RAISING THE STANDARDS OF MISSIONARY CARE

by Neal Pirolo

The days of the missionary as a “superstar” were never meant to happen, but mission agencies, churches, and even missionaries themselves are beginning to understand that the missions process requires a well-prepared and coordinated team of diversely skilled people. Missions is a team effort. William Taylor’s book, Too Valuable To Lose, emphasizes this point. Trying to identify the causes of missionary burnout (The shocking statistic that prompted this study showed that more than 5,000 missionaries a year were “quitting”!), a group of 453 mission agencies from 14 countries analyzed these missionaries over a three-year period. It was discovered that 29% of them quit for “reasonable” reasons: A spouse died in the field. The surviving partner felt the need to return home, etc. But this left a staggering 71% who quit for “preventable” reasons.

These reasons fell into 3 very general categories: 1) Many needed clear direction from God to go into the field. In other words, they had gone into the field when missionary work was clearly not for them; 2) Many did not have sufficient or appropriate prior training; and 3) Many did not have missionary (pastoral) care. It is to this third problem that I address this text: RAISING THE STANDARDS OF MISSIONARY CARE.

CONFIRMING THE CALL BEFORE BEING SENT:

Last Sunday I was listening to a 12-year-old girl reading a Scripture, in fact, she started to read it, but struggled with the words and never finished. It was her “confirmation” that she was supposed to go to an African nation to participate in an evangelistic crusade. “It’s going to cost $3,000.00. Can you help me?” she asked the congregation. Up to this point no one except her parents had heard of her knowledge of “God’s Will” for her. I’m not saying it wasn’t His Will, but I do ask, where was her team that spent time in fasting and prayer to hear from the Holy Spirit, “Set apart for me…?” (Acts 13:2) If Barnabas and Saul, leaders in their church, had just returned from Jerusalem filled with excitement about the far regions, and submitted themselves to the church for confirmation of their calling, why do some people believe it is not necessary today? And yet, the fields of the world are filled with people (I dare not call them missionaries; that word means “sent ones”) whose calling was never confirmed.

Again, I can’t say they didn’t hear it from God. But it sure is a valuable “safety net” to have a team of people who have committed themselves to the task of confirming the calling. It was this confirmation that served as encouragement to a missionary who was worried about his youth once he arrived in his field of service. Timothy received two encouraging letters, addressed to his support team. “Let no one despise your youth…” (12 Timothy 4:12) “Therefore I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (2 Timothy 1:6) There it is! A group of people—a team—had been involved in sending young Timothy to the Ephesian region.

PRE-FIELD TRAINING

“Oh, God called me. I don’t need any training. He’ll just tell me what to do.” I can’t count how many times I’ve heard these words from young (and not so young) enthusiastic and hopeful missionaries. One veteran missionary heard that a young, blonde, attractive woman from the church was planning to go to a nation in West Africa. His youth pastor had said to him, “Did God call you?” “Well, go! He will guide you.” Frank, the missionary, let me know that he encouraged her on several occasions to call me for training. Time passed. Finally, she called me. I thought, “Great! She can attend our next Acts 29 Training Course.” My thinking was interrupted by the reason for her call. “Yes, Frank encouraged me to call you. I am leaving tomorrow. But I have one question: ‘When I arrive, do I call the American Embassy to pick me up at the airport?’” A little extreme? Yes, but again, the fields of the world are filled with people who do not have the skills to live and minister in another culture. Where was her team, starting with a wise youth pastor, guiding her through the “minefields” of preparation? Because it is spiritual warfare, in the most intense battle of all time that our missionaries are preparing to fight.

THE “REST OF THE TEAM”

Paul, outlining the process of missions in Romans 10:13-15, spoke of the need for missionaries to ask themselves the question, “How shall they hear without someone to preach?” Clear. Simple. Easy to understand. And how we long for more people to respond to His call to go! Yet Paul did not stop with that question. He asked a further question: “And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” Why has this question been ignored? In the non-stop linear logic Paul was using, placing this question at the end was giving it the most emphasis. Yet today, the “rest of the team”—those who serve to send—are given, at best, only an afterthought. It is vital that we raise the standards of missionary care. Missionaries are too valuable to lose. By the time the missionary’s call has been confirmed, the six areas of focus that Paul the Apostle expressed as needed should be “up and running.” Experience has shown that each is as vital to missionaries today as it was to Paul two thousand years ago.

MORAL SUPPORT

Moral support comes easier to those who have the gift of encouragement. Solomon said, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11) There are some people who can see and help others see the “light at the end of the tunnel” through the darkest tunnels. This is the “Bon Voyage” crowd. Those who see things more and more from God’s perspective and are willing to express their encouragement for the courageous and daring feat of ministering in another culture. Yes, “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” (1 Samuel 30:6) But it would have been much better if a whole group had strengthened and encouraged him instead of preparing to stone him! Moral support is most successfully expressed by being diligent in the other 5 areas of care.

