This is Part 4 in Don Dent’s “Finding Direction” Series
We have painted ourselves into a corner with the idea that “everyone is a missionary.” I first noticed this statement from SBC leaders in the early 2000s. It has been repeated and advocated by so many on so many occasions since then that it is now considered a truism. The idea gained popularity because we need to renew in our churches the emphasis that every believer is a witness, but this is the wrong way. All believers should definitely be contributing to accomplishing the Great Commission, that does not make every believer a missionary. This is no more true than saying every believer is a pastor because all should be making disciples. The Scriptures and history do not support such an idea and now it has some tragic consequences.
- If everyone is a missionary, there is no reason to challenge those who are “called” to make a vocational commitment. I have asked people from multiple churches when they last heard a sermon on the call to missions and most cannot remember any. I am glad to say that my pastor mentions it almost weekly!
- If everyone is a missionary, then whatever everyone does is now missions. The result is a loss of focused action to accomplish the Great Commission. Most believers have little training or experience in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. “We like to paint buildings” or “we enjoy holding babies” or “we find joy in distributing toys” are guiding definitions of missions these days, although none directly addresses lostness.
- If everyone is a missionary then there is no distinction between 2 hrs a week, a 2-week, 2-month, 2-year, or a 2-decade missionary. Why go long-term if you can do it as well on short-term trips from Greenville? Why support expensive long-termers when we can use that money to send more of our own volunteers since it is all the same thing?
- In some cases, new missionaries lack the commitment to learn language and culture because they simply want to keep doing what they have done on numerous volunteer trips. This usually results in a lack of effectiveness and perseverance, although they are meeting their own expectations. They may do ministry in English, hire locals to do language work, and move back home because the shallowness of their ministry is not worth the effort to stay long-term.
Arriving in another country does not make someone an effective missionary, it takes years of focused hard work to get there. Many mission-minded Southern Baptists do not know the profile of those who are the most likely to be effective missionaries, although the profile is real. The IMB knows it from almost 18 decades of watching it play out in hundreds of locations. The profile has been affirmed by broad surveys of missionaries from a variety of agencies. The most likely missionary, man or woman, to bear much fruit in their ministry looks like this:
- A definite call to missions as a vocation
- At least 5-7 years of field experience developing ministry skills
- Spends much time with local people, not volunteers or expatriates
- Fluency in the local language
- Focus of time and energy on the core task of missions
- Consistent sharing of the gospel with lost people
- A clear strategy for making disciples and churches that reproduce
This really should not surprise anyone who knows Baptist mission history. This is exactly the pattern we see in William Carey, Adoniram Judson, Lottie Moon, and a great host of other missionaries who changed their world.
Most of the journey to this effectiveness has to take place once the missionary lands in their country of ministry. This is one reason the IMB considers the first three years on the field as an apprenticeship. New missionaries must make visible progress in adaptation, language fluency, local relationships, and ministry in the target language in order to be invited to serve after the initial three years. When I was overseeing a large number of new missionaries overseas, it became evident that we could see their pattern of progress by the 18th month after arrival. We could then either encourage them to keep going as they were or to increase the focus and pace of their cross-cultural development. Gaining the skills we were looking for mostly involved dedication to get out to learn and use the local language in ministry.
Churches are generally not very good at coaching this process – some hear the frustration and offer options to come home or to support them without pressure to become effective. Churches should encourage their missionaries, but with a focus to keep working towards greater effectiveness.
The mission team can be very important in this process by modeling, providing guidance, and encouraging the apprentice missionary. We should admire those who meet the pattern of long-term effectiveness without the help of a mission team, because it is rare. Our own IMB has more experience in helping this process than any mission agency in the world, although our ability to do so took a terrible hit during the loss of hundreds of veteran missionary coaches during the Voluntary Retirement Initiative in 2015-16.
Here are some suggestions for how you can assist in the development of effective long-term missionaries.
- Teach and pray about God’s purpose for the nations and a particular call to missions.
- Encourage and pray for missionaries sent out from your church to be faithful in the work of becoming effective long-term.
- Don’t offer quick and easy ways of escape when your missionaries complain about the difficulty of learning language and culture shock.
- Honor those who persevere in their overseas mission ministry, because over time some churches lose interest in those who have served for many years. Those later years are the most likely to bear the greatest fruit.
- Find one or more of the several thousand IMB veteran missionaries and ask them what your church can do to assist them in accomplishing the Great Commission.
Don Dent is an Emeritus IMB missionary and Senior Professor of Missions at Gateway Seminary. He studied at Mississippi College, GGBTS with Baker James Cauthen, and Malaysia Baptist Theo. Seminary where he earned the Doctor of Missiology with Mark Terry. His daughter, Chesed, and son, Rob, both work to extend missions to the nations. He is the author of The Ongoing Role of Apostles in Missions and the recently published Finding Direction to Redeem the Nations. Don loves reading non-fiction, hunting, and since moving in 2023 to MS from CA is looking for an alternative to kayak shark fishing in the Pacific.