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From an initial desire to serve God cross-culturally to a prepared, supported, and commissioned missionary — formed over two years, alongside your church.
EXPLORE is not a hoop to jump through. It is a season of formation — of your heart, your family, your skills, and your relationships — undertaken in partnership with your local church.
Six phases over about two years, each with teaching, readings, reflection, and concrete action points you work at your own pace.
Meet at least two hours a month with an appointed mentor who prays with you, reviews your progress, and recommends each next step.
Spiritual, emotional, relational, ministry, and personal health — assessed and developed from day one through to commissioning.
Welcome to EXPLORE. This course exists to walk alongside you over approximately two years as God transforms an initial desire to serve Him cross-culturally into the settled life of a prepared, supported, and commissioned missionary. EXPLORE is not a hoop to jump through. It is a season of formation — of your heart, your marriage and family, your skills, and your relationships — undertaken in partnership with your local church.
This is the heart of the program, in the words of the original Grace Community vision: “EXPLORE seeks to transform Grace Community members from an initial desire to serve God cross-culturally into a dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ, prepared, supported, and commissioned by the church to be a missionary in a cross-cultural environment.” In no way does EXPLORE replace or compete with a mission agency’s training. Our hope is to hand agencies and field teams God-centered, compassionate, well-prepared, and highly motivated workers.
The shape of the journey. The course is organized into six phases, completed in sequence over roughly twenty-four months. Each phase is built from short lessons. Every lesson follows the same rhythm so you always know what is being asked of you:
Self-paced, but never alone. EXPLORE is self-paced within each phase, but it is anchored by your relationship with a mentor (or mentor couple) appointed by the GCC mission board. You will meet with your mentor at least two hours per month. At the close of each phase, your mentor discusses your progress with the missions committee and makes a recommendation about advancing to the next phase. You may begin at a later phase if its action points have already been met through prior life experience or training; the missions committee approves your entry point.
Prayer precedes every step. Before beginning, and at every threshold along the way, spend time in prayer and fasting. “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38). These disciplines of prayer and fasting are not a starting gate you pass through once — they are the air you will breathe for the rest of your life on mission.
Throughout EXPLORE you will be assessed and developed across five areas of health that healthy “goers” share. These run through every phase. Keep them before you as a mirror:
Spiritual & Moral Health — a relationship with God that is flourishing and on a repentant trajectory; character, purity, humility, the fruit of the Spirit, grit, and the ability to suffer well. The key question: Am I a self-feeding Christian who can read God’s Word, pray, and be changed by those disciplines?
Emotional Health — the self-awareness to name your feelings, process them in light of your personal history, and make decisions from rightly ordered motivations. Security in Christ, teachability, and the willingness to live within limits.
Relational Health — relational warmth that makes you a great teammate and an ambassador of the gospel; health in your friendships, family, and working relationships.
Ministry Health — clarity of calling from within and affirmation from others; evangelistic fervor, intentional discipleship, and growing cross-cultural fluency.
Personal Health — healthy habits of eating, sleeping, exercise, finances, and organization. Debt, disordered habits, and chronic disorganization are “yellow or red lights” to address before going.
These are not pass/fail gates. We are not looking for perfect people — we are looking for people with no area of life that is off-limits, everything confessed, and all of life on an upward trajectory of repentance.
Several assessments are woven into EXPLORE. Most are introduced in Phase 1 and revisited throughout. Complete each one honestly; they are tools for growth, not verdicts.
EXPLORE is led by a team of mentors who carry different phases according to their gifting:
| Phase | Focus | Mentors |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spiritual, Emotional & Relational Health | ____ |
| 2 | Commitment to the Local Church | ____ |
| 3 | Cross-Cultural Readiness & Ministry | ____ |
| 4 | Marriage, Family & Personal Resilience | ____ |
| 5 | Senders, Support & Fundraising | ____ |
| 6 | Missional Living & Preparation to Go | ____ |
Self-paced phases, each anchored by monthly mentor meetings. Enroll and log in to open each lesson’s full teaching, scripture, readings, and action points.
Establish a self-feeding devotional life and the honest self-knowledge God uses to do His deepest work in you.
Sink roots into the local church and lift your eyes to God's purpose among all peoples.
Learn to cross cultures with humility and demonstrate real ministry — tested on a vision trip.
Build a marriage, family, and personal life sturdy enough to thrive under the pressures of the field.
Assemble the team of senders and the support that will carry you to the field and sustain you there.
Multiply disciples, choose an agency, finish your training, and be commissioned and sent.
You are self-paced, but never alone. A mentor carries each phase according to their gifting.
Everything you will work through, in one place.
This timeline is a guide, not a rigid schedule. Phases are self-paced and may overlap (especially Phase 4, which often runs alongside Phases 3 and 5). Your mentor and the missions committee confirm advancement at each phase gate.
| Phase | Focus | Approx. Months | Anchor Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spiritual, Emotional & Relational Health | 1–4 | Celebration of Discipline; Spiritual Disciplines; Spiritual Warfare |
| 2 | Local Church & World Christian Vision | 4–8 | Let the Nations Be Glad; Western Christians in Global Mission |
| 3 | Cross-Cultural Readiness & Ministry | 8–13 | When Helping Hurts; A Beginner’s Guide to Crossing Cultures; Spiritual Leadership |
| 4 | Marriage, Family & Personal Resilience | 11–16 | His Needs Her Needs; Third Culture Kids; Expectations and Burnout |
| 5 | Senders, Support & Fundraising | 15–20 | Serving as Senders; Funding Your Ministry; The God Ask |
| 6 | Missional Living & Preparation to Go | 19–24 | The Re-Entry Team; field-specific reading |
Ongoing throughout: devotional journal · monthly mentor meetings (2+ hrs) · Perspectives course (enroll Phase 2, complete Phase 6) · counseling sessions · prayer and accountability.
Required
Recommended
Courses, Coaching & Training
EXPLORE — Your Local Church · Nurturing Program for Missionary Candidates. This master guide synthesizes the EXPLORE Program dimensions, the Four EXPLORE Components, the EXPLORE Elements, and the Navigating EXPLORE framework into a single two-year course.
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