Prospective Missionaries

“I have no time to do courses”

Yes, preparing for the field is challenging and time-consuming. Who has additional time to do a course? This is why our courses have been designed so that you can do them at your own pace and when it suits you. The time you spend learning early on will save you time and trouble later on. Here’s why:

The most challenging time for missionaries is the time of preparation, and the first two years on the field. The time of preparation includes many challenges, like raising the support, preparing the family to go, and much more. The first two years on the field presents its own challenges: getting visas, adapting to a new country’s lifestyle and culture, learning one or two languages, and more.

Knowing beforehand what’s coming and how to handle it will be of great help to you. Some knowledge and preparation will save you time and a lot of trouble! Here our courses can help, especially Missions 101.

One of our students made a very relevant comment on our course discussion forums:

“Words are inadequate to express my heartfelt thanks to the Lord for this wonderful course. It is my heartbeat [sic] desire of reaching the unreached people in the world and faithfully proclaim the true Gospel of salvation, hence I expect to learn more about cross culture that will afford me the opportunity to minister to my hearers without offending them. Many souls are dying every second, minute, hour without knowing the Lord Jesus Christ” Opoku-Asamoa, Ghana (2020).

“I’ll learn from experience”

Vernon Law said, “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.” Didasko gives you the lessons first – practical lessons learned the hard way through our own experience. These lessons will help ready you for the test of the mission field.

Learning from experience implies learning from our mistakes. On this theme, a Kenyan pastor once said at a missions conference: “We understand when new missionaries make mistakes. But can’t they please just make new mistakes?”

And we’ve found the same thing! Time and again we’ve seen new missionaries arrive and make exactly the same mistakes we did. And they carry the same consequences we did as a result. Through the courses on Didasko we want to teach you as many of the mistakes we and others have made as we can – so that you can go out and make your own, fresh mistakes! Then you can teach others not to make those mistakes.

A big problem is that the consequences of some mistakes are very difficult to undo. For example, many missionaries arrive lacking focus and clarity on precisely what God is calling them to. They want to help with every need that comes their way. The problem is that the needs on the field are so many and so overwhelming that the missionaries commit themselves to all kinds of things – all of them good things mind you, but all are not necessarily a priority from God. The devil just loves to give missionaries good things to do – anything, as long as it distracts them from making disciples for Jesus!

Check out these wise words: “Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark” Prov 19:2 (BSB).

Here’s what students wrote about the Missions 101 course’s Strategy module:

“… this module … enlightened me so much of the need for a thorough preparation of a missionary to maximize success in the field. The tipping point or missiological breakthrough was such an important concept so we will not be aimlessly helping meet the endless needs of the UPG and forgetting our main goal of making disciples who will make disciples until the unreached becomes reached” Anonymous, 2019.

“Thank you for this amazing resource to prepare me for the mission field. I loved its format with short videos and modules that I can do little bit everyday. The questions helped keep me interacting and engaging, and it is nice to see others experiences and thoughts. I appreciated the resources for further reference as well. Thank you for this well rounded course” Leanne, South Africa (2020).

“I trust the Holy Spirit to lead me in the mission field”

“I trust the Holy Spirit to lead me in the mission field”

Yes, the Holy Spirit will lead you. But in the experience of hundreds of Jesus-loving Spirit-filled missionaries that have gone before you, God leads us best through wisdom gained by illuminating knowledge we have already learned. None of us hears Him perfectly every time – even on the mission field!

Think of your ministry as a sailing boat, and the Holy Spirit as the wind. He can move you as He wills, just like a wind can blow on and move a sailing boat. But He’ll move you much faster if you know how to raise and orient the boat’s sails! This is what Didasko courses do – they teach you how to raise and orient your cross-cultural ministry “sails!” We have a teaching on this in the Missions 101 course.

Here’s what a student wrote about the Missions 101 course’s strategy module:

“This module [Strategy] has taught me an immense amount of valuable lessons. Some of these being: I realize the importance of needing to prayerfully figure out a much more clear goal of what exactly it is that God wants me to do. I can not be vague and "run aimlessly", but rather I must have a strategic plan. I have also learnt that I need to reach out to advisors and prayer partners in this process. I have also learnt of the many things that make missions more or less effective. Thank you for a very interesting and informative module” Heidi, South Africa (2020).

“I have Bible school / seminary training, so I don’t need more training”

It’s a very good thing for a missionary to have a solid Bible education, at least the equivalent of two years of Bible school. In fact, many mission agencies require at least this level of Bible training. But unfortunately, this is not all you need. Listen to what a seminary-trained and very experienced missionary had to say:

“Bible schools teach how to be a sheep among sheep. Missionary training is about how to be a sheep among wolves” (based on a statement of Nik Ripken, author of the book The Insanity of Obedience: Walking with Jesus in Tough Places).

