Forged for the Frontlines: Tested, Trained, and Steadfast

Missionary Criteria # 7: Capacity and Prioritization

A missionary must be productive with all responsibilities while maintaining a reasonable level of quality within all responsibilities. At the same time, having the motivation and attitude to do one’s best for the glory of God. Additionally a missionary must maintain good priorities, flexing appropriately with changing demands and circumstances.

As we bring this series, Forged for the Frontlines, to a close (you can find the first article here: at the beginning), it might be helpful to return to the question I sought to answer at the outset: “What characteristics are you looking for in a missionary candidate?”

So far, I’ve addressed seven of the nine areas which Radius International uses to evaluate missionary candidates. These have covered everything from personal piety and biblical acumen to relational skills and work ethic—each one chosen because of real-world patterns we’ve seen among missionaries serving across the globe.

Today, we wrap up the list by focusing on two of the most practical areas that often trip up workers on the field: capacity and prioritization. 

The Reality of Life Overseas

A person’s capacity to handle multiple responsibilities and their ability to prioritize wisely amid constant change are non-negotiable for cross-cultural workers in pioneering contexts. Every member of a church-planting team must be developing in these areas. It’s not enough to have a good heart or deep commitment: skill and stamina are essential.

Let’s pause and consider the categories of work involved in overseas living—before a single church even exists. Since most unreached language groups live in closed countries, we’ll use that as our context. We’ll also call all of these work, because each one becomes exponentially harder in a foreign culture—often in a developing nation.

• Language learning – On average, 40 hours a week of focused study is needed to make meaningful progress.
• Raising children – As any parent will tell you, cultivating language learning, friendships, schooling, and emotional health in your kids demands a lot. These demands only increase when you’re removed from your normal support network.
• Starting and maintaining a local business – Often 40–60 hours a week is needed to sustain legitimate presence and access.
• Building and maintaining a healthy team – As I spelled out in “A Business of People,” healthy teams do not come easy. 
• Participating in local community and cultural events – Some weeks, this alone can consume every waking hour.
• Maintaining physical health – Exercise, diet, and rest become exponentially more difficult away from the comfort of home
• Navigating local life – Like parenting, shopping, banking, home repairs, transportation, etc. all take on unique challenges on the mission field.
• Marriage – Nurturing a strong relationship amid stress and cultural fatigue can be especially taxing.
• Relationships back home – Staying connected with pastors, supporters, investors, and extended family back home demands extra effort in communication and scheduling.
• Household management – On top of everything, you still need to clean, pay bills, repair your vehicles, visit the doctor, and more.

You get the picture. Life is already chaotic in the States, and most of us struggle to fit everything into a week. But for the church planter overseas, none of these things are optional. A dad can’t spend all his time on language learning and neglect his family. Nor can he spend all his time being a good dad and neglect language learning. The same tension exists in every one of these categories. The goal isn’t just to survive overseas—it’s to advance the gospel and see a church planted. This means none of these areas can be neglected. The moment a marriage, language learning, or any of these categories become optional is the moment a missionary’s trajectory starts bending back toward home.

Assessing and Training for Capacity

These realities demand that church leaders assess both an individual’s and a family’s capacity—and, when necessary, train them to increase it. But capacity alone isn’t enough. We must also evaluate the ability to prioritize.

The truth is, there will be weeks when there simply isn’t enough time for everything. Emergencies, cultural demands, or relational crises will arise—and workers must have the wisdom to recognize what needs attention now for the sake of long-term health and ministry effectiveness. Good cross-cultural workers know how to pivot. They can shift their schedules, adjust expectations, and make hard calls without losing sight of the bigger mission.

That’s what it means to have capacity and prioritization. To have the ability to know when it’s time to spend more time and effort in a particular area over another. It’s not just surviving the chaos—it’s being faithful to Christ and His Church in the midst of it.

The Big Picture

The nine traits we’ve covered in this series don’t represent perfection—they represent preparation. The goal isn’t to find flawless people that are worthy of the task, the goal is to forge faithful people to be useful in it. Truth be told, this task is far outside of the reach of anyone in their own strength and ability. But the same mentality of Paul must be in the minds of those we are sending to complete this most impossible of tasks:

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)

The harvest fields are demanding, the losses are real, and the need is great. But by God’s grace, the next generation of workers can be made ready—tested, trained, and steadfast for the glory of Christ among the nations.