Send Me! Your Journal to the Nations
charting the course
Overview
Steve Hoke and Bill Taylor
This workbook has been designed for two kinds of people: those who have a deep desire to serve God overseas and those who want to help them. It has not been designed to persuade people to become missionaries. Rather, it assumes an initial interest - an early indication or drive somewhere inside that God may have more for you than you previously thought. It assumes an initial commitment to pursue the options. It is aimed at two primary readers: college/university students and young career persons, as well as committed older adults facing the challenge of an early retirement or career change. The information this workbook presents will also help churches, campus groups, schools, missionary training centers, and agencies to think and pray through short-term and long-term plans with those responding to God’s call.
Let’s
Clarify a Couple of Key Items
Are
we writing this workbook for the short-term missionary or the longer-term one?
The answer in a sense is both, although we are profoundly convinced of the need
for longer-term cross-cultural servants of all varieties who will invest a decade
or more of their lives in order to pack heaven with worshipers from all peoples,
languages, tribes, and nations. This will happen in part through the work of
short-term workers - their service and later intercession and mobilizing. But
heaven will fill with these peoples primarily because men and women left their
homes and cultures to cross language, cultural, and geographic barriers in order
to share Christ and see His church come to maturity. So we have to be up front
with you. Bill and I are both totally committed to short-termers, but our heart’s
desire is to see a vast new battalion of young and older adults in long-term
cross-cultural work.
Secondly, what or who really is a missionary? Few words within the evangelical missions vocabulary generate more diverse definitions than “missionary.” For some, “every-body is a missionary,” but then, if everybody is a missionary, then nobody is a missionary. A few argue that only a select and highly spiritual category of persons is honored with this title; still others discard the title totally and substitute “apostolic messenger” instead. What can we then suggest? By the way, the broader term, “mission,” speaks of the most encompassing and holistic task that God has given His church to fulfill in the world.
In the New Testament, the Greek term apostello emerges in two major categories: as a broadly used verb, meaning to send in one form or another and by different senders (132 times), and as a more specifically used noun, the apostolic person (80 times). The core New Testament meaning clusters around ideas related to sending and/or crossing lines, to those being sent, the sent ones - whether messengers or the Twelve, or the others who serve with some kind of apostolic authority or function. The New Testament affirms that the apostolic messenger (the missionary) becomes the person authoritatively sent out by God and the church on a special mission with a special message, with particular focus on the gentiles/nations.
Other Jewish records show the use of this term describing authorized messengers sent into the Diaspora for special assignments. The New Testament adopts some of these ideas, as well as a broader one from Greek culture that gives the concept of divine authorization. It then injects new meaning into the missionary apostles (lifelong service, Spirit-empowered, with particular focus on the missionary task), referring to the original Twelve (plus Paul) as well as other authorized messengers.
Ironically, as the Latin language takes over Bible use and church life, the synonym, mitto, becomes the dominant word, and from this we create the English word “missionary.” Therefore, an “accident” of linguistic history has replaced the original Greek concept with all of its richness and depth. In the immediate post-apostolic era, the term was used of itinerant ministers. Roman Catholic usage emerges by 596 A.D. when Gregory the Great sends the Benedictine monk Augustine to lead a missionary delegation to the British Isles. The Roman Church will also use the term “sent ones” in reference to their monastic orders.
The Protestant Reformation, partially in reaction to the Roman positions, minimized the term and concept of the missionary. It re-emerged with greater significance with the Moravians, who used the term for their broad-spectrum enterprise, and then it was adopted by the pioneers, Carey, Judson, Morrison, Livingstone, and their successors in the late 1790s and into the 1800s.
We are convinced that “missionary” is simply not a generic term for all Christians doing everything the church does in service to the kingdom of God. We do a disservice to the “missionary” by universalizing its use. While all believers are witnesses and kingdom servants, not all are missionaries. We do not glamorize nor exalt the missionary, nor ascribe higher honor in life nor greater heavenly reward; neither do we create an artificial office.
This conclusion comes from a biblical theology of vocations (God has given us diverse vocations and all are holy, but not all are the same), a theology of gifts (not all are apostles, nor do all speak in tongues - 1 Cor. 12:29; therefore, not all Christians are missionaries), and a theology of callings (the Triune God sovereignly calls some to this position and task). These men and women are cross-cultural workers who serve within or outside their national boundaries, and they will cross some kind of linguistic, cultural, or geographic barriers.
Charting the
Course
It isn’t
easy to become an effective missionary. The road from where you stand, whether
in North America, Western Europe, or “Down Under,” to the place of
effective cross-cultural service is full of roadblocks, detours, and potential
false starts. It’s easy to get discouraged. That’s why we have mapped
out 10 steps to help you chart a course from here to the nations.
A lifetime cannot be planned in one sitting with a workbook or with one program on the latest computer. But with some grasp of the available information, you can gain an overview of what lies ahead. You will need to stay close to the Lord and be led by His Spirit as you move toward the nations. This workbook attempts such an overview. It also provides several checklists and worksheets so you can put dates on the benchmarks you pass on the way. It will also periodically ask you to take some time to reflect critically on the journey and to journal - to intentionally reflect, through writing out what God is saying to you, what you are learning and how you are growing.
This handbook describes three phases of missionary development. Each phase includes steps that should be taken as one moves through each phase. Although these steps are ordered sequentially, this is not a mechanical ordering. You will be able to adapt the sequence to your own personal circumstances. There are also side roads you may take as you integrate personal information and opportunities with our suggestions.
The format is simple: after the background of each step is discussed, you are asked to respond to a number of questions. These will guide your reflection on what you have been thinking and will help you keep a journal of where you are on this exciting journey.
