Questions That I Am Asked: “I want to be a missionary what do I do next?”

“I want to be a missionary, what do I do next?”  I have been asked this question from time to time.  The answer to this question is totally dependent upon this person’s age, spiritual maturity, training, and experience.  Usually, the first thing someone wants to do when they surrender to the foreign mission field is to figure out what country they will one day go to.  I will tell you that the country you are going to go to at this point is of little importance.  Here are some things that you should do when considering foreign missions.

• Get involved in your local church.  You may already serve in your church, if so start trying to do more.  Look for jobs to do.  Try to anticipate what your pastor and church leadership needs.  Arrive to church early and stay late.  Volunteer to substitute as a teacher for Sunday School classes.  Ask to become a teacher or an assistant teacher of a class.  Get involved in the ministry!
• Spend time with your pastor.  Let him know what you believe God is working in your heart to do.  Ask him for counsel.  Meet with him before services to pray.  Serve him.  Learn from him how he does ministry.  Go with him to make visits, funerals, and weddings.  Learn from him how to do the ministry!
• Get actively involved with the missionaries your church supports.  Most of the missionaries your church supports have email addresses, contact them and let them know what God is doing in your heart.  Communicate with them on a regular basis.  Pray for them.
• Go on missions trips.  There are few things that will light the fire in a man who is interested in missions like going to see a field where God is working.  Don’t just go to the mission field, but go to visit a missionary on the field.  We have Vision Tours lined up for 2015 around the world where God is using missionaries.
• Pray and learn about every country around the world.  There are 195 countries around the world.  All of them need the Gospel of Jesus.  You can buy the book “Operation World”.  It will educate you on the need of each country.  A call to any country starts with a burden.
• Read books.  There are great missionary biographies to read, there are also wonderful books on missions to read.  “The Master’s Plan of Evangelism”, “The Challenge of Missions”, “Mentoring for Missions”, are the names of just a few.  There are also great blogs.  WorldEvangelism.net is a great example of a blog centered around missions.  It is constantly updated and you can learn great things.

These are all good things that anyone can do who is interested in becoming a missionary.  Missionaries should have training and experience.  I pray that God use you at your home church and one day on the foreign mission field.  If there is anything I can to do to assist you, please let me know.  May God bless you as you continue to follow him.