The two words for missionary are “evangelist” and “missionary.” Evangelist has in that word, preach the gospel. Missionary has in that word, mission. I’m not trying to insult your intelligence. Indulge this post. Read on.
For preach the gospel, an evangelist should preach the gospel. To do that, he must preach the actual gospel, not get professions of faith. He should be squared away on the gospel. It should be a true one. I’m not going to explain that in this post, but that is very important to me. As a pastor, I would want that as of vital importance. The evangelist should know the gospel.
As an aside, consider with me the doctrine of “spiritual warfare.” This comes from 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. I would want a missionary to do spiritual warfare, that is, pull down the strongholds in people’s minds, the ones keeping them from salvation, using the spiritual weapon, scripture. Knowing scripture better helps with spiritual warfare. I call this the skillful use of the sword after Ephesians 6:17. “Word” there is the Greek word, rhema, not logos, so it is the use of the particular passage necessary to win the spiritual battle. But I digress.
The evangelist knows the gospel and then he preaches it to everyone. I think of Matthew 13. The seed should be sown on every type of soil: hard, rocky, thorny, and good — in other words, everyone. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul wrote that some sow and some water. Sowing is the job of the evangelist. Jesus commands in Mark 16:15, preach the gospel to every creature. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think most evangelists take this part seriously.
Asking an evangelist if he will preach the gospel to every creature, I’ve found, is offensive, when asked. I stopped asking it of evangelists (missionaries), but it is still what I wanted. It is what I expect of me as a missionary.
It’s possible at this juncture, you think that one person can’t do that. I understand that thought. I know it isn’t a one man job. It should be the goal either for the one evangelist or others working with the one evangelist or trained by him. His narrative should include the gospel is being preached systematically to everyone. He’s trying to do that. I also understand the concept of the “free offer of the gospel.” Not everyone will want to hear it. It isn’t preaching it to everyone, but trying to preach it to everyone.
The second part of what I want from a missionary relates to the word “mission.” “Mission” comes from the Great Commission. What is the Great Commission? I don’t mean to sound demeaning, but most missionaries wouldn’t be able to answer that question, according to what scripture says. If I said, you don’t know what the Great Commission is, most missionaries would be offended. I don’t say that, but bear with me again here.
Matthew 28:19-20 has one verb. What is it? Could most missionaries answer that question? There is one verb and three participles. What is the verb and what are the participles? How do the participles function with relations to the verb? The verb is the Great Commission. It is an imperative. There is one command in those two verses. What is it?
It is the verb translated, “teach,” the Greek word, matheteuo, or “make disciples.” The Lord Jesus Christ with all authority both in heaven and in earth commands the church to make disciples. I say, the church, because “you” is plural. He is speaking to everyone there in that first church. Are people in churches making disciples? Do missionaries expect themselves to make disciples? How? I think many don’t have a clue. I don’t mean that in a condescending or demeaning way. If you are a missionary and you do havc a clue, then you know I don’t mean you.
I want a missionary to obey the mission. Is he a missionary if he isn’t? The imperative, “make disciples,” depends on the three participles: go, baptize, and teach. Those participles modify “make disciples.” One cannot make disciples, obey the mission, without go, baptize, and teach. “Teach” is a different Greek word than the other word “teach,” and it is the more common word. However, I often say someone hasn’t taught anything unless someone learns it. It’s not a lecture if it is teaching. Much more can be said on that. How does someone ensure someone is learning? And, therefore, someone is teaching?
These are the most basic things I wanted from missionaries. They are controversial and offensive usually. They are what I expect and want for me as a missionary. If that brings more confidence to you about what I will do, then perhaps you would support us in doing it as we start in Oregon and then later go to England, as I wrote in my last post. Someone already called. Maybe you would too.
As a pastor for thirty-three years, I wanted to reproduce what we did through a missionary (evangelist). That could be done if someone preached the gospel and fulfilled the mission. I’m going to do that, Lord-willing, if the Lord tarries and I live.
Pastor Bradenburg,
I know that this post is dealing specifically with missionaries, and what they ought to be focused on and practicing, but since missionaries are almost always a product of the church or Bible college where they were trained, I would like to mention something that I have observed in my years of visiting numerous churches on deputation and furlough as a missionary myself.
1) I have noticed that the IFB churches that were emphasizing and doing the most “soul-winning” were by far much more concerned about professions of faith than anything else, almost to the point that if there were not many professions of faith after a certain evangelistic outreach, then to them it was all in vain. I can’t tell you how many times I heard a church leader ask the group that just returned from evangelizing the following question: ‘So how many people prayed?’ Interestingly, these same churches rarely even mention repentance, and if they do, it is usually redefined as simply changing from unbelief to belief in Christ. Obviously Steven Anderson comes to mind as an aggressive “soul-winner” with a false gospel, but my wife graduated from a well-known IFB college in Florida that was, and still is known for their emphasis on soul-winning marathons and so forth, and yet the emphasis is on professions of faith more than anything else. That church is heavily connected with the Sword of the Lord, which you know is wrong on repentance, and therefore wrong on the Gospel itself. I remember one time giving a series of messages on evangelism to the people in our church, and in one of the messages I talked about the importance of preaching Law before Gospel. My wife told me that she never heard that before, which surprised me until I realized that the reason why she never heard it was because the Bible college where she was trained does not believe in that kind of evangelism. They focus on quickly giving the Gospel to people who really don’t understand why they need the Gospel. So I believe that much of what missionaries are and practice definitely goes back to the root source of the Bible College or church where they were trained.
2) The churches and missionaries that I encountered in our travels that actually held to the Biblical position on the Gospel (i.e. repentance, Lordship, and discipleship) were not as involved in evangelizing as those churches with a Sword of the Lord type position on the Gospel were. I don’t know if others have encountered this as well, but it seems like, at least to me, that the IFB churches and missionaries that are doing the most faithful evangelism (as far as actually going door to door) are the ones preaching a watered down or perverted gospel. I know that there are exceptions like yourself, and I am sure many others that I am not aware of, but the IFB churches at the forefront of evangelism are not preaching the Biblical Gospel. That is very concerning!
*Honestly, I believe the problem is that many IFB’s who have a correct position on the Gospel don’t know how to put it into practice as far as personal evangelism is concerned. Because let’s face it, it is a whole lot easier to “evangelize” someone with the ‘You are a sinner; God loves you; God has a plan for you; do you want to go to heaven?’ approach, then to preach Law before Gospel and the necessity of repentance if one is going to truly believe on Christ. The former approach can very easily be carried out in the flesh, but the latter depends upon much study, preparation, and prayer if the goal is to see actual conversions and not just professions of faith.
May the Lord bless your efforts in Oregon!
Sincerely,
Jason
Jason,
I think what you wrote is true. I would say more, but I think it is good to let your comment stand on its own. It's sad but true. Maybe I'll come back and write another post parallel to what you wrote here.