TOO VALUABLE TO LOSE: What Does a Good Long-Term Missionary Look Like?
STATEMENT
A good long-term missionary is someone who is elder- or deacon-qualified*, who joyfully submits to the oversight of a local church, and whose ongoing service contributes to the work of planting or strengthening churches in a cross-cultural context. (*1 Peter 5:1-5, Titus 1:6-9, 1 Timothy 3:1-13)
Article Written by Daniel Spandler-DavisonMy six-year-old son was about to have the first surgery of his life. It wasn’t serious, but it was still nerve-wracking. Taking your son to hospital knowing that in a few hours he would be alone, under anesthetic, and hooked up to machines is enough to cause any parent a measure of anxiety, especially when that hospital is a foreign hospital in a foreign land.
My anxiety that morning was further compounded by a text I received just as we were leaving. The wife of a missionary couple serving in a neighboring country had been staying in our city for a few weeks. She sent me an urgent message: “Call Jake immediately.” Was he in danger? Had he fallen morally? Was he hurt? What made the text so alarming was that this couple knew we were on our way to the hospital. They knew what we had going on that day! And yet, in the midst of our family crises, they launched a flare into the sky calling out for help.
Jake and I met a few hours later in the lobby of the hospital, and it was clear he was not doing well. In fact, he was having some kind of mental breakdown. He and his wife had been through trauma after trauma that had never been dealt with and Jake needed help. The cry for help went up to us because they had been attending our church. But I was not Jake’s pastor. I could wrap my arms around this wounded brother, give advice, and offer prayer, but I had no authority. Their relationship with their sending church was distant, their team was scattered, and they had never submitted themselves to the care and oversight of a field church. Jake and his wife ended up having to return home after years of language learning and building relational capital. I still have hope that those years won’t be wasted, but still, it’s a tragedy.
This tragedy played out over and over again on the mission field. Good missionaries have to leave the field because of a lack of adequate oversight and support. Conversely, there are missionaries who remain on the field while contributing little to the missionary enterprise.
God’s design for the church, both local and global, is to use blunt and weak instruments to build it. The reality is every missionary is still a broken human being, in need of spiritual care and oversight and often prone to wander. Good missionaries need good churches! Missionaries are not a special category of Christian who no longer need the ordinary means of grace.
The beginning, means, and end of the Great Commission is the local church, and yet there are countless missionaries and sending churches who are confused about the role of the church in missions. Men and women are sent out, in some cases supported for decades, without any oversight or meaningful care provided by a sending or field church. They are engaged in good works that have little to do with building the body of Christ.
The Great Commission was given by Jesus, and it is a commission rooted in the local church.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:16–20
Jesus has the authority to make disciples. Using His authority, He has commanded his followers to go and make disciples of all nations. This command has no geographical limits; it applies to all nations. This command also has no expiration date. Jesus says we will be engaged in the task of making disciples of all nations until the end of the age. This is as long-term as it gets! We know the command is deeply rooted in the church because we are told not only to evangelize but also to baptize and to teach. The scope of the command implies a long-term and intentional effort.
All Christians are tasked with making disciples of all nations. All means all. Some Christians will be given a special assignment to go and make disciples among a particular people and culture that is not their own. This is not an assignment that can be carried out in a few weeks. It’s a long-term, often whole-life commitment. A good long-term missionary is one who has been sent to cross a linguistic and cultural border and commits a significant period of his or her life, if not all, to the task of doing the noble work of building, planting, and strengthening the church of Jesus Christ. The task of identifying, sending, and supporting long-term career missionaries is one that must be handled with great care and diligence.
Because Jesus has authority over the church, we should use the resources of the church, both financial and personnel, in such a way that displays our submission to His leadership. We cannot be flippant. Valuable resources have too often been misused. Unqualified, untested, or unsuitable men and women have been sent. Those who have been sent are often not adequately supported. The work of their hands, albeit good, is sometimes not strategic. So tragedies like Jake and his family get played out over and over again.
