Audio Transcript:

Welcome to Missions on Point, the Propempo perspective on church and missions. Come on in to episode 213 of Missions on Point. This series we're calling, From Here to There. You could consider it a conversation with and counsel from a friendly, Godly mentor. It's designed and aimed toward the missionary candidate. How to get from here where we are now to there, that is your mission field eventually. So grab a cup of coffee or tea and come join me as I talk to the missionary candidates and all of you can listen in to what's going on. The first step as a missionary candidate after you've made some kind of public commitment to become a missionary, is to just get started. Before you begin, take stock of your wonderful position. You have a new commitment to a calling. This is a really big deal.

Before the experience or the event or the circumstances that God used to convince you that you have a missionary calling that you should pursue, maybe you were looking at a completely different kind of job in your future, a different sort of employment, a different kind of day-to-day routine, and now you're thinking about becoming a missionary. It is a whole new value set guiding your life. Every major decision in your life is going to be affected by your missionary calling. You'll have a new vocation for which to prepare. If you are heading in one direction, it may be parallel to the missionary calling. It may not be. It may be something completely different than now looking at missions as your future. You also have a new vision, stretching your faith because from now on, no matter how you get there and how you go, no matter what mission agency you may partner with, it is going to stretch your faith. I hope, dear friend, that you have a new commitment to preparing well.

You need a God fueled determination to make it through the gauntlet of preparation in order to be a really well prepared missionary. A lot of people feel they have a missionary call and they're in a rush to get to the field. And when they get there, they are crushed and disappointed and disillusioned by what they find there and by their own inadequacies because they didn't prepare well. You are fighting against the odds. Honestly, for those who keep statistics, only about 15% of people who say that they feel they have a missionary calling actually make it to career service on the mission field. So when you're preparing to go from here to there, make sure that you're really well prepared to stay and to thrive for the longterm. You also have a new commitment to be under and with authority and affirmation of those around you. Just because you feel that you have a missionary call, doesn't necessarily make that so unless it is affirmed by those around you, based on your character and your knowledge and your performance and your preparation for the field.

So to get from here to there, you have to be working along with others and following some guidance and authority to help you make it. You also have a new commitment to partnership with all those around you. If you're going with a faith supported mission agency, it is all by faith that you are supported through the gifts and generosity of churches and friends around you. And it is a very important partnership in your life and ministry moving forward. So begin to develop the threads of partnership already as you think about your relationships and how people around you might relate to that vision you have on the field for the sake of Jesus Christ and his glory. Before you begin, take stock of your position with a new commitment to biblical foundations. Your commitment to the gospel is of highest importance. You need to understand clearly and biblically the good news of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation in all the world.

You have to believe that the gospel is actually effective to save sinners, even the worst of sinners. And you have to believe that the gospel is the hinge point or dividing line of eternal consequences between those who do not have faith in Jesus Christ and those that repent and do have faith in Jesus Christ. And the gospel is the means of the end goal of glory to Jesus Christ, both on Earth and in heaven forever. So having a rock solid understanding of and commitment to the gospel is extremely important because that is what's going to enable you to withstand the storms that you will face on the field. The reason you're there is for the glory of Jesus Christ through the gospel.

Another commitment is the commitment to the word of God as the source and authority of our message. The word of God is inerrant, it is sufficient, it is living and active. The Bible is alone, our source of authority. It is from God to us to use for our message and our Christian living and our church. You will also learn a new commitment to the local church. You'll discover if you study God's word and if you have a solid church that understands this, the local church is God's plan for his glory among people on Earth. His plan is to see local churches planted among all people groups. The local church is the owner and sender of the Great Commission. The local church is the end goal of all missions ministries. All missions ministries should aim at establishing a national or indigenous local church in the people group to which you're going. So dear missionary candidate brother or sister, let's take a few steps to get started.

First, renew your commitment to God in your missionary calling regularly. Thank him for using his word and his servants and his Holy Spirit to encourage you to aim in this direction and to keep you on track. Then start to tell others about it. Tell trusted friends and family. Talk to your home church. If you're at college or university away from home, call or email your home church leaders. Talk to all the key people in your life. Your missions minded friends, your personal friends and family, your campus ministry leaders and the leaders of your home church or college group from your home church. Simply and humbly share your hopes and dreams. Express your desire to bring God's glory to the unreached. Your testimony will be an encouragement to others. Doing so will also reinforce your decision in your own heart and mind. You'll begin to grow in faith for the path ahead of you.

Your story might be part of the larger story of God's moving people into missions, like that one of the Haystack Prayer Meeting in August 1806. Five students at Williams College in Massachusetts informally gathered in a meadow on campus to discuss and pray about the needs of the unreached in Asia and how they might be personally involved. A storm quickly swept through, forcing them to take refuge under a haystack. This meeting later known as the Haystack Prayer Meeting, led to the formation of a student missions team, which eventually saw thousands go out to the mission field in those early days. Much later in the 1800s, between 1886 and 1920, the Student Volunteer Movement recruited and saw 8,742 missionaries go to the field from the US. Many of the students volunteered as a result of God's call on their lives through events, missions conferences, specifically for students.

We all long to see such a sweeping movement of the Spirit of God on students today so that local churches can be equipping and sending young people to go into missions to take the gospel to those least reach people groups and languages around the world. Dear candidate friend, we talked about you sharing your calling with trusted friends and family and others, but there are also people and situations in which you shouldn't talk about it. For instance, don't post your missionary calling and aspirations on social media. Don't post blogs or group communication apps your desire to be a missionary and take the gospel to unreached people groups. Nations around the world that don't like Christians coming in to share the gospel are very active at scouring the internet to find those kinds of pieces of sharing that probably should have been kept quiet. In fact, we know of missionaries who have been refused entry into the country of their desired destination for ministry and stopped from coming in simply because they made it too clear and plain and available to people that wanted to search for it.

Don't talk so openly to non-believing affinity groups or friends that you know. Certainly don't be open with people who may come from the countries or regions where you're hoping and planning and praying to go to. Learn to exercise restraint and wisdom in how you describe your aspirations. We will talk about security concerns a little bit later. But for now, take my word for it, it's better to let it out a little at a time among trusted circles of friends and family than it is to wave a big banner saying this is what you hope and expect to be. In your communication, give glory to God for what he is doing.

You can't become a missionary on your own. God is going to have to call you and affirm that through those around you and enable you to do it. It's all for his glory. It's all about him. Then mentally prepare yourself for the long haul of preparation in ministry. It's not unlike an athlete preparing for a championship bout or run or game. There's a lot of work that has to be done in the background, in the quiet, in the weight room, in drills, in preparing and getting set to run that championship race. We'll discuss that in the coming episodes and chapters of From Here to There. Lord, I pray that our missionary candidate friend would have wisdom and stamina to make it through the gauntlet of training and preparation to be an excellent missionary on the field for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

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.