Audio Transcript:

Welcome to Missions on Point, the Propempo perspective on church and missions.

Hello, friend. Welcome to episode 224 of Missions on Point. This is the last of a 13-part series on, from, Here to There: How to Get Sent to Your Missions Field. The concept of this series and much of the content, is in the third edition of a book from, Here to There, which we expect to be coming out in early January, 2025, or sooner. The setting for this series is a hypothetical conversation with a missionary candidate, inviting others who are interested in sending the missionary candidate to the field, to listen in and learn from it as well. We come to this final episode as the conclusion, our last thoughts together. We've covered a lot of ground from the very beginning. In episode 212, we dealt with just the introductory material. Then we talked about how to get started as a missionary candidate, and how to get ascending church.

Then we move to getting a mentor, and getting local church ministry experience. We move into missionary kinds of things when we talk about, get cross-cultural and church planting exposure. Then there is a long chapter in the book, that covers two episodes called, Getting Ascending Agency Partner. Then you get fully qualified and get a support team. And finally, before you go to the field, you get launched from your ascending church. There is an intervening episode or chapter called, Get Humble, which deals with the possibility that you don't actually make it to the field. And we want you to count on God's sovereignty in your life, to use you for His glory among the nations, right where you are now, and look for ways for God to use you now and in the future for missions.

So in this conclusion or last thoughts, we're going to talk about three things. First is the appendixes in the book, that is extra content that is useful and helpful to you. Secondly, keeping a journal. Thirdly, building godly friendships. And fourthly, recruiting and discipling your eventual missionary teammates. So let's go back to number one, the appendixes in the book. Appendix A is practical guidelines for security concerns. And both as a candidate and as a missionary, this is going to become a part of your life. There are some simple dos and don'ts, and lists of possibilities for different levels of security for missionaries and those around them. Those who are concerned with those missionaries. Security concerns are things that your church needs to know and your family needs to know, in terms of how they communicate with you now, when you're going to the field. Appendix B is a sample partnership agreement. We have recommended this highly in the former episodes, about getting ascending missions agency partner.

One of the keys is to have a partnership agreement between your church as your ascending church, and the missions sending agency, so that they have guidelines for how they operate together, and roles and responsibilities for each of the partners in this relationship. The ascending church will want to make it clear that they retain a sense of ownership and shepherding of you, when you're on the field. They're not just handing you over to the agency to let the agency do whatever they want with you, whenever they want with you, without the ascending church being directly involved. The third appendix, Appendix C, deals with questions for missionary candidates. We have used these with others like you, and it is a great baseline or foundational guideline for answering some pretty personal questions about a number of issues that are of concern to your character, your health, and your wellbeing, moving into a missionary candidate and eventually, Lord willing, a missionary role.

So there are four major areas that it asks questions. It asks questions specifically about sexual health issues, secondly, about medical health issues and your medical history. Thirdly, mental, emotional and psychological health issues. And fourthly, financial health issues. There have been a significant number of missionary candidates that were delayed or disqualified from being missionaries, because of financial issues in their life. Not knowing how to handle money well, having too much debt, or being irresponsible about how you handle your financial concerns. Appendix D, talks about why church planting is the priority in missions. You have to understand that the greatest human need is the gospel, and that God's plan is to use local churches to portray and proclaim the gospel to their community, to their own language group.

A second area of concern we have in these last thoughts, is to encourage you to keep a journal. Now, maybe you already do this, maybe you have some form of journal or diary that you keep and write thoughts down. It's a healthy practice in general. What I'm talking about with a journal is not necessarily all the emotional content of your thoughts and heart, but to keep a journal of things that you're learning and sources of your learning. Keep a journal of summary points that the Lord seems to be teaching you, or that you're able to communicate to others. It's a great source of a rough draft, of how to share things about your life, and to review things about your life that you can see later, and be of help to you. I started keeping a journal at about 20 years old, after reading the story of Jim Elliot, primarily from his journal entries in the book called, Shadow of the Almighty, written by Elisabeth Elliot, who was his widow.

