You can’t step foot on a college campus without hearing about studying abroad, and that’s a good thing! College is the perfect time to be traveling, experiencing the world, and pushing outside of your comfort zone, and if you can knock out a couple of college credits in the process — even better!

As a Christian, the opportunity to study abroad may actually have an extra layer you haven’t thought about, a missional layer.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “David, I signed up to study abroad and eat baguettes, if I wanted to do a mission trip I’d have booked a trip to somewhere with less AC.”

But hear me out.

My Junior year of college, I took a class on the history of missions. My professor, Dr. Beck, was the first one to re-wire a bit of how I read the Great Commission. She said, “We’re all familiar with Jesus' commandment to ‘Go’ into all the world to make disciples. But that’s not entirely the best translation.” She said and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat the way I do anytime someone starts talking translation. She continued.

“The ‘Go’ in this commandment, is a participle. It translates to ‘as you are going’.” I scratched my head, “Making disciples isn’t something we go to do, it’s something we do on the journey as we are going.”

So the Great Commission isn’t something we go to do, it’s something we do as we go. I was rocked.

Realizing this is game changing. It turns out it doesn’t matter what you are doing or where you are going, the Great Commission is a steady reality and posture we press into. It’s not a compartmentalized item on the checklist, it’s more of an undercurrent to the ocean we’re swimming in.

It turns out it doesn’t matter what you are doing or where you are going, the Great Commission is a steady reality and posture we press into.

But what does this all mean for Study Abroad?

It means that, as a follower of Jesus, we’re faced with a deeper reality of living in the Great Commission as we study abroad. We can see our time in another country as our ‘as you are going’ scenario and seize the opportunity to live missionally — IF, you’re willing to look for it. 

So how do you do it? How do you make a Study Abroad more missional and less like how the rest of the world does it? Well, here are four things you can do to be missional while studying abroad.

Go Prayerfully

The first is to pray, and I mean really pray. Not just pray that you get accepted into the program, or that the scholarship money comes in so that you can afford it, but bathe the entire process in prayer.

As Christians, we believe that God is active and dwelling in every sphere of our lives. The trouble comes when we get disconnected from that reality. It’s like the WiFi gets laggy and we’re soon out of sync with what God is doing in a circumstance and how he’s trying to form us through it. Prayer is the way we stay in sync, connected, and hearing God’s voice through both the normal and extraordinary parts of life.

So pray. Fast. And set aside time to be inviting God into the journey you’re going on. Studying abroad may only be for a semester or two, but God still has things he wants to do in and through you during that time. I mean, even during my time overseas I saw God work Gospel transformation through people who were only in a place for a few months, simply because they were obedient and walking by the Spirit. Seeing and seizing those moments offered by the Spirit starts and ends with prayer.

It also means deconstructing our idea of what is sacred and used by God and what is not. Many of us think missions only happens in far away, hot, desolate places through traditional missionaries who went to seminary, have lived in their host country for years, and are masters at the host language.

Missions happens when God’s people humbly step into a context willing to be used by Him in whatever way he chooses

The truth is, missions happens when God’s people humbly step into a context willing to be used by Him in whatever way he chooses. Some of the best missionaries I know are the ones not overthinking it. They simply step into their everyday jobs, roles, and life situations eager to join in with what God wants to do in that place on that day.

I experienced this for myself when I was working a job waiting tables in college. I actually loved waiting tables (yes, for real), but my only request was not working Sundays so I could enjoy one day of not smelling like the back of a kitchen and get to spend some time with church family instead. Inevitably, I got scheduled on a Sunday. I was super mad walking into work that day, but at the door I felt God slow me down. I prayed.

“God, if I’m going to be in this place today, use it for your glory.”

It’s a long story, but somehow, and I wasn’t even overtly looking for it, I ended up getting to share my testimony with some of my coworkers that day. God somehow used it, all I did was pray and put the time in his hands.

From waiting tables to studying abroad, everything is kingdom work when our posture before God is prayer and obedience.

Get Outside the Bubble

Oh the famous 'Study Abroad Bubble', and the dangers thereof.

I had a good friend who studied abroad in Germany. When she got back from her trip she couldn’t stop talking about it. She visited museums, progressed ten fold in her German studies, and thrived on a diet of Schnitzel and Sauerkraut.

But I noticed something peculiar.

