Missionary Training at ABWE

Pre-Field Development (PFD)

Missionary candidates entering pre-field ministry have committed themselves, hopefully, to a lifetime of missionary service. Likewise, as a missionary agency, ABWE has committed itself to certain values; among them is the value of Excellence. ABWE’s Center for Excellence in International Ministries (CEIM) has been assigned the responsibilities of assisting and supervising pre-field missionaries in their developmental processes toward excellence in missionary service.

CEIM works closely with ABWE missionary administrators, as well as the Pre-Field Ministry Department, in the important processes of Pre-field Development (PFD). The Pre-field Development Program combines reading assignments with a carefully crafted and personalized educational-mentoring-training (EMT) program, so as to equip pre-field missionaries for successful field ministries.

Reading Assignments:

Each pre-field missionary is required to read a minimum of five assigned books:

Important notes:

* A thorough reading of Piper’s and Elmer’s books is a prerequisite for attending Field Preparation Seminar (FPS).
** A thorough reading of Hesselgrave’s book is a prerequisite for attending the Core Ministries Institute’s Essential Mission Components (CMI-EMC) course.

Pre-fielders will be required to bring these books to the appropriate training event and will be involved in discussion activities that will demonstrate their comprehension of these core reading materials.

These specific titles will be assigned soon after the missionary candidate is formally appointed to missionary service.  Prospective candidates may begin reading the books for their region of interest prior to their appointment with the understanding that the administrator of that region reserves the right to change the book assigned from year to year.  View the Regional Reading List for book titles currently required.

Important note: These books will also be discussed in a region-specific reading seminar in Field Preparation Seminar.  Prior to that time they must be read well and digested thoroughly.

Educational-Mentoring-Training (EMT) Assignments:

During Candidate Seminar and shortly after appointment to pre-field missionary status, CEIM leaders will work with missionary administrators and pre-field missionaries in order to customize a set of EMT pre-field assignments for each newly appointed missionary. Specific assignments for each personalized pre-field development program will be determined based upon these two focus questions: 1. Where is he or she going? 2. What will he or she be doing there? Based upon these two crucial variables, the following Pre-Field Development Grid will be used in the process of customizing Pre-Field training and educational assignments for each pre-field missionary.

Missionary Development Grid - Pre-Field Phase

These two questions determine the type and amount of preparation needed for each pre-field missionary.

Is this person properly educated for his or her field ministry?

ABWE requires that all of its missionaries must have taken college or graduate level courses (from doctrinal perspectives similar to ABWE’s) in:
  • OT survey
  • NT survey
  • Bible doctrines
  • Bible study methods

Deficiencies in these requirements can be made up in a variety of ways, including approved distance learning options.

View Recommended Educational Courses
View Recommended Educational Courses


Does this person have the ministry experience necessary to prepare him or her for field ministry?

If not, we will require some appropriate type of supervised ministry experience. In some situations, that can be done on-field in the first term of service.

However, in most cases pre-field ministry internships or mentoring programs are customized and assigned.

Where possible, it is our preference to work with and through the sending church in the establishment and oversight of these supervised ministry experiences.
Is this person properly trained for his or her field ministry?

Whereas education focuses on knowledge, training focuses on skill development.

For example, all ABWE pre-field missionaries are required to attend a five-day course called Essential Mission Components: Mapping to the End Vision of Missions (or EMC). It’s a part of the Core Ministries Institute (CMI) track of pre-field training that focuses on three of ABWE’s core ministries—cross cultural evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.

Missionary Enrichment Conference Training Institute modules and annual Edge Seminars also provide significant missionary training opportunities.
Previous cross-cultural experience is highly recommended for any mission field, and even required for some fields.

Every pre-field missionary will be required to conduct an online research study regarding the country in which he or she will serve. We call that assignment Pre-Field Missionary Research: Preparing for Cross-Cultural Ministry. It is required for participation in the Essential Mission Components course.

ABWE’s Missionary Resource Center Online (MRC Online) provides free missionary access to professional online resources for studying target-country culture, history, political and economic scenarios, as well as the spiritual needs and strategic missions information necessary to equip missionaries for informed cultural adaptation.
LANCE (Language Acquired Naturally through Cultural Encounters) is a language acquisition program offered in our Field Prep Seminars. LANCE is planned to help new missionaries to know how to learn a language. It is offered during the early days of Field Prep Seminar.

Due to the difficulty of the field language in which a person will be ministering, low aptitude for learning languages, & etc., some people need more language acquisition preparation than others. Thus, in some cases, post-LANCE language acquisition assignments are made.
Candidate interviews sometimes reveal needs for counseling, for couples or for individuals.

When this is the case, specific counseling assignments are made by missionary administrators in consultation with our Missionary Care Division. The Director of Missionary Care personally supervises the assignment and completion of these counseling assignments.

These counseling assignments will be tracked, in the same way as the CEIM reading, educational, and training assignments are tracked.

Additional General Information:

CEIM leaders, Pre-Field Department leaders, Missionary Administrators, and other interested ABWE administrators will monitor pre-fielders’ progress toward the completion of the Pre-field Development Program. Completion of these assignments will be required in order for a pre-field missionary to be approved for departure to language study or field ministry.  In order for a pre-field missionary to be approved for attendance at Field Preparation Seminar, these PFD assignments must be close to completion.

The CEIM assignments function on the ABWE Central website and will provide an up-to-date status of every pre-fielders progress in his or her pre-field development processes, as well as current personal support and outfit and passage financial levels.  Each pre-field missionary will be able to report his or her CEIM and counseling assignments online and will be able to review progress toward the completion of these assignments.

For questions concerning Pre-Field Development processes, please feel free to contact Wayne Haston (717) 703-3497. We welcome questions, by prospective candidates or sending church leaders, at any time in the process of considering missionary service with ABWE.

You may download a copy of the ABWE Pre-Field Development Grid that is presented and explained above.

The Adobe® Reader® is required to view the ABWE Pre-Field Development Grid document. Click the icon below to download and install the latest version.