5 Things to Expect Your First Year as a Missionary

Bethany DuVal • Aug 25, 2021

“Your goal for the first term is to survive and want to come back.”

When Eric Binion got this advice, he was a new missionary in South Africa. And at first, it sounded as absurd to him as it probably sounds to you.

Eric already wanted to be in South Africa. Plus, a missionary’s first term is generally four years in-country. After language school, you still have two years to dedicate fully to ministry. Why aim for such a low goal?

Decades later, Eric is giving the same advice.

So, what should you expect your first year as a missionary? I asked kingdom workers around the world to share the uncomfortable truth and their best advice for making it through with excellence.

The first thing you need to know is that you’re building a foundation.

Learning Will Be Your Most Important Ministry

Learning your host country’s language is foundational for obvious reasons. If you can’t speak the language, you’ll have a hard time preaching the Gospel.

“You may get to do some teaching or preaching or discipling in your first year,” Eric says, “but probably not a lot because most of your time will probably be devoted to language and culture acquisition. And I think it’s good to think of that as a ministry.”

Learning a new language and culture strips you. You lose your ability to communicate well, to give wise counsel and even to make people laugh. By pressing hard into the language study season, you can rebuild these skills and prepare yourself for deeper, more effective ministry in the future .

All of this isn’t to say you won’t do any “real ministry.” You’ll likely get to share your faith with language school classmates. And if you’re on a more established ministry team, you may find an abundance of ministry needs you can help fill. But in your first year as a missionary, you need to be careful with your commitments.

“You should be generous with yourself and with your time and with your heart,” says Laura O’Day, TEAM missionary to the Philippines , “but be honest also. … Be ready to say no, especially in that first year .”

Instead of striving to prove yourself in the first year, trust God to use you as He wills, knowing that His timing is perfect. And remember that when you wisely say “no” now, you’re saying “yes” to more grounded ministry now and in the future.

The Climate and Culture Will Drain You

Learning the local culture will be just as critical as learning the language. However, its challenges may be more subtle.

In South Africa , Eric had to adjust to driving differently, buying groceries differently and frequently encountering beggars.

“You get used to those things, … but then there’s bigger things, like the way people think, the way people make decisions,” Eric says.

Because people think differently, problems also have to be solved differently. Relationships are built differently. And you can cause deep offense without understanding why. Constantly butting up against the unfamiliar can leave a missionary feeling lost, frustrated and even angry .

Read one missionary’s account of how he’s grown in faith and ministry by working with believers of other cultures.

Eric Binion (far left) says that when it comes to culture, it’s the unseen things — like how people think or solve problems — that are best at making you feel lost.

Eric Binion (far left) says that when it comes to culture, it’s the unseen things — like how people think or solve problems — that are best at making you feel lost.

In the midst of cultural shifts, you also may have to adjust to a new climate. In hot climates, the heat, humidity and sweat can leave you with far less energy than you had at home. Similarly, cold cultures may require a change in dress, navigating intense winter weather and simply missing the warmth of home.

Despite these challenges, missionaries say you should be prepared to jump into the culture as fully as you can in your first year as a missionary. Say yes to social invitations, and celebrate the good, honorable parts of the culture as much as you can . Journal about your mistakes so you can laugh about them later.

When the pressure is too much, Laura says, “Go home and take a shower and get some tea … and just chill out. It’s OK to have a terrible day, but then pick up in the morning with a refreshed attitude.”

Real Friendships Will Take Time

As you learn the language, culture and climate, you will long for real, deep relationships.

“One of the things … that hit me so hard when I got to Italy was that I actually had zero history with every single person in the country. … It was like starting over your whole life,” says former TEAM missionary Linda Brucato.

She struggled to build significant relationships in Italian. And eventually, she found herself praying, “Lord, I accept as the cost to coming to this nation, loneliness.”

In Germany, Lexi McNair found that people were excited to be her friends — but often because they saw her as exotic. The relationships weren’t like her deep ones at home.

Still, with determination, both women found that truly mutual relationships came. Stay open as you meet people in language school, at the gym and wherever else your daily life takes you.

While you wait and work to create local relationships, Lexi says to hold onto your relationships back home . Send videos and audio recordings back and forth. Tell friends what your days look like.

Check out these tips for maintaining your friendships while living abroad!

And, Linda says, be willing to see loneliness as a sacrifice for the Lord. It won’t last forever, but it may be the cost of serving Him for a season.

Your endurance now will open the door for deeper friendships and opportunities to share Christ in the future.

Foreign Church Won’t Feed You in the Same Way

Worshiping in another language may leave you feeling dry at the beginning. It’s vital that you find other ways to worship God and feed your spirit.

Worshiping in another language may leave you feeling dry at the beginning. It’s vital that you find other ways to worship God and feed your spirit.

“Spiritually, for me, the biggest surprise would be how hard it would be to feel like I was worshiping or learning during the Spanish church service,” says TEAM missionary Lauren Witteveen.

