As an organization that seeks to mobilize the next generation of missionaries, this frequently asked question is the topic of many conversations.

Is a good candidate for missionary work someone who has the ability to learn a new language? Is it flexibility? Is it a combination of many different things?

One of the main goals of our overseas mentorship is for students to see what their life could look like as a cross-cultural missionary. We aim to break down the barriers that could keep them from moving their lives overseas and address some of these questions that need real answers.

It’s usually about halfway through the mentorship that one of the greatest lessons begins to click:

It’s not a special skill, personality or ability that makes someone an ideal fit for cross-cultural missions. It is a deep, abiding relationship with Christ. It is daily diving into His Word. It is regularly listening to His voice and sitting in His Presence.

Paul Akin puts it perfectly:

“Perhaps one of the greatest needs of unreached peoples around the world today is the personal holiness of “sent ones.”

Missionaries are sent out to share the gospel, make disciples, plant churches and develop leaders, but their work is done in vain if they don’t do it out of the overflow of a heart devoted to Christ and his Word. I’d therefore encourage aspiring missionaries to get back to—or to grow in—the simplicity of just having Jesus and spending extravagant time with him on a daily basis.

We know from the Bible that God’s exhorts his people to grow in the knowledge and likeness of Christ. The apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Rome encouraged Christians to “not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2a). I believe Paul’s command is applicable and serves as a timely reminder for aspiring missionaries today.”