Before he or she is a missionary, a missionary is a member of a local church. That church ought to have discipled, taught, and loved this member. In fact, their love for this member should be so great that it truly pains them to see them go. They have seen his or her desire for the unreached. They have witnessed a heart of evangelism. They see a godly and humble character. But the question is, how do they know if this eager member with a strong burden to go to the nations, is indeed qualified to be a long-term missionary? How does a church know who ought to be sent and supported over the long-term?
So, the first question to ask is, what qualifications ought a long-term missionary to possess?
A Long-Term Missionary Ought to Be Elder- or Deacon-Qualified
Although “missionary” is not in and of itself a biblical office, the missionary task is entirely concerned with the local church. Missionaries are sent out by a local church to plant local cross-cultural churches. If the church is the beginning and the end of the missionary enterprise, then the qualifications of a missionary should be rooted in God’s design for the church and assessed by a church.
There are just two biblical offices of the church: elders and deacons. The qualifications of elder and deacon are clearly laid out in scripture in Titus 1:5–9 and 1 Timothy 3:8–13. Since these two offices are concerned with the proper care and shepherding of God’s church, then career missionaries should at least possess these biblical qualifications even if they are never formally recognized as an elder or a deacon. A long-term, career missionary (LTCM) should be elder/deacon qualified because he will be carrying out officer-like functions during his ministry on the field.
Going into the world involves not only making disciples and baptizing them, but also teaching them all things that Jesus has commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). Teaching is foundational both to planting and to strengthening local churches. The breadth of this teaching responsibility (all things) requires someone who is able both to teach sound doctrine and refute error (Titus 1:9). Through the teaching of God’s Word, the missionary will direct believers in what they are to believe and how they are to live. This indicates that such a person is leading with elder-like authority, and thus he should meet the qualifications of an elder.
The work of planting and strengthening churches also includes the need for management skill. The LTCM will have to lead people through the process of trusting in Christ, baptism, covenanting together as a church, functioning as members in the church, and much more. The skill of management is requisite of elders (1 Tim. 3:4–5), indicating that an LTCM ought to be elder-qualified.
The work of planting and strengthening churches also involves being an example for others to imitate (1 Pet. 5:3). The LTCM must be above reproach (1 Tim. 3:2), an example of Christ-likeness, through which others can learn how to live a life pleasing to God (2 Tim. 3:10; 1 Cor. 11:1; Heb. 13:7). Through example, the LTCM wins the respect of those he serves.
Certainly, some missionaries are not engaged in regular public teaching. Some serve in a support role. These personnel might be assigned the critical task of managing the many temporal affairs of mission work, such as visa support, ensuring the team is compliant with government regulations, and ministry logistics. In 1 Timothy 3:12, Paul states that deacons are to show the ability to manage their own households well. This is because deacons manage the temporal matters of the church. Deacons ensure that everything is done decently and in order and in such a way that the teaching of God’s Word is not hindered but advanced. Long-term career missionary support personnel will normally need to make similar contributions, so they should have the same gifting and exhibit the same qualifications as deacons.
Regardless of one’s view on women deacons, women missionaries should also fit the qualifications of deacons as they will be engaging in appropriate ministry as noted in Titus 2:3–5. They will teach women what is good and train younger women how to live. They will also assist the men in many of their labors.
However, merely possessing qualifications is not sufficient. Someone could appear to be qualified, but if those qualifications have never been tested, then those charged with sending men and women out as missionaries could be setting them up for failure. Long-term career missionaries ought to have real pre-field experience as elders or deacons or, at the very least, to have received substantial mentoring before they are sent. Serving overseas, especially with the added pressure of learning a new language and culture, puts missionaries in high-pressure situations. If a missionary has never been tested when he or she has a strong support network, then they could face unexpected failure on the field.
Personal experience in ministry helps in the evaluation process of a potential missionary. The sending church should have a high degree of confidence in the persons sent out; ministry in the home is invaluable in making such an assessment as to a missionary candidate’s potential for long term fruitfulness.
A Long-Term Missionary Ought to Live in Joyful Submission to a Local Church
A LTCM should also be in joyful submission to a local church. There will be times when this local church is their sending church, but the hope is the local church offering primary oversight and care is one in their field of service. Unfortunately, there are many today who call themselves missionaries, serving in hard places, but for whatever reason have never truly submitted themselves to a church either on the field or a sending church.
