Audio Transcript:

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

Come on in to join us for episode 223 of Missions on Point. We're in the next to the last episode of this series, from here to there, how to get sent to your mission field. The topic of this episode is a challenge. I'm calling it get humble. What if it doesn't work out? What if you don't end up making it to the mission field? What if you don't end up finishing the equipping or preparation, and being committed and commissioned by your church to go into missions? You thought you were called to go to the mission field, you hoped and prayed and planned to take the gospel for the glory of Christ to an unreached people group.

A variety of reasons and circumstances have now combined to make this unlikely or impossible, at least for now. This shouldn't mean abandoning missions involvement altogether. You may remember that I said at the very beginning that really, only about 15% of those who feel like they're called to go into full-time missions work actually make it. There are many, many good reasons why that might be the case, and you shouldn't feel disappointed or disillusioned or discouraged by this happening. God is still sovereign, so what should your next steps be?

First, understand you are not alone. Many intend to go, but few actually arrive on the field. Intending to go is not a bad thing. Through your passion and heart for missions, you've learned a lot, and you're responsible for that, to use that for God's glory, whether you go or don't go. You've grown in spiritual maturity and skill in the process.

Second, know that God's call still stands, though probably not in the same way you thought at the beginning of the process, maybe you understand more clearly now that following heart after God does not guarantee you a particular slot or role. I personally think it's wrong for missionaries to say that, "God has called me to Africa," say. There may be a lot of circumstances that point them toward Africa and pave the way for them to go to Africa, but biblically, God doesn't call them to Africa. God calls them to himself, God calls each of us to holiness, God calls each of us to service within the local church. God obviously intended that you head in that direction toward the field for specific purposes in your life, and in his plan for others around you, and ultimately for his glory. He always lovingly, graciously, tenaciously, calls you to love Christ, and to grow to be more like him, to share him wherever you are. He calls you and me to godliness and service and worship, just as much now as ever.

Third, you are not a failure because you didn't make it to the field. If you were humble and teachable in the process, God will still use all of it for his glory in your life. Your education will help you and others down the road. God uses everything in our lives as a prologue for what he intends for us to do. There is no second best in God's will. Your inability to make it to the field did not come as a surprise to God, nor will it catch him short-handed. If you did not sin in the process, you did not somehow let God down. His purposes for you are good and acceptable and perfect. You may have been humbled, you may have to change direction, but you are not a failure.

Fourth, you have become a seasoned world Christian in the process of attempting to go to the mission field. You are in an excellent position to play a different role in missions. You understand more about missions and the process of becoming a missionary than ever before. You are convinced of the importance of the local church and the process. You know about the personal, spiritual, and material costs of going over there to a mission field. Let this mark your life. Don't quench your passion for world missions, express it and channel it in different ways, including praying for the unreached, and facilitating others to pray regularly for missions and those missionaries who go, giving generously to missions, encouraging and mobilizing others to be a part of God's heart for the nations. Caring for missionaries on the field, ideally with others in a Barnabas team or prayer and care team context. Mobilizing your church for missions by starting or joining your church's missions team. Mentoring new missionary candidates, you know all about that. Welcoming the nations by reaching out cross-culturally in your city.

Lastly, I have to say this, don't blame God. We can mix up God's call in our own desires. God is neither at fault nor mistaken in your change of intended direction. God's purposes are still pure and good. Talk to God about this unanticipated diversion, express your emotions, but don't assign blame to God. Don't become bitter and resentful. He is sovereign and you are not. He is all-loving, kind, gracious, forgiving, and full of integrity. He wants you to pray. He entreats you to approach his throne of mercy. To learn his compassion for you and get a bearing on new direction, spend extra time in his word, seek godly counsel, not an audience for your grievances. Try to figure out what new path he is setting before you hear where you are. Set new goals, actively seek to serve, press on.

It is one of my deepest disappointments to see missionary candidates who don't go to the field feel like they want to bail out of church altogether. They're embarrassed, and that's understandable, but the church family is there to love and encourage and draw you back in, and make you useful within the body of Christ where you are. Similarly, I've seen missionaries return to the field, after committing to go as a career, and only spending a few years on the field before returning. They feel this same deep hollowness of unfulfilled wishes and expectations, but there's no good biblical space for that. We are loved by Christ, we have Jesus himself to walk alongside us and encourage us and use us for his glory.

The vision that you had, or that those returned missionaries had, or those others who failed to go to the field had, the vision is to see Jesus Christ glorified, and to be used by him in his plan to reach all nations. There is lots of room for that, lots of opportunities for you through your local church to strengthen the local church, to be a great sending church, and encourage others coming along the path that you have followed, at the beginning at least, to help them achieve that goal, that in God's sovereignty and providence and grace, you were not able to fulfill for yourself. God still loves you, Jesus still gave his life on the cross to pay for your sins, and he wants you to live for him and be used for his glory where you are right here.

It's encouraging to me that some of history's greatest missionary heroes actually failed at one or more points in their missions ministry. They went to a field, it didn't work out long-term for them, or they got diverted into a different field, or they got sent back home for some time, and then they went back out again, maybe to a different field, maybe in a different capacity, maybe with more maturity and qualifications under their belt, and God used them in such amazing ways that this humbleness proved to be a platform for effectiveness in ministry in the long-term of their life.

In the early days of faith-based missions in the China Inland Mission, one of the missionary, who was very zealous for the Lord, for the word of God, for missions work, was declined by the mission and told that he should stay and train others, and he did. It was amazing, he was raising up and training missionaries that went to fields all over the globe. Now, I'm not saying that you'll have all those kinds of results, but if you have your eyes open and your heart open and your prayers before God, looking for ways to serve him, to make an impact in missions, I believe that God will use you in those ways. He has prepared you to do so, you just need to get humble. God gives grace to the humble. May God use you, whether here or over there, in amazing ways, for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Now, here's a final word to the church family of the missionary candidate that didn't make it, and their friends. Dear brothers and sisters, missionaries who returned from the field, or candidates who didn't make it to the field, need an extraordinary amount of grace and friendship and warmth and acceptance from their church body. They're going to need assistance in recalibrating their goals and their life's trajectory, and you can be a part of that. It is important that that candidate or missionary returning from the field is surrounded by a loving community that will help them along in resetting their life to be useful for God. So please step up and step into that opportunity to restore their confidence, and get them back into useful service for the Lord and your church.

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.