29
Term Paper
On
The Life and Work of the Missionary
By
Dean Shinaver
This is to fulfill a course of Introduction to Missionary Life and Work, MS6303A
Dr. Demar Elam, Amridge University, Fall 2010, Master Degree in Divinity, October 15, 20110
Table of Content
Introduction 3
What is mission? 4
What kind of support does the missionary need? 9
Missionaries need to have good teamwork. 11
The challenging of communication for the missionary 15
Things those missionaries need to know 24
Bibliography 29
Introduction
In this term paper I will talk about the Life and work of missionary. Being a missionary is not easy. It’s a special calling in the person’s life. I believe that there is a lot of need for missionaries. They need a lot of support through out prayer, financial and understanding from their family and friends. Missionaries need to understand a lot of things and getting ready before they leave to the mission field. I have concentrate on a lot of different topics in this paper such as what is mission?, and things that missionaries need to know to be able to communicate to the local people. Mission and the work of mission is very big responsibility. The one that called by God to be a missionary need to seek God’s face, and really pray that God will lead and guide them step-by-step. Missionaries need a lot of prayer from all of us. We need to pray for them daily that God will give them strength to reach out to the lost world.
1. What is mission?
In the Bible has told us about how Jesus wants His disciples and all the believers to go to the world, and tell the people about the salvation. Before His ascension to heaven, Jesus, with hands outstretched in blessing His disciples, gave them their commission: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Jesus wants all the sinners to repent from their sins. Repentance of sin was to be preached in His name among all nations, but the work was to begin at Jerusalem. He wants His chosen people to be saving from their sins. Before going out into new fields of labor, the Disciples of Christ were to give the message to their own people. This is called home missions were to receive their first attention. Wherever the people of God are placed, in the crowded cities, in the villages, or among the country byways, there is a home mission field, for which their Lord’s commission lays a responsibility upon them. Sometimes, we focus only on the foreign countries than our own. But mission means sharing the gospel to the people in our own country as well. Missionaries are to take up the duty that lies nearest. First of all is the work in the family; next they should seek to win their neighbors to Christ, and to bring before them the great truths of this time. In the Bible said that we have to love our neighbors as you love yourself. With the patience and love of Jesus, watch for opportunities to do them a kindness. As we are the missionary and doing the mission work, we need to live a godly life to be a good example to the neighbors.
The ultimate purpose of this mission is a life-long commitment to serve the Lord and the churches in different countries. “"Certainly, there is a need for many different ministries here at home, but we are oftentimes complacent and blinded to them by the busyness of our lives and the idols of this world," says team member Wendell Martens. "Stepping out of our comfort zone and visiting people so obviously in need can do nothing less than to compel us to act.”[1]
As it said in the Bible that “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matt. 28:19). We accept this great commission of Jesus to all the believers. Missionaries consider themselves emissaries of the Lord in proclaiming his message.
We see that people who are called in the first generation of the Church, married men frequently were called to be missionaries, and they left wives and families for an indeterminate length of time. In recent decades, the majority of missionaries have been young men and women who serve about two years both short and long term missions.
Currently, the Church calls as missionaries, on a voluntary, temporary basis, single men from the ages of nineteen to twenty-six, single women twenty-one years and older, and older married couples with no dependent children. Missionary service is coordinated with military service as required. There are many kinds and many different calling in the missionary’s lives. As the Church has expanded, more and more missionaries have been called. Approximately 76 percent currently are young men, 18 percent are women, and 7 percent are couples. The number of retired couples accepting calls to serve missions is increasing, with many couples serving more than one mission. When a person feel like they called by God to be a missionary. They need to attend the classes for the missionary. I think that parents are also encouraged to teach children basic nutrition, health care, and homemaking skills that are essential for missionary service. Missionaries may be called to serve in nearby states or countries or anywhere in the world where there is an established mission of the Church. I believe that companionship is one of the most pervasive aspects of missionary life: a missionary never labors alone. Although it can sometimes be a challenge, it usually leads to lifelong friendships. For missionary couples, it typically leads to an enhanced marriage relationship. If missionaries are serving where they are learning another language, they spend time each day in language study. They also are encouraged to keep journals and exercise regularly. Missionaries spend most of their time finding receptive people and teaching them the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.. A lot of missionary develop an interest in the Church and its teachings from media programs, street displays, pamphlets, or from simply seeing missionaries and inquiring about their background and purpose. When missionaries have time between teaching appointments, they often go door to door through a neighborhood asking those at home if they would be interested in learning more about the Church. I have been a missionary in Thailand and Korea for three years. I have done a lot of ESL (English as a second language). I have work with high school students. I have leaded the youth group of our Thai church to house-to-house evangelist. I have also developed the program at the market places. We do a lot of dramas and songs to the people who buy food at the market places. I believe that it is a very effective way to share the gospel to people.
Missionaries work closely with local Church members, teaching people in their homes, speaking in ward or branch meetings about the importance of missionary work and on other gospel themes, and participating in social and athletic functions when their duties allow. Church members are often grateful to have the missionaries in their homes as role models for their children, while missionaries appreciate an hour of relaxation, home cooking. As I have learned in my own Missionaries travel on foot, by public transportation, by bicycle, or in mission cars or based on the distances missionaries must travel and other circumstances. In Thailand and Korea, I have traveled by a bus, motorcycle, and taxi a lot. Sometimes, I have a church member take me places.
