Cutting-Edge Missionaries

Missionaries are in a precarious position. Depending on how you look at missionaries you could see them as on the edge of either compromise or confrontation or somewhere in between. Regardless, missionaries are engaged in spiritual warfare because they are in the world.  And this puts them in an exciting and dangerous position.  They can challenge both the darkness of the world and the stagnancy of the church. Yet, they are susceptible to temptations and attacks from Satan that many who have stayed home may not be facing. Missionaries are often engaged with the theological development and growth that Christianity is challenged with. Some even use the mission field as a laboratory for exploring something new. Whatever the church encounters, missionaries encounter but with the added danger of not always being grounded in a community of believers that is slow to change. 

Consider the pressures on the missionary. There is great excitement about the gospel going out to all the nations. People who have never heard are hearing. We are eager for them to hear as we translate the gospel into their language, using cultural expressions to convey eternal truths. There is excitement about innovation. New technologies present opportunities to get the gospel to people in ways we haven’t been able to before. There is excitement about the stories we hear from the field. Anecdotes about gospel advance catch on like wildfire, especially when an unexpected conversion is involved. Furthermore, there is excitement that maybe God is doing something new in the world. The hope for a fresh awakening, a gospel movement, or a revival is lifegiving to the Western weary soul.

However, scripture warns us: we are to grow up into maturity in Christ, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14). When a missionary speaks into a culture, he must guard against compromise that is simply excused as “contextualization.” The problem that missionaries face that the rest of us don’t is that they are often alone. They are often on the field and untethered from the stabilizing factor of a local church.

So, how can a missionary remain tethered and avoid going off the rails when it comes to ministry? Here are a few fundamental suggestions:

1. Abide in Christ. The safest place for you is in the arms of your Savior. Feed on His Word and anchor your soul, like a tree of life near springs of living water.
2. Remain actively connected to your sending church. The church’s job is to be a pillar and buttress of the truth. The church, with its plurality of teachers of God’s Word, is the primary stabilizing institution in the missionary’s life. The Word of God is your sure foundation, but the church is built upon that foundation and is designed to keep you in it.
3. Get strong theological training before you go. You will be challenged on the field, and an untested missionary is likely to fail those challenges. Your church should not lay hands on people too hastily, so spend time early on getting well-grounded in your convictions.
4. Make explicit your theological confession and methodological commitments. Creeds and confessions have been stabilizing forces for the church for millennia. Don’t throw off the time-tested truths because of the attractiveness of novelty. Humility requires us to stand on the shoulders of the giants who went before us. The same should go for our methodological commitments too. If a missionary changes the way he operates, his sending church should evaluate whether they will continue to support him.
5. Pace yourself. While we want to be open to how God is challenging the church, we also must be slow to accept new thinking. Be tentative and nuanced in your conclusions on a new matter. Most importantly, if we are open to the way that God is growing the church, we must be willing to accept His methods too. God normally works through ordinary, slow means. God is more patient than we are. While He might seem slow to us, His timing is perfect.
6. Avoid ministry methods that commit you to a limited timeframe agenda. Like the previous point, we should not box ourselves in by committing to our supporters that they will see a certain set of specific results within a certain timeframe. Presumption has a way of masking itself as faith.

Yes, missionaries are on the cutting edge of theological development and the growth of the church. But contextualization is not an excuse for compromise. Missionaries are on the front lines of every challenge that faces the church, and so we cannot leave them alone. They are susceptible to the same attacks we are, yet often without the needed support. It’s no wonder that untethered missionaries wander from the straight and narrow path. Let’s not leave our missionaries teetering on the edge of danger.