LOGISTICAL SUPPORT

Logistical support is necessary. The missionary should be “unburdening” himself of all the details of his daily life “in order to please Him who has chosen him as a soldier.” (2 Timothy 2:4) What to sell? What to give away? What to store? Where to store it? Who will take care of grandma? Who will be responsible for…everything? Yes, there are details and more details for the group of people with organizational skills who make up the missionary team. Quick response, attention to detail, and sound business practices are three of the characteristics necessary for the members of this team.

PRAYER SUPPORT

Prayer support is of primary importance. In fact, it is above all other considerations in missionary care. Not the “God bless our missionaries” kind of prayer. Rather, it is the effective, earnest intercessory prayer of righteous people. (See James 5:16.) This part of the team requires people who make the commitment: “Praying always for you…” (Colossians 1:3). People who know how to pray so that “in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, your requests [on behalf of the missionary] may be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6). People who know the meaning of “when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that it will not appear to men that you are fasting…” (Matthew 6:17-18). And people who know “that he would make a hedge and stand in the gap before me…” (Ezekiel 22:30). Prayer is not asking God to do something He is unwilling to do; It is to integrate and interpose in today's world God's Plan from eternity.

COMMUNICATION SUPPORT

Those who will be responsible for communication support should develop the network of various types of communication media and who will send and receive what: prayer notes and thanks to God, general newsletter, emergencies, care packages, etc. Are there restrictions on what can be sent? Shipping costs? Insurance? Customs? Confidential terminology for restricted countries? Of course the prayer support group will have priority in this network. As we want your prayers to be offered with understanding.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Oh yes, let us not forget: it will take a team of people who want to expand your Heavenly Investment Portfolio! Wow! Doesn’t that sound so much better than, “I hate the idea of ​​having to ‘raise funds’?” Or, “Here comes another missionary. All he wants is my money!” That process—raising funds—is almost as difficult as raising the dead! But, when the focus is on “investments,” it paints a completely different picture. Certainly, the gifted giver has a much easier time managing this portfolio. However, anyone who truly believes the Word, “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys…” (Matthew 6:20), should be eager to consider whether that is where God wants their investment to go. Paul charged the believers at Philippi, “having received from Epaphroditus what you sent, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.” (Philippians 4:18) We certainly want to invest in spiritual warfare at decisive moments in the battle. But that is not measured in the “number of souls saved.” Rather, it is measured by where the Spirit of God is at work.

RETURN SUPPORT

“What’s the big deal? He’s just coming home!” And if the missionary has not been well trained, his voice will echo this ignorance: “What’s the big deal? I’m just coming home!” Experience has brought to light that the return is usually the most difficult time in a missionary’s life. Return care must be “up and running” even before the missionary leaves. There is so little understanding of this area of ​​care that special training is required. Furthermore, even though one may have a two-year overseas schedule, an emergency can bring him home early. And those emergency trips home can be the most difficult. Still, the missionary may do well on his return. That does not guarantee that the next one will be as easy. Even so, each family member, as an individual, has specific needs at this time of return.

After prayer, this is the area most in need of attention and support. From the moment God is leading one’s heart to go into the mission fields of the world, through his time of confirmation, training and preparation, through his time on the field, and until he is fully integrated into his home culture at the end of his missionary career, he needs care. After their two-year journey, the believers at Antioch assisted Paul and Barnabas in the five steps of missionary needs necessary for a good return. And they were fully integrated before they went out into the field again. (Acts 15:35) The totality of this unit of care not only needs training in the required skills, but also in how to work as a team.

Part of the dilemma facing the sports industry right now is that there are so many trying to be “super stars” and they are not giving consideration to the team. The work our missionaries are involved in is of far greater consequence than any “world cup!” They are dealing with the eternal destiny of souls. Each team member needs to know how his or her piece fits into the puzzle, how to relate to the other members, how vital his or her role is, and how his or her lack of responsibility can affect the goal. And lastly, but most importantly, we must all consider our investment of time, money, prayer—whatever it may be—as a privilege. God is sovereign.

He will be “exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10) As Mordecai told Esther, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from somewhere else; but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14) And echoing through the halls of time, if you listen closely, you will hear these words of encouragement. For I believe with all my heart that each of us has been called to God’s Kingdom for times just like this. And we can respond like Esther, “and if I perish, I perish.” And like Jesus, “But you prepared a body for me; behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” (Hebrews 10:5-7) What a privilege it is to attend to our Father’s business!

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