracious your God is, and be not afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.”

Erica returned to the States from her visit overseas. Within a year, her church had sent her back to PNG where she planned to stay for 18 months serving at the mission school, Numonohi Christian Academy. She ended up staying four years. “I loved the work, and as God provided financially for me to stay longer, I kept extending my time.”

While serving as the school secretary, which fit with her career skills, bookkeeping was one of her favorite responsibilities. When there became an urgent opening in the mission’s business office, Erica was asked to take the skills she had developed at the school and use them in the business office.

Erica’s time as an associate with Ethnos360 came to an end, and she wanted to serve full time. With the blessing of her sending church, she has completed the membership process and is shoring up what is lacking in her financial support. She hopes to be back in Papua New Guinea by the time you read this.