The Sing! Hymnal
The Sing! Hymnal
How the Local Church Can Effectively Train and Send Missionaries
Training and Sending to the Ends of the Earth
As an elder at Third Avenue Baptist Church, I love to look out over our members as we gather on Sunday morning. When we sing about the gospel going out to the ends of the earth, I especially love singing alongside those among us who aspire to take it there. These members benefit from our nearness to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but they know the most important place of preparation is our own congregation.
As the leader of a missions agency, I’m often asked how local churches can better train and send missionaries overseas. Church leader, it is your privilege and responsibility to train up and send out missionaries to declare the glory of God to those who have yet to hear the gospel. Here are three ways your local church can do it well.
1. Be intentional.
Be intentional about how you prepare aspiring missionaries and about the strategies you send them to pursue. As an elder, I’m always on the lookout for future elders—men who are already doing the work of discipling others in the congregation. A few times each year, our elders set aside part of a meeting to discuss the men we’re considering bringing before the congregation for affirmation. When a name comes up that I don’t know well, I make a point of getting time with him.
The Path to Being a Missionary
Ryan Robertson, Matt Bennett
In The Path to Being a Missionary, Ryan Robertson and Matt Bennett help readers honestly evaluate their character, convictions, and competencies to determine if missionary work is the right fit for them and the kingdom of Christ.
Your elders should bring that same intentionality to the assessment and strengthening of missionary candidates. If you notice a member who is fruitful in evangelism and active in the community, it may be worth raising your observations with your fellow elders. Many churches leave it to aspiring missionaries to identify themselves, but there is real benefit in the elders starting the conversation.
A church that lets the aspiring missionary make the first move often lets that same person decide where they’ll go and what they’ll do once there. There may be legitimate reasons to take that approach. But I’ve been most encouraged when I’ve watched pastors take the initiative on the “where” and the “what.” Fittedness for a location and a role deserves special attention. I always recommend that aspiring missionaries visit their potential field, and when possible, a pastor or two should go with them. That trip helps your church “buy in” as you see the need for a gospel witness firsthand and meet your missionary’s potential partners.
Put simply: your church will never become a faithful sending church by accident. It takes intention.
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2. Don’t outsource what you can do yourself.
Missions agencies don’t send missionaries; local churches do. So don’t outsource the assessment of your aspiring missionaries to an agency. There are many ways an agency can assist you, but the fundamental qualifications for a missionary should be assessed primarily by the local church that knows the candidate best. Take the lead in evaluating their character and competency. Every agency I’m aware of has a process for evaluating a candidate’s readiness for cross-cultural ministry—but that agency shouldn’t be asking basic character questions the elders haven’t already asked. A great place to start is your existing elder questionnaire, if you have one; adapt it for those who aspire to be sent.
Between seminaries and training programs, there are many options for specialized preparation. But your church should see them as secondary partners to your role as the primary preparer. Meaningful membership is a wonderful training ground. A member who struggles to “one another” well at home will struggle at least as much overseas. If, by God’s grace, an aspiring missionary receives your correction on those struggles and grows from it, that teachability may well commend him or her for further training.
One good way to prepare potential missionaries—while also preparing your congregation to send them—is to host a reading group. Work through missionary biographies, volumes in the new series from 9Marks on Church-Centered Missions, or the forthcoming compendium from the Great Commission Council, Global Missions: A Field Guide for the Church.
Use local ministry as a proving ground for ministry overseas. Get aspiring missionaries involved in the evangelistic outreach your church already does. If you hope to send a brother to plant or strengthen a church abroad, give him opportunities to preach in your congregation and, where possible, to sit with your elders as you shepherd together.
Once you’ve identified the gaps that will remain after your own preparation, reach out to a preferred seminary or training partner, such as Radius International or Safir. These programs work best when you send them a developed candidate—not someone still early on the path to being a missionary.
Missions agencies don’t send missionaries; local churches do.
3. Stay connected.
Communication between a church and its missionaries is a two-way responsibility, and the two failures look very different.
When a missionary stops communicating, the consequences are easy to see. Support dwindles until he has to come home to reestablish relationships and raise funds. At best, he returns to the field tired but chastened; at worst, he comes off the field for good.
When a church stops communicating, the damage is harder to spot at first but compounds over time—loneliness and a slow disconnection from the work overseas. For a missionary who is faithfully sending updates home, few things discourage missionaries like the silence of a sending church that doesn’t reciprocate.
There are several ways to stay connected. First, budget to send elders—and their wives, when possible—to visit your missionaries. I think sending an elder and his wife bears more fruit than sending two elders; an elder’s wife can be a tremendous encouragement to a woman serving overseas. Second, pray for your missionaries by name in the pastoral prayer. Our church has been blessed by this, and the Lord has used it both to encourage our workers with a flurry of texts (“we prayed for you this morning”) and to stir some of our members toward the very places we pray for. Third, when missionaries are home, give them time to update the congregation—at a prayer meeting or a special gathering—on how the work is going and how the church can pray. I notice the same members turning up for these updates, and I suspect many of them are serving overseas themselves. As your church stays connected to those you’ve sent, you’ll be amazed at how contagious those connections become as the Lord uses them to stir other hearts.
Pastor, it is both a duty and a delight to glorify the Lord by sending out some of your best to make his name known to the ends of the earth. Who will you prayerfully walk with on the path to being a missionary?
Ryan Robertson is coauthor with Matt Bennett of The Path to Being a Missionary: A Guide for the Aspiring.
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