“Oops, I should have known that.” Those words or something similar have been repeated thousands of times by missionaries. I have personally contributed abundantly to that statistic. The following list isn’t “the” only ten things new and prospective missionaries should know, but these are some of the more important issues to consider when going into missions. Practicing these ten principles should certainly help eliminate a lot of “oops”
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Select your family well
You’ve heard it said that “you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family.” But that’s not entirely true when it comes to a mission family. The choice of the right mission agency is possibly more important than the country in which you serve. Every mission board has a different “personality.” Make sure you find the one that fits you. It is a little bit like choosing a spouse. There are thousands of possible candidates, but you don’t want to marry just anyone. You’ll be much happier if you can find your soul mate. The same applies to mission agencies. Sure, you could survive with many of them, but you’ll be much happier if you find the right one for you. The mission agency will either be a blessing or a curse. You will have enough challenges on the field without having to do battle with the organisation. The kind of agency you join will also determine the kind of co-workers you have. Compatibility with an agency is a huge component of your success and happiness on the field.
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Find a mentor
Having a mentor is one way to fast-track personal growth and potential in ministry. It is so helpful to have one individual who has permission to intrude into every facet of your life and ministry to provide counsel. Find someone who is ahead of you in the path of life and ministry. Someone you can emulate. Someone you respect. Someone with whom you feel safe. Having objective eyes observing your life and ministry will catapult you forward. It is challenging to find such a person on the mission field, but distance is no longer a hindrance to mentoring once the relationship is established. Some missionaries have mentors halfway around the world but communicate regularly through phone calls, email, and Zoom. God in His grace gave me a mentor who happened to work in the same country but with another agency. One way or another, find someone who will have a regular, intense, and highly personal interest in your life.
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Be a mentor
Training leaders is one of the key performance areas for any missionary. A basic presupposition in missions is that we are to work ourselves out of a job. The one thing that distinguishes a missionary from any other kind of Christian ministry is that missionaries plan to leave. Our success is measured by whether someone else has taken our job away from us, but that won’t happen by accident. One of the major mistakes of missionaries is that they go to the field and do a great job of ministering but fail to train anyone else to do it. The missionary’s job is not to preach great sermons, it’s to train other men to preach great sermons. I was on a Caribbean island where a local pastor said: “The missionaries did a great job when they were here, but when they left, they took it with them.” He was referring to the fact that missionaries failed to train them. As a field missionary, I spent 30% of my week training leaders. If I had to do it over again, I’d bump up the percentage. Ultimately, the success of your ministry is not what you did, but what is done by those you trained. Leadership training is an exercise of delayed gratification. The results of your work will show up sometime after you are out of the picture. But the picture will look much different if you have invested your life in a few good leaders.
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Ride in on a Donkey
There is a tendency for missionaries to think of themselves as knights riding in on white horses. Unintended arrogance and any hint of an attitude that you believe you come from a superior country build barriers to relationships, evangelism, and ministry. As citizens of heaven, we should make certain there is no mistake about our loyalty. The effective missionary is one who quietly folds up his flag and packs it away until his next furlough. He then climbs on a donkey and in a spirit of humility and servanthood, seeks how to minister. We may be grateful for the land of our birth, but we serve better when that is celebrated in the quietness of our thoughts. The ride is rather rough on the back of a donkey (I have tried it), but the symbolism is dramatic.
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Funda ulimi kahle (Learn the language well)
Ministry through a translator has severe limitations. You will never understand a culture until you can speak the language, and you’ll often miscommunicate until you understand the culture. Tourists can be excused from making mistakes, but the message of the missionary has eternal consequences. The gospel is one message that needs to be communicated accurately. Language learning is not a barrier to ministry, it is the bridge. Take the time and invest the effort to learn the language well, then commit to a lifetime of improvement in that language.
In Part 2 of this article, we’ll look at the last five principles on this list as well as some of the ways Biblical Ministries South Africa trains and supports missionaries as they prepare for the mission field. It’s our purpose and honour to come alongside churches and their missionaries as they fulfill the Great Commission. In the meantime, check out our article on “How to Choose a Mission Agency” if you’d like to learn more about what to look for when making this critical decision.
