Training and Development
Called. Prepared. Sent.
ABWE has helped gospel workers reach the field ready for nearly 100 years. Clear training. Trusted structure. A community of churches and missionaries who will walk with you from calling to deployment.
Calling is the starting point, not the finish line.
Most missionaries who struggle on the field don’t lack zeal. They lack preparation. Uncertainty about calling, inadequate cross-cultural training, doctrinal drift under pressure, ministry burnout — these are common, real, and preventable.
You need more than a sending church and a plane ticket. You need a structured path, field-tested training, and a team that has done this before.
ABWE has been closing that gap for nearly 100 years.
We don’t replace your church’s authority over you as a sent worker. We come alongside your church to give you what no single congregation can provide alone: a full training pathway, a global network, and decades of hard-won field experience.
Whether you are a student considering missions, a professional thinking about a career shift, a prefield missionary in support raising, or a pastor looking to send your people well — we want to give you the tools you need to carry out your calling.
“The goal is not to keep missionaries dependent on ABWE. The goal is churches that stand when you’re gone.”
What the training path looks like
Every ABWE missionary moves through a structured, customized training sequence. Our mission leaders and training experts build educational requirements for each prefield missionary based on their background, field assignment, and assessed readiness. This may include formal education — including our Master of Arts in Cultural Apologetics and Missions offered in partnership with Founders Seminary.
1 — Missionary Orientation
Occurs at appointment. Initiates long-term, mid-term, and associate missionaries into the ABWE family, orients them to prefield life, and establishes shared vision and philosophy of ministry.
2 — Support Raising Training
At the beginning of prefield ministry. Covers partnership development, building an Individual Development Plan, and other components in the Prefield Development schedule.
3 — Essential Missions Components
At about 50 percent supported. A five-day workshop at ABWE International Headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, covering church planting philosophy and ministry strategy. Taught in small groups by experienced ABWE missionaries from across the world.
4 — Culture Bound
Language acquisition and cultural orientation training to prepare you for effective communication and ministry in your new culture.
5 — Personal and Cyber Security Training
At around 75 percent support. An active, interactive course covering classroom and outdoor training for workers in open and restricted-access areas worldwide.
6 — Departure Readiness Training
Also at 75 percent support. An invitation-only training held three times per year, focused on the transition to the field, major cultural adjustments, and adapting to your new field team.
New Missionary Orientation — ABWE International Headquarters, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Led by a scholar who still works in the field
Dr. E.D. Burns serves as ABWE’s executive director of Training and Development. With over 20 years of experience in missions and theological education, he is a missionary-theologian whose work integrates biblical spirituality and missiological practice at every level.
What distinguishes Dr. Burns is where he does his work. He lives and ministers in a small, remote village where only about a thousand speakers of the local language remain. “It’s the privilege of a lifetime,” he has said. The training he develops flows directly from active, current field experience — not from a distance.
He is the author of The Transcultural Gospel, Ancient Gospel, Brave New World, and Seeds and Stars. He also serves as a professor at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary and as director of the MA in Cultural Apologetics and Missions at Founders Seminary.
His work at ABWE focuses on developing foundational resources for missionaries and sending churches, with an emphasis on theological integrity, cultural adaptation, and resilience across the whole arc of missionary ministry.
Dr. E.D. Burns
Executive Director of Training and Development
“I live in a small remote village where there are only about a thousand speakers of the local language, and it’s the privilege of a lifetime.”
— Dr. E.D. Burns, executive director of Training and Development
Training grounded in sound doctrine
As an association of like-minded churches sending missionaries together, ABWE maintains a high degree of doctrinal compatibility among our sending churches. Rather than supersede or supplant a local church’s authority over its sent workers, we come alongside those who have already been identified and called by their church.
These commitments undergird our statement of faith, revised and strengthened by our team of theologians, pastors, and missionaries in 2024. We take great care in knowing that our sending churches are committed to historic, evangelical, and baptistic convictions.
While we stand firmly on key Protestant and evangelical distinctives, our updated statement also addresses current matters of controversy — human sexuality, the nature of God, and the definition of a church — from an unapologetically biblical standpoint. Our aim is to renew emphasis on evangelism and the urgency of the Great Commission while promoting unity on secondary and tertiary matters.
What drives our training
All followers of Christ — whether missionaries, senders, or supporters of gospel workers from afar — must recognize that our faith is built not on sentiment or tribalism but on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, of which Christ is the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20 ESV).
Apathy toward doctrine leads to a distorted Christ and a false gospel that cannot save. An unswerving commitment to sound teaching anchors missions work through the most difficult cultural seasons. Our commitment to evangelism is always theologically precise — without that precision, our efforts are futile.
The church’s responsibility to steward the gospel is paramount. We must root ourselves in the Word of God, partnering with like-minded believers, churches, and organizations to bring Christ’s hope to the world.
Why partner with a missions agency?
As you pursue your calling, you don’t have to build everything from scratch. Our team provides robust theological resources and training, mobilization and recruitment support, medical missionary care, financial support and retirement plans, and access to a network of thousands of supporting churches who will partner with you in prayer and tangible support.
Ready to take the next step?
If you share these commitments and value rigorous training to prepare you for field service, we would love to talk. Our Mobilization team is ready to answer your questions and help you find your role in the Great Commission.