There’s a lot to learn about missions and a cross-cultural career. Each step along the way has its own external sources from which you can draw. Rather than expecting you to wade through every available resource, we’ve listed some selected ones for you at the end of the workbook.
Let’s be honest. Heading into missions can be rather a wild ride. You may see it as a long road, a winding path, a pitching roller coaster, or a cresting wave. But that’s what life is, and trying to ride the crest of the wave with Christ is what the Christian life is all about. It won’t be easy. All of us have been tested and tempted to drop out. We’ve all made mistakes. But we didn’t bail out, and we’re so glad we hung in there during the tough times. We did it for our King and for His kingdom! Christ will walk with you and accompany you to the nations if that’s where He wants you. You can trust Him. He was in the boat with the disciples. He’s with you even as you read this line.
Preparation
and Training Path:
Essential Steps in the Process
There are three major phases of missionary preparation and training. Each of these has a number of steps that go together. They can be clustered in the following manner:
Getting Ready
– Stretching
•
Personal spiritual formation (being)
• Body
boost: getting on-the-job experience at home (doing)
• Exposure
to other cultures (doing)
• Basic
education (knowing)
Getting There
– Linking
•
Church and agency contact and candidacy
• Ministry
assignment search
• Hands-on
missionary training
Getting Established
– Bonding
•
Apprenticeships and internships
• Lifelong
learning
• Finishing
strong
Getting Ready – Stretching
The introduction will define what a mission-ary is and will give you a clear profile of the distinct missionary/cross-cultural roles still needed today. It will also provide a yardstick by which to measure and evaluate your present position.
Step 1: Personal
spiritual formation.
Who you are - your character and spiritual formation as a disciple of Jesus
Christ - is essential to the role you will play and to what you do in missions.
Clarifying your basic commitment, your “call,” and your spiritual
gifts and making sure your spiritual foundation is solid are necessary first
steps to ensure an effective journey. Finding a personal mentor early on in
this journey is foundational to starting well.
Step 2: Body
boost: Getting on-the-job experience at home.
Understanding your church’s unique missions vision and finding your place
and gifted role in it are critical to your ultimate effectiveness in extending
the church into other cultures. Making disciples in your home culture will hone
your ministry skills and help sharpen your spiritual giftedness before serving
in a cross-cultural setting. Investing financially in missions will accelerate
your own education and establish a lifelong habit.
Step 3: Exposure
to other cultures.
Growing up in only one culture limits our ability to understand others,
appreciate diversity, and learn other languages. Frankly, being mono-cultural
is really boring for today’s global citizen in a pluralistic society. So
gain some early cross-cultural exposure. It will stretch your mental, physical,
and spiritual muscles and will help you understand and accept people of other
cultures. It’s also an invaluable crucible for testing your gifts, your
passions, your dreams, and your capacity for a longer-term commitment.
Step 4: Basic
education.
Academic preparation for a short- or long-term ministry needs to be customized
to your experience, skills, and gifts. What kind of formal training and education
do you need for missions today, whether at the level of vocational or professional
equipping? What steps can you take at this point that will broaden your worldview
and enrich your basic educational background?
Getting There – Linking
Step 5: Church
and agency contact and candidacy.
What sending group or “team” (church or agency) is the best fit for
you as the vehicle for service? Your best work is not a solo effort. What kind
of team do you need to make you most effective and to help you grow the most?
What kind of team leader do you need to stay focused and effective? What are
the options? How do you think through the various possi-bilities?
Step 6: Ministry
assignment search.
Related to the question of the mission sending group are the questions of location,
people group, and specific role on a church planting team that God is asking
you to fulfill in reaching others with the gospel. Who are they? Where are they?
How can your gifts be used in reaching those people or in building up the national
church? What is your lifelong assignment in God’s overall game plan?
Step 7: Hands-on
missionary training.
Language and culture learning are part of a missionary’s “Basic Training”
in the hands-on and practical side of living among and relating to people who
need the Lord. What are the various ways to gain the most practical skill training
outside the classroom?
Getting Established – Bonding
Step 8: Apprenticeships
and internships.
Effective missionaries don’t just emerge fully formed from their educational
experience. On-the-job ministry either at home or on the field tests what you’ve
learned, provides models in ministry, and helps you develop your own approaches
for “telling the story” and establishing vital faith for communities
(churches). Mentor-ing in initial ministry ensures a healthy start.
Step 9: Lifelong
learning.
When mis-sionaries stop learning, they can wither or get stuck. We want to stay
alive and growing during this season of our life. Establishing a lifelong learning
pattern early in your career is essen-tial to finishing well over the long haul.
Step 10: Finishing
strong.
Understanding what it means to finish well is crucial, particu-larly in an activistic
Christian subculture that values high accomplishment and activity. Why do so
many leaders tend not to finish well, and how can we anticipate these pitfalls?
We want to help you intentionalize your spiritual develop-ment so that you can
grow stronger from cross-cultural service rather than weaker, and all during
your Christian pilgrimage you will walk the long path of obedience in the same
direc-tion—whether you are in missions or not.
Charting your journey is not so much about planning a vacation as it is about becoming intentional in joining God’s foreign policy. It’s taking time to pray and plan how you are going to get actively involved. It’s about taking specific steps forward rather than being shoved around sideways by peer and career pressure. It’s about moving from the grandstand to the playing field, whether as a grower or a goer. Your own journey will be unique. And charting your journey will be a life-changing process. These 10 steps will help you transform your ideas and commitment into a powerful plan for spiritual change.
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Charting the Course
Excerpt from Send Me! Your Journey to the Nations Copyright 1999, World Evangelical Alliance, all rights reserved, reprinted by permission. The entire Send Me! workbook may be purchased online at www.wearesources.org.
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