Programs in missions and missionary studies prepare people to work as missionaries. Students learn how to preach and deliver social services. They learn evangelism and how to manage missions.

Each year thousands of people work in foreign countries as missionaries. The work may be difficult, even dangerous, and it takes them away from family, friends, and a familiar culture. But they feel a call to do this work. In the final analysis, only you can decide whether you have received such a call.

You can do missionary work with little formal training in this field. That is especially true if you want to focus on helping poor people rather than on preaching. You may be especially qualified for that kind of mission work if you are trained in a subject that makes you helpful to others. For example, it would be useful to have a degree in nursing, medicine, teaching English as a second language, or agriculture.

If you feel called to evangelize, formal training is more important. As a representative of your religion, you need to be thoroughly informed about its history and doctrines. You need to have a good mastery of the contents of the Bible. You need knowledge of the language, secular culture, and religions of the place you will go on mission. You need training in effective ways of communicating across cultures. And you need practical training in what does and does not work in missionary settings.

You can learn these skills in a bachelor's degree program. This takes about four years of full-time study beyond high school. About 65 colleges in the U.S. offer a degree in missionary studies. Often the program includes an internship that gives you practice doing ministry or missionary work.

Another option is to study missionary work in graduate school. If you have a good background in religion and take some courses in it, you can get your bachelor's degree in a secular field. For example, studying anthropology or foreign language might help you in missionary work. Then, get a master's degree in missionary studies. About fifteen graduate schools offer this program.