Begin to research the destination people and culture

Learning about the people and culture helps you to know what to expect when you get there. Yet more importantly, by understanding a bit more about the people you will visit, the team can grow to know and appreciate the people. As you learn, pray and ask the Lord for His heart for them.

• Who and Where: Learn about the people and where you are going to serve
  • Foursquare Mission International (FMI) has a Global Resource Guide. The Foursquare Church now has works in over 140 countries worldwide. The Global Resource Guide provides an array of information about these countries as well as the missionaries and national leaders who are guiding the works. Also included are strategies to reach each nation, prayer requests, and statistical information.
  • The Unreached Peoples Prayer Profiles contains a photo, map, and information about the lifestyles, customs, and beliefs of many groups of people
  • The Joshua Project lists statistics of religious affiliations and ethnic groups in most countries
  • Secular sources:
    • The NationMaster.com website provides a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. The site includes statistics, maps, flags, and encyclopedia articles.
    • The US State Dept provides Background Notes, factual publications that include info about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of various countries
    • The BBC News provides Country Profiles, an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions
    • The CIA Factbook provides background information and statistical information on most countries
    • For a quick overview of the country, including statistics and maps, see CountryReports.org. Some of the more detailed information is available only through a subscription-basis
    • The Library of Congress Country Studies presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world
    • The World Bank lists information on most countries in easy to read tables
    • UNICEF provides country statistics
    • The Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory provides access to tourism contacts and links for most countries
    • For countries in the Southern Hemisphere, ELDIS provides a lot of information
  • Many retailers sell travel books that include cultural information
  • The Weather Underground has historical weather information from all over the world, so you can see how the weather might affect your planning
• Prayer: Use the following links to websites noted for having great prayer info on "forgotten" peoples. Browse through them and invite the Holy Spirit to lead you concerning how to pray:
  • Praying Through the Arabian Peninsula. National believers and Christian workers invite you to pray with them to see evangelism increase and the church planted among the local people in the Arabian Peninsula.
  • The authors of Operation World desire to see this work promote prayer among the people of God and serve as a global reference work for church and mission groups.
  • The Adopt-a-People Clearinghouse exists to "end-vsion", impassion and equip local churches and mission organizations worldwide to adopt all remaining unreached people groups through prayer, partnership, provision, and personnel, for the purpose of church planting.
  • Sign up for FMI Prayer Force receive weekly updates via email or monthly updates via standard mail. These updates contain information that is directly from the mission field -- testimonies and prayer requests that are personal and strategic.
  • A Monthly Prayer Guide is available through FMI. This gives you a daily plan as to how you can best pray for our missionaries overseas.
  • Do you want to have up-to-date information on what is happening in various places around the world and pray more effectively for the needs in world missions? Sign up for the Operation Mobilization - Global Prayer Update.
  • ByPrayer.org connects individuals and churches with prayer resources for the glory of Christ. The site includes some good prayer tools.
  • 24-7 Prayer has become a worldwide, non-stop prayer movement. Participating groups pledge to pray 24 hours a day for a week or more in a dedicated prayer-room. The dream behind 24-7 is to turn the tide of youth culture back to Jesus.
• Language: Start learning the language
  • Look at specific languages in the Yahoo Directory
  • To learn some basics words, check out Travlang's Foreign Languages
  • Power Glide offers language learning kits for a small subset of languages
  • Transparent Language offers a few more languages
  • Rosetta Stone offers quite a few languages and say that theirs is the fastest way to learn a language.
  • Do a search on a search engine for the language you want to learn. There are many sites that offer introductory lessons for free. For example, search for "free russian language course".
• Consider bringing a pocket dictionary with you on your trip. Be sure it has a pronunciation guide