Go prepared for cross-cultural ministry
Our Orient pre-field training equips and empowers you with practical tools and actionable plans to adapt to culture, work well with others, and thrive on the field.
Dynamic training for everyone
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Experiential & Classroom
In this unique training, we partner with Discovery Ministries in Eminence, MO to incorporate a multi-day wilderness expedition that will help you understand your personal and cultural values, conflict resolution style, problem-solving skills, and the ways you function on a team.
We also include classroom instruction and group discussion, allowing you to process what you’re learning.
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Practical & Actionable
Orient Pre-Field Training covers common challenges that cross-cultural workers face, including dealing with unmet expectations, learning to embrace the unexpected, developing healthy relational skills, maintaining a vibrant spiritual life in a cross-cultural context, adapting to a new culture, managing stress, and understanding team dynamics.
We’ll help you gain the self-awareness and the practical tools necessary to implement these lessons in your new environment.
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For Singles, Couples, & Families
We include age-appropriate training for children whose families are preparing to go overseas.
For the wilderness expedition, we include children ages 10 and up. For our class instruction, all ages are included.
Upcoming trainings
May 12-25, 2025
September 1-14, 2025
Pricing
The cost covers all meals, lodging, training content, materials, and follow-up.
Participants are responsible for travel to and from the training facility at 17043 State Route E, Eminence, MO 65466.
If you have questions please contact us at 417.625.1400 or admin@traininternational.org
$1920
Adult
$1485
Ages 10-19
$1050
Ages 0-9
Children ages 0-9 do not take part in the outdoor portion but join for the second week of classroom-based training.
FAQs
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Living and serving cross-culturally will present unique challenges and trials, as well as potential for great joys and rewards. Orient Pre-Field Training is designed for anyone planning to serve in long-term cross-cultural work who wants to gain skills and insights for longevity and effectiveness in ministry. Our pre-field training is engineered for those who desire to learn crucial cross-cultural skills such as navigating conflict, building trust, discerning personal and cultural values, adapting with flexibility without sacrificing righteousness or identity, entering with clear and realistic expectations, and more.
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We encourage participants in Orient Pre-Field Training to attend between 2-6 months prior to their planned departure date. This allows you the margin in life to absorb the training and sufficient time afterward to process and begin to implement what you have learned. It also puts the training close enough to your departure date that momentum and clarity are not lost. This is, of course, only an ideal window, and we strongly believe that it is better to receive training at a time that falls outside this window rather than none at all.
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Registering early will help to ensure your place in a training. For Orient Pre-Field Training, the soft deadline is 60 days prior to the start date and hard deadline is 30 days prior. This helps us to plan and prepare for class size and age ranges of children. It is important, however, that those registering be as certain as possible of their participation. This helps avoid late cancellations, which in turn helps avoid the cancellation of childcare workers hired to staff a projected need based on registrations received.
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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.
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For Orient Pre-Field Training, Springfield, MO airport (SGF) is the most ideal. From the airport to the facility is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes. The next closest airport is St. Louis (STL), and the distance to the facility is about 3 hours.
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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 10 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. Please contact us with questions.
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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 7:30 am until lunch at 12:00 noon. Afternoon sessions continue with interactive elements and coffee breaks until dinner at 6:00 pm. Refreshments are served morning and afternoon, and the coffee never stops flowing.
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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.
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We are an independent and unaffiliated training organization.
We have the privilege of serving a great variety of agencies, churches, and denominations.
Have a question that wasn’t answered here? Please contact our Administrative Assistant at 417.625.1400 or admin@traininternational.org
What people are saying about Orient
“I firmly believe having been on the field for six months that Orient training greatly helped my marriage, my field expectations, and my cultural awareness. It has helped us navigate through some of our team conflict without becoming discouraged or overwhelmed. Thank you for everything!” ~Orient Alumni
“As a smaller sending organization, we are very grateful to have a resource like Train International for our staff preparing for a cross-cultural move. Our workers are challenged and encouraged. A definite benefit for their pre-field preparation.” ~Scott Vair, CEO, World Orphans
“‘Wow, just wow!’ This was one of the best and most formative experiences of my life! Thank you, Train International, for the amazing training! I feel equipped and ready for the field. Also the people I met through this training are some of the most Christ-like people I have ever met. Thanks again for setting me and everyone else up for success!” ~Orient Alumni