Zeal for missions grew in my heart after reading John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life as a teenager. I even told my parents we should downsize our home and give the money to missions. Not surprisingly, we didn’t. But after finishing seminary and getting married, I finally made the move.
Almost a decade ago, my wife and I said our tearful goodbyes to family and friends, then packed up our belongings (mostly books and clothes) into seven tubs and boarded a 16-hour flight from Dallas to Dubai. We were moving to the Middle East to be missionaries.
To get to that point, I had to answer a lot of questions: What is a missionary? Who should be a missionary? And could I become a missionary? I pieced together answers from various resources—some helpful, many not.
Looking back, I wish I’d had a trusted guide like The Path to Being a Missionary: A Guide for the Aspiring by Ryan Robertson and Matt Bennett. Both authors combine academic expertise with significant missions experience and service as church elders. Robertson serves as the president of Reaching & Teaching, a missions organization. Bennett is a professor of missions and theology at Cedarville University.
The authors set out to help those trying to discern whether they should serve as missionaries. Rather than providing a broad overview of the history and theology of Christian missions, they offer a “launch pad into conversations” (3). And those conversations between church leaders and missionary candidates aren’t primarily about logistics; they’re about character, conviction, and competency. The result is the best book I’ve encountered for aspiring missionaries.
Missionary as a Mature Disciple
Missions doesn’t begin with a desire for adventure or a willingness to sacrifice. It begins with a grand vision of God’s glory. That’s where Robertson and Bennett start. They argue, “If man’s lostness is our primary motivation, then our methods will inevitably be changed. We must all be motivated by what God is motivated by—his glory” (12).
While cultivating evangelistic zeal is important, we can’t forget to devote ourselves to sound doctrine by giving time and effort to “investigate the early creeds and confessions of faith” (81). After all, the authors observe, “the first job of a missionary is to speak about God, and God has spoken first about himself” (87). The path for aspiring missionaries doesn’t begin with learning the language of an unreached people group but with learning about the God who is worthy of the glory of the nations (Rev. 7:9).
Furthermore, missions doesn’t end with a new convert or scattered sheep throughout a city. It ends with disciples gathered into local churches. The local church is the means and ends of missions, so missionaries need a healthy ecclesiology.
The local church is the means and ends of missions, so missionaries need a healthy ecclesiology.
On the mission field, many workers are devoted to making disciples. But sadly, fewer can define or describe what a healthy church looks like. We can’t plant churches if we don’t know what the Bible says a church is. Robertson and Bennett insist that “the most important thing about any particular church is not what makes it unique from other churches but what it has in common with every true church throughout time” (98).
Central to knowing what makes a church healthy is being a functional member of a local church before going to the field. The authors ask, “Does your local church observe today the same gifts you seek to use overseas in the future?” (38). No plane ride is long enough to transform a reluctant evangelist into a bold preacher or a shallow Christian into a mature disciple maker.
Missionary as a Wise Traveler
Many aspiring missionaries major in zeal. But often they minor on wisdom. They’re eager to see a new church planted but may not themselves be ready to plant. They’re ready to share the gospel with those who have never heard but may not understand the culture well enough to be clear. In many cases, missionary candidates don’t even know what questions they should be asking.
No plane ride is long enough to transform a reluctant evangelist into a bold preacher or a shallow Christian into a mature disciple maker.
All missionaries will need to learn a new culture, and most will need to add a new language too. Missionaries must be flexible and adaptable, curious and attentive. Therefore, aspiring missionaries can prepare for the field by testing their language-acquisition ability. They can also use overseas internships to gain on-the-field experience and oversight from seasoned missionaries.
While recognizing that God often uses people in unexpected ways, candidates can benefit from figuring out what sort of mission enterprise they’re best suited for. There’s a big difference between the skills needed to train national pastors and those required to serve at an English-speaking church in an international city. Trying to plant a church among people with a minority language is much different from working with those who speak a nation’s majority language. The more that aspiring missionaries think about these questions in advance, the more effective their preparation for the mission field can be.
A year after arriving in the Middle East, my wife and I transitioned ministries. I joined the staff of our local church in Dubai. We made that transition because we realized our missionary team disagreed on ecclesiology. If we’d asked more questions up front, we would’ve saved a lot of time and energy.
During our time overseas, we had a front-row seat to missionary arrivals and departures. Some left the country after a year or so. But others left the faith. Some who arrive on the mission field should never have been sent in the first place. If their churches had asked more questions, it would’ve saved precious resources.
After seven years of ministry in the Middle East, my wife and I (with three children in tow) packed a series of suitcases, then boarded a 16-hour flight from Dubai to Dallas. Now, as I pastor aspiring missionaries in the United States, I’m always on the lookout for tools to help them succeed. The Path to Being a Missionary can equip churches and aspiring missionaries to more effectively accomplish the work of getting the gospel to the nations.
