Q: Does the spouse of a missionary also have to get formal Bible training?

answer this question

A: Yes. Just do correspondence 30 minutes, three times a week, 1-2 yrs.

Answer from David Smith, Director of Mobilization with WEC International. David has been a missionary 25 years as a field worker in West Africa and at WEC headquarters in Fort Washington, PA.
You will need some courses in preparation, but it is not impossible. Moody Bible Institute has two levels of correspondence courses. One level is college credit with the appropriate price and level of work. The others are designed for lay people and are very inexpensive, and while good, are not as in depth. We would accept a number of these from you as your Bible requirement.

Why are there any requirements at all? History in WEC and a number of other agencies has shown that a spouse will have many ministry opportunities overseas, whether or not he or she seeks them. Your home will be a place of friendship and hospitality. People will come to you. History has also shown that spouses who do not feel adequately prepared become discouraged and begin wanting to come home, which eventually most do.

The Moody correspondence courses have helped many of spouses feel well prepared. Therefore I encourage you to examine them and get at least one or two and begin studying. Yes, it will take time and discipline. Basically 30 minutes three times a week can enable you to complete the number of courses we would require within one to two years.

A: No formal Bible training is required.

Answer from Dale Pugh, International Coordinator of World International Mission, who served long-term in Mexico.
Our agency does not require a formal Bible Degree for the missionary spouse. My wife and I served in Mexico for 17 years. She has no formal training yet ministered to our family and to the Mexican women. She related to them as a mother and wife, not as a formally educated minister.

I honestly believe that she had more success with them coming as a mother and wife. We team taught marriage courses and worked in churches together. She was and still is priceless to our work.

A: Probably not.

Answer from Lori in Asia.
Use that question to begin looking at agencies. My husband and I are college graduates and he has taken some courses from a Bible college, but I have not. We have been on the field for five years and God has blessed our time here with fruit among the nationals.

A: Yes. I am taking correspondence courses.

Answer from Jan in Houston, who will be going to Ghana next year with her husband and two children, serving with CB International.
I have found a correspondence program that is reputable and I am taking courses through them at my leisure. We are with CBI -- and they did require me to have a certain number of hours before I could go to the field -- but not a degree.

So I say check out Bible colleges that offer distance education.

A: Not with some agencies.

There are a number of mission agencies that accept spouses without higher education. Here's some that have sent this answer to Ask A Missionary:

http://www.om.org
http://www.ywam.org
">href="http://www.om.org">http://www.om.org
http://www.ywam.org
http://www.worldim.com
http://www.iatw.ca

Were these answers helpful? Pass it along: