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Getting a Realistic Picture of Missions and Missionaries
I was recently at a prayer meeting for a missionary who was seeking healing so he and his family could return to the field. Before we prayed he shared a litany of woes he and his family had experienced: surgeries, several family members having nightmares of being attacked, the plan for how to minister in this culture failing to come to pass, and other discouragements. And I questioned, what do we expect from missions and missionaries? Another friend working in a very difficult culture was recently bemoaning the fact that many supporters are expecting amazing results from his labors and he has barely been able to get anything off the ground. Should missions be this hard?
Then I thought of how the New Testament depicts Paul’s missionary experience. Wow! In one place alone, Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he writes this in regard to the “super apostles” who were undoing the work of the gospel in Corinth:
[23] Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. [24] Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. [25] Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; [26] on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; [27] in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. [28] And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23–28, ESV)
Just in this passage alone we get the impression that missions can mean:
- Persecution
- Travel Woes (2 Corinthians 11:25, being shipwrecked three times)
- Natural Hazards (2 Cor 11:26 “rivers”)
- Crime (2 Cor 11:26 “robbers”)
- Unjust Accusations from Rivals (2 Cor 11:12-15, 26 “false brothers)
- Sleeplessness/Insomnia (2 Cor 11:27)
- Worry (2 Cor 11:28)
But we also know that Paul experienced:
- Culture Shock (a town that wanted to worship him as a god, Acts 14:8-15)
- Wash Out of a team member (John Mark, Acts 13:13)
- Health Difficulties (his eyes, which were perhaps his thorn in the flesh, Galatians 4:15; 2 Corinthians 12:7)
- Fear (1 Corinthians 2:1-5; 2 Corinthians 1:8,9)
- Accomplishments Dismantled (the Galatians and the Corinthians were embracing another gospel)
- Misunderstanding (the Corinthians thought he was worthless because he doesn’t take money from them, 1 Corinthians 9)
- Financial Woes (Philippians 4:10-20)
- Team Conflicts (he and Barnabas split over taking John Mark on another trip, Acts 15:36-40, and conflict with others, 1 Timothy 1:18-20; 2 Timothy 1:15)
- Swelled Head (2 Cor 12:1-7)
It seems we must learn several things from the New Testament picture of missions and missionaries:
- Count the Cost: Don’t expect missions to be anything but the most difficult thing you’ve ever experienced.
- Anticipate Murphy’s Law: Expect that whatever can go wrong will go wrong.
- Expect Spiritual Warfare: Satan will do everything in his power to counter the preaching of the gospel.
- Know Your Calling: Don’t base whether you should be doing what you are doing on anything other than you know this is what God wants you to do.
- Don’t Glorify Missions or Missionaries: Missionaries have the same woes and weaknesses that non-missionaries have, maybe more, and missions is not a walk in the park.
About the Author Randall Johnson
A full-time pastor since 1979, Randall originally graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM) in 1979 and from Reformed Theological Seminary (DMin) in 1998. He is married with four grown children and a pile of epic grandchildren.
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