If you are a student who is heading toward a career in missions, you probably have many options ahead of you, but just as many questions!  You may feel that it will be a long time until you can get to the field and the real stuff of ministry, but you also have an awesome opportunity to prepare yourself well for the future.  So, what's the best way to proceed from here?

First and foremost is your relationship with the Lord of the Harvest.  Press in and develop a deep and dependent love for Jesus.  Become a devoted follower who knows the Word of God, the voice of the Spirit, and the presence of the Lord.

It is vital for you to be very involved on the local church level and to maintain a good relationship with your pastor or other spiritual mentor.  Study God’s Word with that person, and listen carefully to their wisdom and advice for your continued spiritual growth.  When you are ready to formally apply for missionary service, the support of your pastor and local church will be vital.  If you have not already, consider moving into leadership roles within your church and take advantage of opportunities that come along for special instruction and training.  Especially helpful is development of interpersonal strengths and witnessing/evangelism skills.

Of high importance is the education and training appropriate for your area of service on the field.  For example, medical personnel, teachers, pastors, etc. all need the same qualifications to do these jobs on the mission field as they would need to do them in their home country.

ExT missionaries need adequate cross-cultural experience before they can be appointed to serve overseas. You can begin working on this while you are a student by taking advantage of the opportunities that come your way to take short term missions trips, minister to people from other countries, interact with foreign students, possibly spend some time studying in another country, etc.  VISA Ministries offers great short-term missions programs and will prove a valuable asset to your development (link below).

Completion of the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (http://www.perspectives.org/) course offered by the U.S. Center for World Mission is a prerequisite for an ExT missionary’s field deployment. All missionaries must also complete the following courses (this can be done via correspondence) before going to the field:  Free Methodist History and Polity, Inductive Bible Study, Intro to Christian Theology and Wesleyan Theology.  Click here for more detailed coursework info. Including some of these courses in your college or seminary curriculum is a great way to multi-task.

Aside from studies relating to your major area of service and the required courses for missionaries, it would be helpful to include extra coursework in areas such as Bible/thology, world religions, foreign language, cross-cultural communication, cultural anthropology, basic accounting and public speaking.  Because it is a necessity for missionaries to communicate via the internet and e-mail, experience in those areas is essential, as well as a good working knowledge of preparing presentations and writing newsletters (an understanding of word processing, desktop publishing and presentation software is extremely helpful, as is the ability to create and manage a website).

VISA Ministries offers excellent opportunities for exposure and training that we often incorporate into the missionary candidate process and that can help you find direction along the way.  Learn more about programs such as VISA University and Team Leader Training at the VISA  website. 

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