We Should Be Selective about the Missionaries We Support
If you’ve been in church for a while, you’ve probably heard pastors rant about lazy missionaries who hardly even go soul winning while here in the United States. If a missionary won’t win souls here, he probably won’t do it somewhere else either. The first qualification for a missionary is that he be sent out and trained in a local church. The second is that he must demonstrate the ability to preach and evangelize while serving locally. We are all for supporting missionaries that we can trust to be productive on the mission field, but churches definitely need to be selective in the area of missions.
“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” 1 Corinthians 4:2
“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2
We Should Send Missionaries to Receptive Areas
Our church prefers to concentrate more on receptive areas, which I believe is biblical:
“And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.” Acts 13:49-51
“And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.” Luke 9:5
The Bible clearly teaches that if people aren’t interested, you move on. Instead of going to a country where your church has to be underground, you could get more people saved by going to a receptive area where it is legal to preach. In some countries missionaries practice lifestyle evangelism for months before they feel like it is even safe to bring up the gospel. I understand the value of one soul, but what about the value of many more souls?
Reach Foreign Immigrants
Another way to reach people in areas that don’t have much freedom, is by giving the gospel to immigrants from those countries. I can take you soul winning in areas of Phoenix, Arizona, where you’ll feel like you’re in Africa, the Middle East, or China. By reaching immigrants with the gospel, you could indirectly reach their family members overseas.
Send the Best of the Best
A missionary needs to be willing to speak out against the false religions in the area and also preach hard on sin. A foreign country isn’t the place to send someone who lacks boldness or does not have the aptitude to teach. Just like a pastor, a missionary, or evangelist as the Bible calls it, needs to be a very strong man of God.
Here’s a sermon to go with this article
7 comments:
Hey pastor Anderson,
I just wrote a blog post on a similar topic earlier (I just find that cool!)
http://godlovesblackpeople.blogspot.com.ng/2016/07/africa.html
God bless!
Sometimes supporting local missions or native missions is better. Idk if you've ever heard of gospel for asia. The man who started it is pretty awesome. I saw him speak years ago.
He gives a good argument for native missions, not that there's anything against Americans going overseas but the natives of the area have better results it seems.
Aww,I was going to write about that... :-) but also, when a church sends out a missionary without screening them, it doesn't just mean a waste of money and a failure of a mission. It has lasting effects. Here in Africa I know of large churches, each with millions of followers, started by one man and in each case they were influenced by one false preacher or one false missionary.
Dear Pastor, you are not welcome in South Africa. Please shake off the dust and move on.
Thank you for this;I want more local soul winning! In our local churches, (we had several,all of same network, about 6 years each), for so many years we hear lectures and see reports of our overseas missionaries, and my heart would ache for the ones abroad, and I was glad someone reaching out. But we in the congregation were never challenged to be trained to do such, and we thought it was for only a special chosen 'high biblical' select group that were to do this. (All the while their children neglected, spoiled and ill trained, brats actually,few made it into working for the Lord or being an example to our children locally to even behave like a Christian). And during all these years I saw so much need here, in the US. I couldn't understand why a few were 'chosen' to go and yet so much need here. The local needs were more and more being met by govt charities or non-Christian workers, volunteers. I, as a Christian, hunted for a way to 'volunteer' but it was always under the 'rules' of a secular group and usually I couldn't abide by their rules, when they became contrary to parental/Christian values. I agree totally with your statements and how you are handling overseas/US, and am glad we are able to support this as a family- We have a renewed JOY that we are seeing witnessing and training done this way. God Bless!!
Well said Pastor.
By some remarkable confluence of events, the Johannesburg soulwinning marathon comes at a time when I have been spending a lot of time studying the history of South Africa, trying to understand apartheid and white genocide in South Africa.
I learned that the Boers descended from a mix of Dutch East India Company colonists European Calvinists escaping the effects of the Catholic Inquisition. The Boers and the broader Afrikaner group venerate the Battle of Blood River where they killed over 20,000 Zulu warriors without casualties, which victory they see as a divine sign from God and celebrate on Remembrance Day. Many Afrikaner heroes and colonist events are commemorated by statues and monuments that today have become flashpoints of racial tension. South Africa is a lot like America, except that most of the land was uninhabited when the Europeans landed, so they believe they have as much legitimate claim on the land as the native Africans. Apartheid seems to have been based on the race separatism theories from the Shem, Ham and Japheth story in Genesis, which the South African Calvinists believe. Now the Black Marxists have taken over the country starting with Nelson "Lucifer" Mandela. The country is a strange and combustible mix of communism, progressivism, "queerism," evangelicalism idolatry, AIDS and shamanism, epitomized by a mongrel constitution and that is now fueling white genocide. The whites who are into idolatry seem to have been judged by God using the godless blacks.
I did not expect such virulent reaction to your soulwinning trip, but it all makes sense now. Premier Hotels and Spur Restaurants also have a big business presence in my country and I am grateful that your planned soulwinning trip exposed them for what they truly are. I will be boycotting them. I would encourage Bro. Kirchway to read up on this history as I think it will be very important for his soulwinning mission strategy, given that South Africa holds huge sway over Botswana and the region especially through the SADC economic bloc.
What Bible translations are acceptable in languages other than English? Are there translations of the KJV, and if so, how are they tested for accuracy? If they are not, how does one determine whether it's an authorized translation?
"other" Sally
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