Jim Elliot was a missionary to Ecuador, and had his life taken from him along with four others in a very well-known story, of these guys going together to try to reach what were then known as the Auca Indian Tribe. More than anything, Jim's journals were a place to put his spiritual thoughts, his observations, the crystallizing of principles that God was teaching him. My version of the journal included things like draft notes of messages, or things that I wanted to say in letters. But it also included day-to-day milestones of what was going on in the ministry, and that proved to be very useful as time went by. Keeping a journal is not only a good spiritual discipline, but it is extremely practical for you to be able to see what God is doing in your life, and how He is changing you and molding you to become more the man or woman of God that he wants you to be.

Yes, it will record the ups and downs, and problems and issues that you face, but when you review your journal, you'll see how you progressed in your thinking towards solutions that are honoring and glorifying to God. Generally, I go back and review my journal every year toward the end of the year. It seems like between Christmas and New Year's, or those early days of the new year, there is extra time to be able to reflect, and to pray, and to think through what God has done over the past year, and what He seems to be doing, or how He seems to be leading and encouraging you to take big steps of faith in the next year. I certainly record my Bible reading day by day, so I can track with how I'm progressing in reading through the Bible. I haven't had a goal to read through the Bible every year, but I do read through the Bible consistently, so that every 18 to 24 months over the course of many years, I've read through the whole Bible.

I often include some lines from a memorable message, or a hymn, or a song that were encouraging to me. From time to time, I'll have a to-do list, or a long-term planning list, that I can go back and check and see how I've done, or remember things that I may have forgotten to accomplish. I strongly encourage you to start keeping a journal and keep track of it. Presently, my journal is a digital one. It's on my phone, and I keep adding to it day by day, by day. The third major area is to build godly friendships, and trust in those friendships that will span time and distance. My wife and I have really treasured deep friendships and relationships, that have spanned time and distance, as we have traveled to different places around the world, and lived in different places around the world. Those godly enduring friendships are a tremendous blessing in our life.

These people know us. They speak truth to us. They cut us short when we need to be reminded, or rebuked, or reprimanded. They encourage us, no matter what the circumstances. They help and pray for us, and a number of them financially support us. We are so thankful for these godly friendships, and the level of trust we have, that gives us freedom to be ourselves, to laugh at ourselves and to thank God for His mercies through the years. You should do the same. Start selecting and building godly friendships to invest in for the long term. The fourth major area in this conclusion is, begin to think about and pray for recruiting and discipling your eventual missionary teammates. Who is it in your church? Who among your friends who among those that you know in ministry, in your church, that are inclined toward missions, can you encourage, and mobilize, and feed, and train, and disciple even, toward being your teammates out on the missions field?

You can work with your church leadership and your missions leaders of your church, to help focus in on those who may be called to missions, and you can encourage in a special way. Especially now that you're at the end of your missionary training, and ready to go to the field, look to build and strengthen those relationships, so that you can be a constant encouragement, and challenge, and help, to those people walking through the same path that you have just traversed. You can do this from the mission field. The level of communication we have nowadays through technology, is absolutely amazing. There's no reason why you couldn't have some regular monthly or quarterly perhaps, meeting with someone who is a candidate to encourage, and challenge, and move them further down the line toward becoming a missionary. Maybe with you on your field, maybe to another field, but you can be a part of that, because you have lived it yourself.

So as we come to a close, I pray that God would give you this inner assurance of His presence, His help, and His confidence in you, that by the grace of Jesus Christ, you can be an effective missionary on the field. You can see God, through you, do amazing things to make the gospel proclamation effective in the hearts of your listeners. And to see your target population have people who will come to faith in Jesus Christ, and form a local assembly of indigenous believers. And continue to share Christ and see other local churches planted in their language group. It is a blessing to be a part of and to witness this miraculous transformation take place by God's grace. May He use you and you give Him all the glory, as you go out to the field now.

Thanks for joining us today on Missions on Point. We trust that you'll find more help and resources on our websites at, Propempo.com and MissioSERVE.org. We are so thankful for those who support us, enabling us to produce this podcast. Now to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, forever and ever. Amen.