Lauren had studied Spanish in college. She’d studied abroad in Spain. Yet, she felt disconnected spiritually. Another missionary described that transition as a spiritual desert.

In one way, this is a good thing. As a missionary, it will help you understand how vital it is that locals be able to learn and worship in their heart language. But don’t stop with the lesson.

“Everybody has to figure out for themselves how they’re going to get their spiritual growth,” says Seth O’Day, TEAM missionary to the Philippines.

If you’re planting a church, that may mean finding a more established, local church to join on occasion. If your home church posts sermons online, listen in, and discuss them with members of the church. Ask other missionaries from your language group to join you for an evening of worship . Listen to worship songs on your own time as well.

With time, worshiping and learning in a foreign language will begin to feel natural. When it’s time to return home, you may even find that you miss it.

You’ll Learn to Trust God Like Never Before

Ultimately, each challenge in your first year serves a greater purpose.

When your education feels like it’s taking too long, you trust in God and His timing.

When the local culture seems illogical, you seek God for discernment and understanding.

When loneliness takes hold , you take comfort in the fact that God knows you, and you know Him.

When church in a foreign language doesn’t feed you, you rejoice that you can worship God at all times.

When everything feels overwhelming , you can walk in humility and faith with the God who called you.

“Your first year gives you a great opportunity to just really lean into the Lord and to trust fully on Him,” Lexi says. “You’ll have many opportunities, many frustrations and homesickness and there’s just a lot of opportunities to … deepen your relationship with Him.”

That relationship is the foundation for the rest of your life and ministry. It’s what gives you the strength to stay past the first year, past the first term and for decades beyond.

Surviving and wanting to come back may seem like a small goal. But God will use this season for His glory and your good. Trust Him enough to put your aspirations in His hands, and watch Him do the work .

