What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Missionary Overseas

Mar 22, 2023

I tell prospective missionaries two things: One is that “missions” is messy. The other is to position oneself as a learner, both before going to the field and while adjusting to a new cultural context. Reflecting on my early days as a missionary, influenced by my years of orienting new missionaries, there are some key things I wish I had known before launching to the field and ways GFM’s Missionary Training School offers specific preparation.

Three things I wish I had known before going overseas as a missionary

  • I wish I had known more about basic team dynamics . Mission workers arrive and depart the field often, requiring constant adjustments that may lead to frustration between team colleagues. Understanding how different personalities can work together in unity and being adept at basic relational skills, such as active listening and peer counseling, would have been beneficial from the beginning.
  • I wish I had understood the major worldviews and how they pertain to regional religions and cultures. Related to that, I think new field missionaries should prioritize observing local culture and learning from local church leaders and experienced mission workers during their first few years, to position themselves as genuine learners. 
  • I wish I had studied more about Biblical spiritual warfare principles so that I could readily recognize and appropriately respond in those situations. I also wish I had formulated a Biblical opinion on the more controversial spiritual gifts so that observing their use in a different cultural context wouldn’t have been confusing. 

Three ways GFM’s Missionary Training School (MTS) prepares someone to serve overseas

  • MTS offers holistic training of “head” knowledge, “heart” character, and “hands” skills and ties them all together as equally important in ministry. MTS allows students to break out of their comfort zones and into relationships with internationals while discovering God’s ability to overcome cultural barriers and build respect between different groups and individuals. 
  • During MTS, students are challenged to investigate what they believe from personal Bible study and to formulate a biblical foundation for missions, faith, and God’s purpose in the world. Students learn how to talk about spiritual things in a simple way with people of other faiths, to build conversational bridges and introduce them to Jesus naturally.
  • On a practical level, MTS students learn how to view language learning as an important piece of ministry and cultural immersion, how to implement reproducible evangelism and discipleship tools, and how to develop a donor and partnership team without pressure or guilt.

Living overseas requires adaptability - people might be at your door 24/7, the electricity, water, phone, internet, and other assumed “services” may be off for days without warning, and your neat “to do” list will rarely be accomplished on schedule. I grew to understand that taking the long view of mission service (20+ years) was the primary way to truly impact people and ministries in the Global South where I served.

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Written by: a long-term missionary who served in West Africa and later taught in Missionary Training School.

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