So You Want to Be a Missionary?: Essential Considerations

In this 2026 updated edition, So, You Want to Be a Missionary? Essential Considerations is the result of decades of missionary service in Africa and years spent caring for missionaries worldwide. Don Mingo addresses the practical realities that every missionary should prepare to face, drawing from both biblical principles and personal experience.

Topics include choosing a field of service, preparing for cross-cultural ministry, language acquisition, raising children overseas, navigating conflict, understanding different cultures, maintaining healthy relationships, and the often-overlooked challenges of returning to one's passport country.

Thought-provoking questions and practical exercises at the end of most chapters encourage readers to reflect, discuss, and apply what they have learned.

Whether you are preparing for your first term as a missionary, supporting someone who is, or simply exploring God's call to missions, So, You Want to Be a Missionary? offers honest, biblical, and practical guidance to equip servants of Christ for the joys, demands, and realities of missionary life.

Don Mingo holds a PhD in Philosophy of Christian Counseling from Louisiana Baptist University, as well as M.Div. and D.Min. degrees from Luther Rice University. He is also a trained life coach and holds certifications in fire/EMS/police chaplaincy, critical incident stress management, depression recovery, and line-of-duty death response.