Making disciples among people of other cultures requires specialized cultural knowledge and skills. Bible training seldom includes such training. When starting work with people of another culture and language, there is so much to learn. And the problem all of us have, is that we don’t know what it is we don’t know. We should be prepared for the unexpected.

Didasko courses help by teaching you some of the challenges you will be facing, which you probably don’t know about right now. Knowing and being prepared can help you avoid or handle many challenges better.

Extensive research among hundreds of missionaries (ReMAP II) over a period of 10 years showed that pre-field cross-cultural training, especially missiological training, contributed significantly to a missionary’s ability to persevere and thrive in the field. One of our saddest experiences has been to see a husband and wife, both loving Jesus, both seminary trained, both full of the Holy Spirit, lasting only three months on the mission field. The frustration of not understanding the culture of the people and not being able to learn the language simply became too much for them. Please don’t end up like that!

Knowing the culture of the people can help make evangelism more relevant and therefore better, and even help the gospel spread faster in the culture. One student learned this from one of our courses:

“Its really amazing how knowing the people's culture can be such a key aspect of spreading the gospel” Kealeboga, South Africa (2020).

On the Missions 101 Strategy module:

“I have found this module to be the most comprehensive and the most important module for equipping and training missionaries in order to be prepared for successful missions in the field. I would recommend this module to anyone that is called to take the gospel to other nations of the world. It has challenged me a lot, so I am planning to implement this strategies ...” Anonymous missionary (2021).

“I don’t want a lot of theory – missions is practical”

We agree! Therefore, Didasko courses only teaches theory you will really need to make your life as a missionary easier and more effective. Mostly, they focus on practical issues. In fact, God called is to “make more effective Kingdom workers.” Remember,

“If the axe is dull and the blade unsharpened, more strength must be exerted, but skill produces success” Ecclesiastes 10:10 (BSB).

Sharpen your “missions axe” with Didasko courses!

Student comments on this topic:

“This course is not just about head knowledge and emotional enticement but down-to-earth learning and experiences. Thank you Didasko for sharing what you have” Mike, The Philippines (2021).

“Thank you DIDASKO for obeying God's command to disciple. You are an instrument to open the eyes of those who love to serve God but needs help on HOW TO do it. I love how you teach, it's clear, with relatable examples and I can use it as a form of reaching out too” Gene (2019).

“I’m too busy raising support, I have no money to do a course”

That’s why our courses are free! We’re not here to make money from you, we want you to succeed in helping to make disciples of all nations – that is our passion!

In fact, one of our courses might help you raise support. Have a look at the course Personal Fundraising for Missionaries. Here’s what students wrote about the it:

“Fear of being rejected by people when I ask for financial support, but now I understand that asking for support is showing my obedience to God so now I am going to go out boldly with my head help up high knowing that raising funds is part of my ministry as a missionary” Anonymous missionary (2020).

“Throughout this course, I have come to learn and better understand how support raising is biblical. The way that the course was set up was done in such a way that I was able to process not only the practical ways to support raise, but the biblical ‘backup’ for support raising. I appreciated how you touched on navigating student loans into support raising as this is something that I had been questioned about as I went to a 4 year school. Lastly, I have come to better understand how to minister to those who are financial and prayer supporting me. They are serving the Lord, just as I am” Jessie, USA (2020).

Which courses should I start with?

For prospective missionaries, we recommend these courses:

0010 Learn how to use Didasko (1-2 hours to complete). Helps you understand the facilities of the courses.

A015 The Bible and Missions (6-9 hours to complete). Even though you may have Bible school, this course will help you explain better to potential supporters why you are doing what you are.

A020 Missions 101 (10-20 hours to complete). This is the important one!

A030 Roles in Missions (5-8 hours to complete). Optional if you already know your call from God.

I030 Personal Fundraising for Missionaries (6-12 hours to complete). How to raise up supporting partners for your ministry – in any culture!

To get more information on these courses, click on the button "The most important courses to do soon" below.

Courses for a later stage

I030 Personal Fundraising for Missionaries (6-12 hours to complete). How to raise up supporting partners for your ministry – in any culture!

I020 Prayer and Ministry (2 hours). This short workshop may revolutionize how you think about prayer and ministry.

If you can’t do these courses before you leave for the field, do them as soon as you can once you get there:

K050 Fruitful Practices in Pioneer Church Planting (12-14 hours). How to be effective in planting churches in a culture where there are no churches yet.

Zúme. An excellent third-party course teaching you how to make disciples who in turn will make other disciples, and start what is called a disciple making movement (DMM).

On the Missions 101 course:

“It is very timely course since we've been planning to do mission but we felt unequipped and not ready enough to do it. This course has helped us a lot and made us more dedicated and understand the missions. It's history made us understand better and gave us a different perspective when it comes to going out of our comfort zones and do "His way" rather than doing our own. God bless!” Anonymous prospective missionary (2021).

To get more information on these courses, click on the button "Further ministry-related courses" below.

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