By Suzanne Pearson 08 Mar, 2024
Through God-ordained partnerships and creative connections, TEAM worker Keith Moore sees the global Church advancing in amazing ways. In the global missions landscape, a phrase that comes up often is “from everywhere, to everywhere.” God is calling His global Church in literal new directions, as He raises up cross-cultural workers to be sent from places that were once on the receiving end of missions work. We call this movement “polycentric sending.” TEAM workers Dawn and Keith Moore have seen first-hand this transition taking place. Their story involves the unlikely but beautiful intersection of Charlotte, North Carolina; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Memphis, Tennessee...and beyond. The Path to Honduras Keith and Dawn joined TEAM in 1991 and served as church planters for nine years in Bogota, Colombia. After safety concerns precipitated their return to the States in 1999, they knew they wanted to continue serving in Latin America. The Moores felt called to Honduras but wanted to connect with a strong missional church to help send them. The Lord orchestrated a collaboration with Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. “Some people asked, ‘Why Honduras? Missionaries have been there for 100 years. It’s already reached,’” Keith says. “But there’s a whole section of Latin America that had not been reached - the upper crust.” Keith goes on to explain that he and Dawn felt called to reach college-educated professionals in Honduras – a ministry vision that resonated with the missional goals of Bellevue Baptist. Impact and Growth With the support of this new church partnership as well as another sending church in Birmingham, Alabama, the Moores embarked on their next adventure. Keith and Dawn started Impacto Honduras Church from scratch, and in less than 20 years, the church grew into four locations with 1600 total members. The Moores and other TEAM workers also created a “Bible school” type training program to help professionals who feel a call to ministry to make that transition. Throughout this period of explosive growth, church partnerships played an integral role. “It’s such a different vision when you have a church that says, ‘OK, this is our deal, we want to make this happen,’” Keith explains. “They helped us with everything. They took away every single obstacle to growth. Every time we needed something, they were there.” In 2017, the Moores once again found themselves on the verge of another decision. Was it time to leave Honduras? “I had no desire to leave,” Keith recalls. “People were coming to Christ every week! It was just so amazing.” However, back in the U.S., Keith and Dawn’s parents were in their 80s and would soon be in need of more care. “We realized that either we would leave in a crisis, or we would leave strategically,” says Keith. The couple began to implement a careful succession plan. By the time they left, the four churches were established with strong, Honduran leadership ready to carry on the work of the Gospel.
By Suzanne Pearson 23 Feb, 2024
Justin Burkholder, pictured here with his wife Jenny and their daughters Isabella, Olivia, and Zoey, has recently been named as TEAM’s next International Director. On February 19, 2024, with much excitement and gratitude to the Lord, TEAM announced that Justin Burkholder will become our organization’s new International Director, effective July 1, 2024. Justin, who is currently TEAM’s Executive Director of Global Ministry, will assume his new role upon the retirement of the current International Director, Dave Hall. ( Read the full press release here. ) We sat down recently with Justin to learn a little more about his background, his family, and the journey that has led him to TEAM. Q: Tell us a little bit about your “origin story” - Where did you grow up? What was your family like? A: I grew up in Mexico City as a missionary kid. My parents were focused on church planting. We were very close as a family. Both of my parents are still alive, and my dad serves as a pastor in southern Florida. I have one brother who is a pastor in Wisconsin, and the most special individual in my family is my sister, Amber. She was born with a very severe case of cerebral palsy and is entirely dependent on my mother...who is extraordinary! The three most impactful forces that have shaped who I am (outside of God’s grace) are growing up in Mexico, having parents who loved and planted churches, and sharing life with someone with a severe disability. My parents belonged at the time to a church and denomination that came with quite a bit of legalism and performance-oriented Christianity. Grace was a challenging concept to grasp. While I had an awareness of my sin and need for redemption, it wasn’t until I attended Moody Bible Institute that I began to grasp the fullness of God’s grace and His delight in His children. I have continued learning and trusting in the Gospel through formal education, like completing my M.Div., and through spiritual practices in community. Learning the Gospel and believing the Gospel has been a daily exercise. The Gospel is as beautiful and multi-faceted as a diamond! At an individual level, it is simple enough for us to live convinced that “Jesus loves me, this I know.” At a corporate level, it becomes the foundation that forms and informs our life as a spiritual family. At a cosmic level, it is redemption that reaches as far as the curse is found. It is hard to even grasp the multiplicity of goodness found in the Good News. Q: Share a little bit about your family life now. What does a typical day look like in the Burkholder household? A: My wife Jenny is my high-school sweetheart! She brings joy and kindness wherever she goes. She’s the best listener I’ve ever met, and we love spending time together. We have three daughters. Isabella is ten, Olivia is seven, and Zoey is four. Each of the girls is unique and has taught us a lot in our process of following Jesus together. We like to go out on walks and go to the park together. Once a month I try to get some alone time with each of my daughters which usually includes bowling or trampolines. A typical day in the Burkholder house starts around 5:00am. Because of traffic here in Guatemala City, we have to leave early for school. After school, the girls come home to different activities - sometimes swimming class, sometimes piano lessons. Four or five nights a week we have dinner together where we usually talk about our high and low moments of the day. On weekends, we enjoy time together, playing outside, or watching sports together. Go Cubs and Go Buckeyes! Q: What are your interests and hobbies? If you have the day off, what are you likely to be up to? A: I enjoy physical activity, running, strength-training and following sports. I also love music and, truth be told, am a bit snobby about my taste in music! I also am a very curious person and love reading just about anything that passes through my hands. A day off is usually an opportunity for time with family. Jenny and I like to cook something interesting together on our days off. Often there is time for some reading and watching some type of athletic event. Q: How did God lead you to TEAM? A: My wife and I were working in the Chicago suburbs. I was a youth pastor and she was a Spanish teacher. When we got married, we had already sensed God’s direction to serve cross-culturally, but it was a matter of discerning when and where. There was a driving desire in me to see a church deeply love the Scriptures and at the same time, be deeply engaged in loving and serving their city and the most vulnerable among them. As God directed our paths, we visited a variety of places and made some friends in Guatemala who opened up the path for us to serve here. While we were exploring, we knew that the International Director of an organization called TEAM happened to go to our church, so I decided I should probably invite him out for breakfast - his name was Charlie Davis. Charlie was extremely thoughtful, passionate about disciple-making, and very gracious in creating space for us as we stepped into this endeavor. Charlie connected me with Steve Dresselhaus, a fellow TEAM global worker who was at that time serving as the Senior Director for the Americas. I cannot express the debt that I owe Steve. He walked closely with me in the transition, encouraged courageous thinking about the church and her role in society, and blasted open the doors for us to serve in Guatemala. After meeting Steve, we spent some days praying about joining TEAM. One thing I will never forget – one night during the process, I found myself wide awake in the middle of the night. A peace like I have seldom experienced passed over me confirming that we should join TEAM. There is no doubt in my mind that God tied all of these pieces together to bring us into the TEAM family and community. Q: What roles have you held in TEAM? What have been the milestones in those roles? A: The most important role I have held in TEAM is that of a global worker. God in His grace has allowed us to help plant two churches here in Guatemala, serve in leadership development, counseling, and discipleship. Our greatest joy has been found walking with those who are learning to follow Christ more deeply. I served as the Ministry Area Leader in Guatemala from 2016 to 2019. We helped to establish and lead this ministry area as it grew from just four global workers to over 15. I then served as Senior Director for Mexico and Central America from 2019 to 2021, Regional Executive Director for the Americas in 2021 and 2022, and then transitioned to the role of Executive Director of Global Ministry which I’ll continue in until the end of June. Q: What do you love most about being a part of TEAM? Why TEAM rather than other organizations or job opportunities? A: The TEAM community is full of people who have faithfully served God’s mission and have given up a lot to do so. It is a privilege to know many of our global workers and be counted among them. I am also fascinated by the fact that TEAM has existed now for more than 130 years! There is something to be said about the resilience and faithfulness of an organization that has continued to impact the world for so long. The rest of our conversation with Justin will be coming soon on blog! We’ll hear more about how God called Justin to the role of International Director, and what Justin sees for the next chapter in TEAM’s work in the global Church.
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