Almost every missionary experiences a test of faith and courage. The experience of telling people that one represents Jesus Christ and has a message that will change their lives forever leads to solemn introspection, earnest prayer, and continual study. While some missionaries have already moved through this process, others find that they must spend many hours in prayer and scripture study before they receive a testimony.
After several months of service, missionaries become proficient in teaching the gospel, and more effective in bearing testimony of its truth. If they are speaking a foreign language, they accommodate to its dialects. I have taken some Thai and Korean classes to be able to communicate to the people. But it has been very challenging to me, because I am not really good with learning the language. The people know I have tried a lot to speak the language. I believe that if I can speak the language I can communicate Christ to the people more. One missionary may be called to organize and preside over a branch of the Church. Another may not do formal missionary work but be called to serve the needs of underprivileged people as a Welfare worker or to teach English and cultural information to refugees awaiting resettlement. Other missionaries may be placed in charge of the finances or other business of the mission and do direct missionary work only in the evenings. Older missionaries are sometimes called to serve in temples as ordinance workers. The tasks of a missionary often are traumatic. Missionaries may experience cultural shock, language barriers, health problems, personality adjustments, hostility, and sometimes-severe persecution. Yet missionaries are, for the most part, dedicated, enthusiastic, and faithful, and later may describe their service as “the best two years” of their lives to that time. Often missionaries continue their association with a foreign country or language through their choice of a college major or profession.
The ultimate goal of missionary work in the Church is to invite all the inhabitants of the earth to come unto Christ, through personal testimony. People throughout the world respond differently to the gospel message. Some quickly accept the message and within a few days or weeks request baptism into the Church. For others, it may be more difficult to leave past traditions, overcome social pressure, or break personal habits to conform to gospel standards. Occasionally, political and economic pressures countermand the inclination to conversion. Others simply feel no need for religion. Missionaries develop Christlike love for those they teach about the Church and for the people in the area where they serve. Hudson Taylor was a great missionary to China. He also founded the China Inland Mission. This mission was established on the principle of faith. No direct solicitation for funds was ever to be made. This means that the missionaries were to look to God and not to men for their financial support. They were to depend not on men, but on God alone to meet every need (see Philippians 4:19). Also none of the workers was guaranteed any fixed salary. “Christian colleges and universities are filled with a diverse body of students and faculty who are dedicated to the great commission (Matt. 28:19-20) and to the greatest commandments (Matt. 22:37-40). Many in this diverse group eventually will find themselves operating in the global marketplace, perhaps the last great frontier of missions. Functioning effectively in this arena will require a holistic view of mission, with a focus not only on evangelism, but also on economic development.”[2]
The missionary was to trust God whether the funds came in or whether funds did not come in. The early missionaries learned that "those who trust God Wholly find Him Wholly true" He never disappoints those who put their trust in Him.
2. What kind of support does the missionary need?
Missionaries need a lot of prayer support. Prayer is a vital part of missions. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught us the importance of prayer (Matthew 9:36-38). We see that wherever missionaries have gone the Bible has gone with them They need a lot of us to pray for them. They fight a lot overseas spiritually, financially and physically. Some missionaries called to translate the Bible into the native language. They need a lot of wisdom. We need to pray that God will give them wisdom to translate the Bible with the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of Bible Translation has always been one of the great labors of missionaries. The people must have the Bible and they must have the Bible in their own language. William Carey, the father of modern missions, translated the Bible (in whole or in part) into at least 26 Indian languages. It is hard to see how one man could have done all this work without the prayer of the beleivers.
Adoniram Judson translated the whole Bible into the Bermese language so that those
We can start our prayer meeting especially for the missionaries. If possible, plan times for or friends or family to get together and pray for the missionareis. We have to understand that the mission is not just a trip to see another countries. But it’s a commandment from Jesus Himself (Matthew 28). When Jesus gives us the Great Commission in Matthew 28, he means it. And it’s not something that we should be fearful of, but instead desire to be invested in world-wide, in our hometown, and across the states. This is something that needs to be communicated to every believer. As followers of Christ, our lives are suppose to be missions-focused. Jesus’ last words before ascending were the Great Commission or that, in Acts, Peter tells us to go into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The greatest adventure we could ever ask for is based on missions. We have to pray for the missionaries that go overseas and tell those that have never heard the name of Jesus about him. We can also pray for the missionaries who serves in our own contry as well. We can also invite our coworker to church. Feed the homeless. Donate our time, energy, love, compassion, service, and especially our heart to pray for the lost souls and the missionaries. After all, Jesus commanded us to go. Jesus commanded us to tell. Jesus commanded us to share. Peoples Church is called to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and the beliefs of the evangelical Christian faith, to maintain the worship of God, and to inspire in all persons a love for Christ, a passion for righteousness, and a consciousness of their duties to God and their fellow human beings. It is not easy to be a missionary. They pledge their lives to Christ and covenant with each other to demonstrate His Spirit through worship, witnessing, and ministry to the needs of the people of this church and the community both in their own country and other countries God called them to be.