From a young age, Waldensian children were trained to study the Bible. They were groomed to become missionaries when they were old enough to learn a trade or pursue tertiary education. Hand-copied segments of scripture were then sewn into the lining of their clothes or hidden in baskets of produce or toolboxes. When Waldensian young people ventured out into the world as tradesmen or university students they took the Bible with them. Their primary focus was to share Scripture with as many people who were interested to learn. These Waldensian missionaries were the first to preach the truth of righteousness by faith, later championed by Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin. Since they had access to the scriptures the Waldenses understood the mechanics of the gospel. They saw the emptiness of the Papal system with its sacraments and pilgrimages.

They knew that only Jesus could save sinners and transform them, heart and soul. While all this does not mean that the Waldenses were true Protestants, yet, in their development they were heading in the direction of the Reformation. Their movement was rooted chiefly in the desire for personal piety and spirituality, while its doctrinal development stood in the background. Their simple approach to Scripture often led to a definite lack of clarity in their views as well as to several serious errors. Some of their groups for example, taught that women also could preach. This was a confusion of the office of believer with the official work of the ministry, a confusion which arose out of the Waldenses' rejection of the authority of the offices in the church.

They also showed a tendency to drift into anabaptist and baptistic ideas and to reject infant baptism and the lawful oath. The United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) share a natural bond with the Waldensians. They are each small churches with a big voice and outsized impact and feel called by our faith to extend an extravagant welcome, to labor for justice and peace in our world. All have a spirit of resistance within us that fuels our witness and our work. And today are engaged in this calling together through Global Ministries, which celebrates and gives life to a partnership. Waldensians feature in the theories of Baptist beliefs concerning an alleged continuous tradition of practices and beliefs from John the Baptist onwards.