The Missionary Journey
If God is stirring something in you, here is the road — and here is who walks it with you.
You Don’t Need to Have It All Figured Out
Almost every missionary we send started where you are: interested, unsure, and a little afraid of running ahead of God. You do not need a country picked out, a support team, or a seminary degree to take the first step. You need a church that knows you, and the willingness to say the question out loud to someone who can help you test it.
A call is not a feeling you have to be certain about before anyone else is allowed to weigh in. It is something God confirms — in his Word, in your own heart, and through the people who know you best.
The Missionary Journey
Every missionary’s story begins in a local church. From there, ABWE walks with you, step by proven step, from your first prayer to the day you entrust a thriving ministry to local partners.
1. Exploration
You pray. You serve your local church and let people watch your life. You ask your pastors what they see in you, and you listen to the answer. Then you talk with ABWE — honestly, about your gifting, your family, your fears, and where you might fit. We’ll help you explore ministry options and potential next steps.
2. Application
You begin the formal process of testing whether ABWE, and a particular ministry, are right for you. It runs both directions. You are weighing us while we are getting to know you, and either of us is free to say this is not it. If everything is aligned, the last step of the application process is to come to an orientation and officially join ABWE as a missionary.
3. Prefield Ministry
You train for the work ahead, raise the support it will require, and build the team of churches and individuals who will pray for you and stand behind you for years. Support raising is ministry, not a hurdle in front of ministry — you will be inviting people into what God is doing. You will not leave for the field until you are prepared for it, spiritually healthy, and fully funded.
4. Ministry Launch
You arrive, and for a while your main work is learning: the language, the culture, the people, and the place you have prayed about for years. It is humbling, and it is meant to be. The people you came to serve will be your teachers first.
5. Home Ministry / 6. Ongoing Field Ministry
This is most of a missionary life, and it moves in a rhythm. On the field you evangelize the lost, establish the church, equip the leaders, and entrust the mission. Then you come home to rest, to be with your family and friends and the churches that send you, and to tell them what God has done. The cycle continues throughout the duration of your ministry.
7. Ministry Handoff
The goal from the first day is a church that will continue to thrive long after you are gone. When Paul left the Ephesian elders, he commended them to God and to the word of his grace, not to himself (Acts 20:32). Finishing well means passing the work on to others and trusting God with the future.
What You Can Expect From Us
- A mobilizer who knows your name. One person walks with you from the first conversation onward. It is a relationship, not a case file.
- Honest answers. If ABWE is not the right fit, we will tell you early rather than late. That is a kindness, not a rejection.
- Your church at the center. We come alongside what your church is already doing. We do not replace it, and we will not go around it.
- Preparation that matches the work. Training, support raising, and care for your soul before you go, not after you are struggling.
Sending Someone From Your Church?
The first step in this process is not ours. It is yours. In Acts 13, the Spirit spoke to a praying, fasting church, and that church laid hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them out. The sending body was the congregation. It still is.
Long before a candidate talks to us, someone in your congregation is being shaped by your preaching, tested in your ministries, and known by your elders. That is the part we cannot do, and the part no mission should try to do for you. When you are ready, we will come alongside you and walk the rest of the road together.
Start With a Conversation
No application. No commitment. No pressure. Tell us where you are — even if where you are is “I don’t know” — and we will help you find the next step. You do not have to be sure. You only have to be willing to ask.