I have one such friend who has labored tirelessly for decades among one of the least reached peoples on the planet. He deeply loves the gospel and his zeal for Christ and the lost is commendable. In fact, I have learned a great deal from him, and his ministry has greatly increased my faith in a Big God. He has given up much for the sake of the lost. Unfortunately, he has lived his entire missionary career without ever knowing the joy of submitting to a local church, and there is no church that exists today as a result of his many years of service. His labors were tireless, but not strategic.
Furthermore, I would argue that his own spiritual growth was stunted as a result of never having submitted to a local church. In fact, when tragedy struck and he had to return home, there was no church to receive him. No church to care for him. And he now spends his days, with no home and no savings, living in a men’s shelter in a large North American city. I do not believe this man is merely living out the consequences of his disobedience to submit to a local church. He is living out the consequences of the disobedience of local churches to adequately care for and teach him.
LTCMs should joyfully submit to a local church for their own joy, for their own protection, and for the integrity of their gospel witness. If an LTCM fails to joyfully submit to a local church, they are communicating that they do not need the church, and therefore the church is optional. An unwillingness to submit to a local church is completely incompatible with being a missionary. Paul was an apostle, and yet even he models this. In Acts 13:1–3, it was the church in Antioch who decided to set Paul and Barnabas apart. Furthermore, throughout his epistles, Paul shows a deep love for the local church and a joyful submission to it.
Missionaries are fallen and fallible and susceptible to deception. They are capable of falling into grievous sin. They need the church, just like every Christian needs the church. Accordingly, missionaries need to be known and cared for by a local church so that their service on the field can be sustained for as long as possible.
Another couple I met, in the country in which I used to serve, had to return home after many years of ministering in a hard place. Their marriage had completely disintegrated. Their family imploded. Two young children witnessed their parents’ marriage fall apart and their home being taken from them. I’m convinced this trauma could have been avoided if this couple had joyfully submitted themselves to a local church. Sadly, their sending church never insisted on it.
The missionary endeavor is not an individual pursuit. It’s entrusted to the church.
Long-Term Missionaries Ought to Contribute to Planting or Strengthening Churches
So what should a LTCM do?
There are many noble services Christians can provide in cross-cultural situations. But missionaries are there to plant and strengthen churches in cross-cultural contexts. That should be the focus of his work. Once there are churches in an area and they have reached a certain level of maturity, there is still need for interdependence with other churches, including churches from other cultures and nations. However, the service of the “missionary” in that particular place is no longer necessary. This should be a cause for celebration.
There are times when missionaries stay too long and create an unhealthy dependence that inhibits an indigenous church’s growth. The missionary’s job description is not tied to a place or a people group. There will always be other people and places that will be well served by their wealth of experience and well-honed gifts. Therefore, an LTCM needs to be ready to move on when the time comes. Again we see this modeled in Scripture as Paul moved to new frontiers after he had planted churches and ensured they were in order and well shepherded. As he wrote to the church at Rome, “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation” (Romans 15:20).
Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, and Titus are clear examples of those who were set apart and sent out. All four men were elder-qualified. Wherever we see these men serving we see them doing so in joyful submission to a local church. They were very much servants of the church. After their first missionary journey, for example, Paul and Silas returned to Antioch. The tasks they were chiefly engaged were explicitly commanded by Christ: go, make disciples, baptize, and teach.
Timothy is both a product of Paul’s missionary endeavor as well as his co-laborer. Acts 16 states that Timothy was a disciple known by the believers in Lystra and Iconium. He was sent out by them to join Paul and Silas in their missionary efforts. Again, we see a man who was known, loved, and thought well of by the community of believers, so he was sent out and supported by them. Later, Paul instructed Timothy to remain in Ephesus to teach and shepherd the disciples there.
Timothy’s endeavors were always tethered to the local church. In Timothy, we see the model long-term career missionary. He’s biblically qualified, tested, and joyfully submitted to and serving the local church. He also bears much fruit. May our churches send out and support many such servants, for the glory of God and the joy of the nations.