I knew all the people in her stories! The people from the museums, the ones she ate with, celebrated holidays with, and went out with — they were all Americans, not Germans!

Unfortunately, this is a bit commonplace when it comes to studying abroad. Students get sucked into what in missions we call The Expat Bubble. The Expat Bubble is essentially a safe and familiar enclave of foreigners living in a host country. In the context of study abroad, the Expat Bubble is essentially the network of other students, likely from the same university as you, also studying abroad.

The Expat Bubble is super dangerous if you’re looking to get an immersive study abroad experience, and especially if you’re trying to be missional while living there.

So how do you break out of the Expat Bubble?

First off, being aware of it is a huge advantage. Knowing that the bubble exists, and that without intentionality you’ll easily fall into it, means you can mindfully take steps to avoid it. 

A big part of this intentionality is realizing that, when you’re experiencing the awkward and uncomfortable realities of living in another culture, you will naturally gravitate towards places and people that are comfortable.

Don’t do this!

Yes, enjoy your classmates, and maybe even go on some adventures together. But, also press into the uncomfortable and awkward scenarios. Invite locals to hangout, join a sports team, talk to strangers (wisely!) — even if you don’t know the language fully. Those uncomfortable moments are where the growth and missional moments happen. 

And don't forget, one of the best avenues to break the Expat Bubble is actually the local church.

Connect with a Local Church

One of the most fundamental truths I’ve learned traveling over the years may sound a bit obvious, but growing up in the Christian West it took me a while to really get it, and it is this:

God is already present and working in a place before you get there.

This means that we don’t have to conjure something up to be missional, but instead, just need to be on the lookout for what God is already doing in a place. And the number one avenue you’ll find that in is the Church.

Connecting with a local church is the best way to be missional while studying abroad. For starters, it will blow your Expat Bubble out of the water, and second, it will immediately plug you in with local believers who are also already on mission and about Kingdom work (if it’s a healthy church!)

In many ways, the church provides a bit of a pulse on a place. Becoming part of a local fellowship gives you a chance to really understand the heart cry of a place. You don’t have to wonder what people there are doing about injustice or how discipleship works in that context, you’ll get to see it and witness it first hand. Plus, if you’re in a non-English speaking country it’s great language practice and a connecting point for making local friends!

Additionally, connecting to a local church also provides an avenue into our final key to being missional while studying abroad — serving.  

Serve

The final thing to do to stay missional while studying abroad is to serve.

Studying abroad often runs the risk of turning into a self-centered experience. 

We usually only have a limited time in a country so we’re trying to maximize our travels, our adventures, our learning, and ultimately ourselves. It’s easy to go in with a consumption mindset and totally miss the calling from God to give ourselves to a place instead.

It’s easy to go in with a consumption mindset and totally miss the calling from God to give ourselves to a place instead.

And it’s no wonder. The model that we’ve been given for studying abroad, and what most universities do whether religious or secular, revolves around individual gain. But God invites us into another way that, no matter where you are or what you’re doing, there’s an opportunity to give instead.

Finding a way to serve, even if it’s scattered, during your time studying abroad will give you an insight into what it means to be missional in a place that nothing else could. Sure, serving will also give you another network of local friends, and likely even opportunities to share the Gospel and do good works, but you’ll also encounter the very heart of Jesus by interacting with the poor, marginalized, displaced, and felt needs of another country.

You might be wondering what the best avenues for serving are while studying abroad. Obviously, if you’re connected to a local church that is healthy and kingdom-minded, there should be at least an opportunity or two to plug in there. 

Other avenues could be seeing what service channels students at the university you’re connected to while abroad usually go for, as well as check out any meet up groups centered around serving, or even any parachurch ministry teams that are serving in a place.

Regardless of what serving opportunity you end up connecting to, my biggest recommendation for your time studying abroad is to set some sort of service goal or expectation before you leave and do your best to keep it. This could mean dedicating a day each month or a group of days towards the end of your time there, at the end of the day the amount doesn’t matter, only that you take an opportunity to get outside yourself while studying abroad.

Closing Thoughts

Studying abroad is great, you should do it.

Studying abroad is also a wider invitation to followers of Jesus to see every step of their journey on this adventure of life as part of Jesus’ invitation into the Great Commission. Living life by pressing into that invitation changes everything, but we get more of Jesus. It doesn’t matter if you’re living locally, studying abroad, or doing missions overseas, the invitation remains. All that is needed is our yes.