Q: Should I skip a degree and go into missions now?

I would not decide too quickly to skip getting a degree. It is one thing for the Lord to call you – It is quite another to drop everything and go rushing off into a ministry situation. The great majority of effective cross-cultural missionaries I have met have a solid education which both shaped them as people as well as trained them for a specific task. You will also want to get some formal Bible and theological training. It is important for you to seek ministry opportunities right where you are. God is on a mission, and wants all His people to be involved with Him. In this sense, all of us are most definitely called to be "missionaries"! It appears He is also calling you to be a cross-cultural missionary one day.

One word of warning. The enemy of our souls has also been listening in to your response. Expect him to attack you in many ways: doubts, confusion, even depression. But, "Greater is He that is in you, than He who is in the world." Keep looking up!

I would say that not all people called into ministry needs four years of training. We as a missions agency have seen people go into missions with just the basic evangelistic training, and God will train the person further while in service. Having said this, some people are going to seminary and God can still use them, but many times He has to de-program them to get theology corrected in their training. I as a missionary for the past 30 years have come to rely completely on the Holy Spirit for my wisdom, my counsel to others, and my outreach to the lost. Even though I have Bible School Degrees, I find that the best teacher is the Holy Spirit.

Editor's note: Some sending churches and agencies will require Bible school and some will not. Also, consider training with an agency on-the-job such as Youth With A Mission or Operation Mobilization, which both offer many courses to their missionaries.

First let me say that there is only one Saviour -- and you are not Him! Let the "Master" guide your steps so that He can prepare and enable you to serve Him well.

A degree may or may not be what you need – It really depends on what your passions are and what contribution you hope to make in the long term. For example, if you want to be an advocate for the poor, then you need to learn the laws that govern the poor and you need to gain a position from which your voice can be heard!

There are many different types of good and relevant "training" in our world today and a formal degree may be very beneficial – or it may not – depending on where you want to go and what type of "service" you want to be to the people you will be living with. The bottom line is that we need to be trained, mentored, discipled, developed, etc. We first need to develop the spiritual disciplines so that we can truly know and follow Christ ourselves – showing by example how others can know and follow Christ. Secondly, we will be of greater assistance to our fellow man if we improve our God-given talents.

Remember: fast can be slow. Taking short cuts may hinder you from realizing your greatest goals/vision – because with God, it seems that while we our on the journey we gain the wisdom, faith, strength, skills, character and courage that we need to reach the goal! Those who take short cuts often fall out of the race because they did not have what they needed to finish!

So, seriously consider how you want to serve people and where you want to serve. Then begin to ask the questions regarding what you might need in terms of training to help you be more effective and productive in that place.

Once my first short-term mission trip was over, I thought, “If God is leading me in this direction, I need some training.” My first step was to attend a discipleship training school. This involved six months of training with one month in Mexico working among the local churches. I figured that if I were truly going to work overseas, I should get some preparation. Everyone I knew who served God overseas was in my eyes a highly educated person-with an undergraduate and graduate degree in theology, medicine, or education. I had struggled with my academic inabilities in high school. How could God use someone like me to serve in another country? I could not read well, I was not a good speaker, I hated being in front of a class, and I preferred to be last rather than first to answer a question. I decided to test the waters. I would apply to Bible school, and if they did not accept me, I would know it wasn’t God’s will. But surprisingly, they did accept me.

The classes at Bible school were just what I needed. I found a new fascination for the Old Testament. The mission and evangelism classes were challenging and demanding, with all the memorization, but later I realized how valuable those Scripture passages were to my daily life. The doctrine classes were revealing as I learned about the different doctrinal beliefs. At school we had the opportunity to not only study and work on the campus but also to take part in outreach ministries. All these areas shaped my life more than I could imagine. It is one thing to know God’s Word but another to live it and to explain God’s truths to others who have never heard them. That was twenty years ago. Those preparation years at discipleship training school, Bible school, my year of internship, and then my hands-on training on the field were life-changing.

Excerpted from pp. 168ff in the book Scaling the Wall: overcoming obstacles to missions involvement by Kathy Hicks.

Being a missionary in a country other than your own requires paperwork - at least a visa and often a work permit. As education increases around the world, governments more and more only give work permits to qualified individuals and that usually means a degree. In the organization I work for, some who wanted to go to certain places could not because they could not get a work permit. Ask about the requirements where you believe God is leading you.