Orient Pre-Field Training is designed for you if you’re preparing for cross-cultural ministry with an expected term of at least 2 years. We have program elements that will help you prepare for life and ministry overseas whether you're an individual, a couple, or family with children.

Orient Pre-Field Training equips you to tackle cross-cultural challenges, practice and build resilience, navigate expectations, ride the waves of transition, resolve conflicts, and manage stress in your new field, while staying connected to God in the midst of all of these things.

Orient Pre-Field Training prepares you for the realities of cross-cultural life, ensuring you’re ready to thrive overseas and make a lasting impact where the Lord leads you. Attrition is a real issue in ministry, and specifically when considering working cross-culturally. Our pre-field training serves as a concise, experiential learning environment that will help you apply concepts in-motion and give you key perspectives that will help carry you through the cross-cultural transition.

The best time is 2-6 months before your overseas move, giving you time to apply what you learn.

You should register at least 60 days before your training starts. Sign up directly on TRAIN's website at https://www.traininternational.org/payment/p/orient-pre-field-training-adult. You’ll later complete a medical form that gives us needed insight to plan for the wilderness portion of the training.

If you cancel your registration more than 30 days from the start of this event, 90% of your total registration will be refunded, and the 10% deposit will be retained to cover administrative costs.

If your departure date changes such that you need to change your training date, your registration can be transferred to the next available pre-field training date. Your registration is non-transferable within 30 days of the start date.

If you cancel within 30 days of the event, 50% of your total registration will be refunded. If TRAIN International cancels or changes the event in such a way that you are no longer able to attend, and you are unable to transfer to a different date, your entire registration (including your 10% deposit) will be refunded.

You should fly into Springfield airport (SGF), 2 hours from the training site, or Saint Louis (STL), 3 hours from the training site.

Transportation is not typically provided, but participants are encouraged to coordinate travel and carpool to the training site.

We train whole families and highly encourage those moving cross-culturally to plan to include their children in training. The beginning portion of Orient Pre-Field Training includes an outdoor wilderness experience which serves as an experiential platform for much of what we unpack in the rest of the training. Please plan to include your children ages 9 and over in the wilderness portion, while children younger than this join afterwards for the classroom-based components, as age-appropriate training for them is part of Orient. You can arrange to have your younger children picked up or brought to the training site the Sunday in the middle of the training. If you have more questions please email admin@traininternational.org.

The multi-day wilderness portion of the training is an important part of our weeks together. This time provides the platform of reality that coincides with training content of the classroom portion. The ambiguity of not knowing the exact ending of the wilderness portion also mirrors realities of cross-cultural life and culture shock, and to that end, we intentionally do not disclose the exact duration of this part of the training.

In Orient Pre-Field Training, days are full and evenings are free. Breakfast begins at 7:00 am, with morning sessions and interactive elements from 7:45am until lunch. Afternoon sessions continue with interactive elements and breaks until dinner at 6:00 pm. Refreshments are served morning and afternoon, and the coffee never stops flowing.

For Orient Pre-Field Training, housing and meals are included in your costs. Participants are housed on-site and breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served each day.

A packing list will be provided upon registration, and you should bring clothing suitable for the outdoor wilderness portion, personal toiletry items, sheets or sleeping bag for bedding, and a towel. For the outdoor portion, you will not need a sleeping bag or a backpack, as these are provided.

No, we are an independent and unaffiliated training organization. We have the privilege of serving a great variety of agencies, churches, and denominations.