Audio Transcript:

Welcome to Missions on Point, the Propempo perspective on church and missions. Get settled in to episode 216 of Missions on Point. This is in a series entitled From Here to There: How to Get Sent to Your Mission Field. This series gives a verbal road map of how to get from where you are here to your mission field over there and gives you step-by-step waypoints of that pathway. It's a conversation with a missionary candidate, but all of those involved in the church and families and related to the candidate can listen in. So far on our journey to the mission field, I've given a brief introduction and then talked about how to get started. Then the most important part of getting started falls on the heels of that. It's getting ascending church, then within the ascending church to get a mentor for the whole process. Now we're going to get into some more qualifications and experiences.

The episode today is Get Local Church Ministry Experience. As a missionary team leader on the field and field leader for a whole country, then later visiting missionaries on the field, it's always been amazing to me that missionary candidates sent out from their home country to the foreign field arrive having practically no church experience whatsoever. And those same people are expected to be involved in planting a church. There is a huge missing X factor in that equation. The X factor is local church ministry experience. The Apostle Paul himself is an example of this. The church at Antioch observed Paul doing significant ministry in the church at Antioch for several years before he was released to the mission field. Read it in Acts chapter 11 and following. In fact, Paul was in training for as much as 12 years between the time of his conversion and call to missions and the actual departure for missionary work.

Paul did not simply volunteer to go to the field. The elders set him apart through the direction of the Holy Spirit. That's the first verses of Acts chapter 13. While this incident is not typical and it's not wrong to volunteer for the mission field, confirmation of the call does not happen in a vacuum. Michael Griffiths writes in his book, Get Your Church involved in Missions that the most an individual can do is express his willingness. Others must determine his worthiness. The individual may be free to go, but only his church knows if he's really fitted to go. The local church attests to the veracity of God's calling as it confirms your mix of gifts, skills, training, character, and inclination. The Bible does not authorize missionary candidates to lay hands on themselves. So confirmation of the missionary call in the local church setting shows that friends and leaders in your local church context see missionary qualities in you firsthand.

They will be able to tell if you're really ready to go. Let this sink in, it's important for you to understand and make it practical in your spiritual values and priorities. The local church is central to God's plan for ministry and missions to all nations. An eagerness to share the gospel and win people to Christ by itself is wonderful, but it isn't the full package of what you need in terms of experience and skill in order to plant a healthy biblical local church in another culture. I've written a biblical apologetic about the centrality of the local church and missions in another book. Just realize the great commission cannot be fulfilled completely as we see it in Matthew 28. Apart from establishing a mutually committed group of believers, meeting together for worship, teaching and edification under biblically recognized church leadership, observing the ordinances given by Christ, the natural product of completely fulfilling the Great Commission is local churches.

Your best laboratory for developing ministry skills and experience is in and through your local church, your sending church. Why is this ministry so foundational?

1. Number one, changing geography won't make you a missionary. A plane trip places you in an even more difficult ministry setting. You won't magically begin doing on foreign soil what you haven't already been doing at home.
2. Number two, local church ministry simulates many situations you will encounter on the field where things rarely go as planned. Personalities clash, you don't get your way. You have to follow a leader policy or direction you may not personally value. People you're supposed to be leading might not value you or your leadership and you may be expected to do things that you think are lowly and demeaning. Welcome to the world of Christian ministry.
3. Number three, ministry in and through the local church is a sanctifying instrument of God to make you more like Christ. Use it to develop field essential perspectives, such as what can I learn? What does this expose in my heart that needs God's grace? How can I grow from this? If this is your response to ministry experience, then you'll be on a good track for missionary. If on the other hand you're thinking, I hate this, there's no redeeming value in what I'm doing here. Why can't my leaders just recognize my superlative quality and send me out right away? Then you'll be on track for disqualification. I know you're thinking, so how much time does all this take? Take a deep breath. It takes longer than you might think, but after you've done it, it will seem that it went by faster than you expected. Don't worry, a lot of the to-do items are overlapping and simultaneous, not separate and sequential. You're preparing for a lifetime of strategic ministry.

A few more months or even years here where you live and at your sending church, enabling and equipping you to survive and thrive there on your mission field will be worth every moment. None of it is wasted time in God's good providence. Everything in your life is a prologue for what God has yet for you to do. The preparation is as much your calling and ministry in God's will as the actual work on the field. Even more important than ministry skills is missionary character. Missionaries should expect to meet the same stringent biblical requirements of pastor elders in their home congregation, especially if they're involved in church planting and church leadership. So how might your home sending church expect to prepare you for the field? Here are some potential pre-field requirements gleaned from missionary preparation programs of several leading churches.

