School Overview

Get the best online training available for those who desire to serve the Lord cross-culturally.

Global Frontier Missions developed the Online Missionary Training School in conjunction with churches, missions organizations, Bible schools, and field workers to compile the “best of” missions resources and training in one place. Geared toward equipping people for cross-cultural service, the online modules mirror our five-month, resident Missionary Training School (MTS).

We have designed our training using distance and adult-learning methods that encourage in-depth interaction with the material and provide space for individuals to personally wrestle with every aspect of the missionary lifestyle.

Did you know that 41% of missionaries leave the field before their first term is up, and of those, 71% leave for preventable reasons?

GFM has trained over 500 missionaries to date. A recent study shows that 72% of GFM MTS graduates have gone to the mission field and, once there, stay twice as long compared to those who do not first undergo this training.

GFM MTS Alumni Survey

The Online Missionary Training School course consists of 20 modules. Each module covers an essential missions topic, including language learning and acculturation, church planting movements, personal and team dynamics, spiritual warfare, orality/storytelling, and prayer fundamentals. We invite you to examine brief descriptions of the 20 modules in the full curriculum. While the modules stand alone, each fits strategically into an entire study program for those who want comprehensive pre-field training, which we recommend.

Flexible Program Options

The Online Missionary Training School offers flexibility. Some students want a self-study program with little structure, feedback, or accountability. Students who prefer mentoring as they progress through the training modules are assigned a facilitator who checks in with them via email and zoom, encourages progress, and provides coaching and feedback. Others are interested in earning college credit or degrees after they complete the program. (College credits are offered only to North American residents.) Some may even choose to form a cohort and go through the content together with people from their local church, Bible school, ministry team, or missions agency.

Check out our different program options to see which is right for you.

Work at Your Own Pace

Students work at their own pace to complete the modules in sequential order.

Each module contains roughly 20 hours of content, including numerous videos with response questions and a few Bible studies relevant to the topic.
One book and some articles are required reading for each module, plus response questions related to the reading.
Students submit all work through our online learning platform.
A part-time student working at an average pace will complete one module per month and complete the whole program in about about two years. We encourage students to complete each module within two months.
A full-time student could complete the whole program in as little as six months.

Global South Partners

We seek to form global partnerships with like-minded missions organizations who share our passion for unreached people groups. Rather than reinventing the wheel when there are excellent agencies available, we focus on our niche, which is mobilizing and training laborers to serve among the unreached. We desire to expand our network and are excited to build formal partnerships with agencies headquartered in the Global South. Check out our formal partners noted below and learn more about our scholarships as well.

MISSIONARY TRAINING SCHOOL