Missions training as discipleship

We believe it is the role of the local church to prepare people for mission because so much of missionary training is basic discipleship. Many churches may find it intimidating to equip their people for missionary service. That’s why we work to resource churches with the tools they need in order to raise up faithful cross-cultural workers.

Missions training for churches

  • Missions Intensive
    Lead your church to fulfill the Great Commission with a two-day conference for pastors that combines motivating theological messages with practical “how-to” sessions.
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  • Deepen Discipleship
    Equip members to follow Jesus in a disciple-making lifestyle with a focus on the nations. Word on Life helps you lead church members to develop healthy routines by reading through the New Testament and applying it in community to their daily lives. Organized in four six-week modules.
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  • Explore Missions
    Equip every church member with sound biblical foundations and practical methods for local and global mission. This interactive small-group study outlines the biblical basis of mission, introduces key missionaries in history, and provides a practical guide for how missions should be done in the dynamic world in which we live.
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Training

Missions training as life-on-life formation that happens in community.

A note from Zane Pratt, vice president of global training

We believe training is the key to biblical and faithful missionary service. In order to be disciple makers, we must be discipled. We look to Jesus’s example of discipleship: life-on-life formation that happens in community. This is why we move training out of the lecture hall into the real world.

 

Missions training is more than just a transfer of information. It is the knowledge and skills that transform our character that affects our patterns of behavior. We like to think of this in terms of knowing, being, and doing. What we know changes who we are, which is evident in what we do.

 

Whether we’re training people to plant churches or to participate in accountability reports, we organize our efforts around knowing, being, and doing. It turns out, this is how disciples are made—we read God’s Word, which informs our thoughts. Right thinking transforms who we are on the inside, which then leads us to act more like Jesus (and less like our sinful selves!). This pattern applies to training God’s people for mission.

 

We approach missions training from three major categories: training for churches, training for missionaries, and training new disciples in other places to make disciples.

We’re moving training out of the lecture hall into the real world.

Training Missionaries

Some aspects of missionary training stand beyond the ability of a local church. People with experience in cross-cultural ministry, language learning, and good engagement strategies are most able to prepare people to present the gospel in culturally appropriate ways. That’s why we lean on the wisdom of practitioners from around the world to produce training that is current, practical, and culturally informed.

Global Cities Initiative Training

Mobilized Christians learn to become more effective disciple makers in global cities. Discover gospel-centered strategies for managing culture stress, understanding different cultures, and working and communicating effectively in cross-cultural settings.
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Urban Intensive

Prepare sent ones for life and ministry in urban contexts. This six-day training experience in the city is designed and led by missionaries with global urban experience. The Urban Intensive is currently in closed testing. We will be working with teams of staff, mission leaders, and missionary candidates for urban training soon.

 

Mission Team Training

Prepare your short-term missions teams theologically, practically, and logistically with the six-part interactive study. The guide is divided into six pre-trip meetings and one post-trip debriefing. It introduces foundations for mission, disciple-making strategy, understanding worldviews, working as a team, and traveling well.

 

Training Nationals

The gospel that came to us must also go through us. As disciples are made in unreached places, we are compelled to equip them to make disciples and plant churches among their own people. We have training specialists in each region of the world working with local believers to develop tools that aid in Scripture translation, church planting, and sending missionaries.

If you would like information on any of these forms of training, send us your information in the form below, and we will get back with you soon.