1. Number one, required reading, typically 50 to 100 pages of focused reading per week.
2. Number two, mentoring by a trusted mature believer. We've talked about that in the last episode.
3. Number three, active ministry. That's all kinds of ministry in the local church.
4. Number four, a spectrum of missions related skill building. That is cross-cultural exposure, which we'll deal with in another episode, novice language learning, evangelism, discipling and training, small group leadership, etc. Perhaps they'll even lean into you shepherding other people through particular problems or issues in their life.
5. Number five, you'll probably be expected to submit some kind of progress report and prayer with the missions pastor or the missions team, certainly with your mentor when and if you have a mentor.
6. Number six, leadership training classes and experience, not all of which will be directly in the local church. Maybe you'll go to a conference, like a ministry conference and learn some specific skills.
7. Number seven, research or reflection papers or presentations on different aspects of your preparation, particularly with respect to the cross-cultural goal or country or people group that you're aiming for.
8. Number eight, leading and organizing a short-term missions team or project.
9. Number nine, starting a prayer group for your country or the region of the world you expect to go to or your unreached people language group.
10. Number 10, researching potential missions' agency partners. If the church doesn't already have a short list of accepted sending mission agency partners, they might ask you to do the research and look for some specific things and give a report back to them.
11. Number 11, you'll need to address issues that surface through whatever biblical counseling and discipleship and mentoring process that you're in.
12. Number 12, biblical and theological training. Depending on your experience and previous training, you may have to take some formal education, that is go to a school or take online classes for Bible and theology.
13. Number 13, teaching and or discipleship experience. This is being in front of people and it says something about your people management skills, your ability to communicate and especially communicate biblical content. And it also has to do with your preparation and discipline and staying to the time allotted.
14. Number 14, completing a thorough physical checkup. Your physical health is one of the keys to long-term ministry. If you've got some major issues in your physical health, they need to be identified and addressed and accommodated in a field situation.
15. Number 15, business training and experience, maybe certifications in business. Especially if you're planning on working in business on the field, which many missionaries to unreached people groups or high security or even closed countries must do.
16. Number 16, church planting, training and internship. This may be either directly or at least observation and interaction with church planting teams.
17. Number 17, training in interpersonal relationships and team building. You need to warm up your personal skills in communicating, making friends, being appropriately sociable and welcoming to making new friends. That is a key to effectiveness in your church planting ministry.
18. Number 18, you may have to take training and security and crisis management issues. Most missionaries have to deal with this now anyway, even if they're on a fairly benign security situation on the field. You still need to know what to do when a crisis happens.
19. Number 19, some training and technology and computer applications. There are certain applications that are key to your communication and production of materials on the field. You need to know how to use the technology and applications to do so. It's okay to ask what if your church doesn't have a systematic plan for developing future missionaries? How can you help your church grow in missionary preparation? Well, first of all, pray with church leaders about their role and responsibility in sending you out. Ask prayer partners to pray with you about this issue as possible and appropriate. Get out prayer information to the church regarding your church's process of sending you. God hears and answers prayer. He asks us to pray, so pray expecting him to answer.

Next, serve as a facilitator and a catalyst. View your role as one of practical encouragement rather than a critic. Lay before God any frustration with your church. What you're doing with your church and its future is priceless.

Next, serve as a resource. A variety of fine resources are available to help a church grow in this process. Bring your church's leaders into contact with key books, websites, and individuals who can help your church move forward as a sender. Try to avoid overwhelming your leaders with ideas and do it all with a spirit of humility.

Finally, serve as a networker. Reach out to mature, sympathetic and respected fellow church members to assist in the process. Proactively set up appointments for formal and or informal discussions to work on the details of developing as a sending church. Meet leaders at their convenience. For example, have an early coffee or breakfast meeting with a lay leader before his work hours. Be obvious in your goals without being obnoxious. There are mission sending agencies such as MissioSERVE Alliance that help churches achieve this sending church skills and status. If your church is a larger church, keep in mind that it'll take more time and energy to affect a change in strategy or direction.

You'll need to convince more leaders. The church can offer more resources for sending missionaries, so take your time and build well. If your church is a smaller or medium-sized church, keep in mind that it'll take less effort to help the church recognize and embrace their own biblical responsibilities in missionary sending. Relationships with leadership and among leadership are that much closer because they're smaller, communication lines are simpler and more direct. You'll have more access to and relationships with its pastors and leaders.

If your church doesn't currently systematically prepare missionaries, how can you begin to prepare on your own? Well, here's a great list of learning activities.

1. One, it's critical for your mission's motivation to flow out of the biblical concept of the glory of God and his global purpose to see Jesus Christ's glorified in all nations. There is maybe no better treatment of this topic than the book Let the Nations Be Glad! by John Piper.
2. Number two, enroll in survey or overview classes in Bible and Systematic Theology. Lots of resources are now available online.
3. Number three, cultivate a high view of scripture and a commitment to know it, obey it, apply it, teach it, and proclaim it.
4. Number four, test your interests, gifts, and skills in a variety of ministry settings such as ministry to children and youth evangelism and small group leadership.
5. Number five, we talked about this in the previous episode. Carefully identify a mentor and work with your mentor.
6. Number six, seek out opportunities for local cross-cultural ministry similar to the place or culture you'd like to serve.
7. Number seven, grow in initiative. Don't wait for people to ask you to do things. You go find it and start doing it. Practice looking for service or ministry needs and doing it without being asked.
8. Number eight, share the gospel consistently. Part of the joy of missionary life is weaving the proclamation of the gospel into every relationship and many conversations.
9. Number nine, develop a vibrant and consistent personal devotional life. On the field, you'll be largely dependent on your own discipline for spiritual feeding and vitality. You won't have the same resources as you do back home. So learn how to worship and grow and savor and delight in God and his word without being dependent on other people or resources outside of yourself.
10. Number 10, while we will all be imperfect and broken people until heaven, the Bible's standard for those who would start and lead churches and influence people for Christ are high. The goal in your character is to be above reproach. You are partners with God in sanctification. A lifestyle of repentance orients you to see, confess, mourn, and eventually hate your own sin. For example, if you can't get up in the morning to read the Bible because you stay up late watching TV, then you figure out that you can't keep doing that and expect to grow. If that is the case, you value Christ over TV and stop watching TV late at night or disconnect the cable.

God uses these cumulative offerings to affect the character change that only he can do. His mercy and grace can transform your heart as you become a useful vessel for his service. The humility, integrity you'll build in the process are irreplaceable foundation stones for your character as you prepare to go over there.

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.