Resources: Mission Events & Courses

Mission Events and Training Courses

God has raised up a great number of mission events, mission casting courses and unique missionary training programs all geared at mobilizing and equipping believers to pursue God’s global mission. Explore the opportunities available to prepare and equip yourself for long-term success on the mission field.

Mission Events

A list of missions events, primarily those in North America, is compiled by Missions Catalyst. Mission courses and events in the UK are listed by the UK world mission information service, OSCAR. Both also list some global events. Subscribe to the Brigada Today e-newsletter to read about upcoming events soon after they are announced.

Consider weekend retreats to deepen your relationship with Jesus and explore how you could become a missionary.

For missions conferences with thousands of attendees and many agencies look at:

General Missions Education

Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, provided by the U.S. Center for World Mission in cooperation with local churches, is a semester-long course offered in many cities across the U.S. and around the world. Also available online and in week-long intensives.

Two courses with similar content and purposes are Kairos and Pathways to Global Understanding.

Kingdom Expansion 101, provided by DualReach, is a six-session online intro-to-missions course designed with church mission leaders and volunteers in mind. You can work through it individually or with a group.

Other small group studies include:

God’s Heart for the Nations, by Jeff Lewis
Missions: God’s Heart for the World, by Paul Borthwick
Xplore Study, from Every Ethne (designed for student groups)
Step In, by Global Frontier Missions

Training Focused on Muslim Ministry

Encountering the World of Islam, a semester-long course on Islam patterned after Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, is offered in various locations as well as online. The course seeks to give a working knowledge of the Islamic faith and an understanding of how to share with Muslims the life of Christ.
The Zwemer Institute for Muslim Studies, now part of Columbia International University, offers semester and week-long courses in understanding Muslims, Islam, the Qur’an, etc. Many of them are available online.
Horizons International provides a variety of training programs in Muslim-focused evangelism.
Bridges and the Sahara Challenge both offered by the Crescent Project equip Christians to interact with Muslims full of compassion, love and gentle boldness.

Missionary Training Schools

Some people who want to serve cross-culturally go to Bible school and/or seminary first, though this is not always necessary. For various perspectives on what kind of training missionaries need, see the training section of AskaMissionary.

Graduate or undergraduate degrees in missions (sometimes known as intercultural, international, or global studies) are available from schools such as these:

There are also some great online Bible Schools if that better fits your needs.

Other Training Settings

Ethnos360, formerly New Tribes Mission, is one of the few mission agencies to run its own, full-length training schools, attended not only by their members but also by those with similar needs and interests.

Ethnos360 Bible Institute – A two-year Bible training program designed specifically to prepare men and women in God’s Word for cross-cultural ministry.
Emanate – Ethnos Canada’s training program for believers interested in church-planting among unreached people groups.
Ethnos360 Missionary Training Center – Ethnos360’s two-year, extensive missionary training program for believers wanting to church plant among unreached people groups.
Missionary Training International in Colorado
Mission Prep in Toronto
TRAIN International offers experiential, community-based pre-field training for missionaries out of Missouri.
Center for Intercultural Training in North Carolina
Institute for Cross-Cultural Training at Wheaton College in Illinois
WorldView Center in Oregon
Explore, provided by All Nations Christian College in the UK, is a 13-week online mission training course designed to provide a foundation for cross-cultural services. En Route is the 10-week residential course on which it is based. All Nations provide a variety of other training options as well.
HEART, provided by Warner Southern College in Florida, is a 15-week program focused on cultural adaptation, technical training, and practical community development training to equip those going to serve in less developed nations.
King University in Tennessee offers one and two-week workshops on topics that interest cross-cultural workers, especially topics related to health care.
Radius International offers a offers a ten-month training program in Mexico which affords students daily, real-time experience learning to integrate culture and language acquisition, spiritual formation, team building, and high-stress living.
The Guild places apprentices in ethnic communities of Los Angeles for 8-12 months.
Beautiful Feet Boot Camp is a ten-month missionary training program for those called to long-term service among the unreached.
Café 1040 is a three-month intense immersion and training program that places participants in teams overseas.
Global Frontier Missions has a five-month missionary training school that combines classroom time with local cross-cultural outreach.
Personal Support Raising Boot Camp is an intense two-day training seminar helps Christian workers get to their ministry assignment quickly and fully funded. Participants prepare extensively and the seminar leader helps them to apply the tools and principles they learned during their preparation.
Kingdom Come Training provides 18 hours of online, skill-focused training that equips participants to share their story effectively with potential partners. It is followed up by coaching and accountability designed to help them get to 100% within six months.
YWAM Training offers a free online course in relational fundraising.
Steiger Missions School is a 2-month hands-on training based in Germany and geared at reaching the global youth culture.