From ancient times it was God's plan that Jesus the Messiah should suffer and rise from the dead (Psalm 2, 16), and that salvation through him should be proclaimed to all nations (Lk. 24:46-47; see Isa. 11:10; Amos 9:11-12). Before ascending to the Father, Jesus commissioned his chosen apostles that "having gone" (literally) into the whole world, they were to herald the gospel message to all creation, thus making disciples of all nations (Mk. 16:15; Matt. 28:19). The apostles were to baptize believers then teach them in turn all that Jesus had commanded themselves (Matt. 28:20; Mk. 16:16).
In God's sovereign plan and power, he specially called Paul and entrusted him with the gospel for the nations just as he had entrusted the same gospel to Peter for the Jews (Gal. 2:7-9). During the first century, the message of life in Christ spread from Jewish Jerusalem to racially mixed Samaria to the ends of the inhabited world (Book of Acts; Col. 1:6, 23). During the centuries that followed, the gospel light dimmed within some people groups and cultures, and in other places it completely went out. Persecution occasionally played a part in this setback. More often it resulted from gradual apathy and lukewarmness among Christian believers, or from "Christian" success resulting in accommodation to the unchristian world and the loss of Christian commitment, lifestyle and witness.
Through the centuries, God seemingly has graced special people with a generic gift of apostleship, people whom he called and sent as gospel pioneers and church planters in places where spiritual darkness ruled and where Christ was not known (Eph. 4:11). These ministries included that of Ulfilus to what is now Romania (A.D. 300), Frumentius to Ethiopia (A.D. 328), Patrick to Ireland (A.D. 432), Augustine to England (A.D. 596), Nestorian monks from Asia Minor and Persia to China (A.D. 635) and Cyril and Methodius to the Slavs (A.D. 869). During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the discovery and exploration of the New World by Europeans saw the introduction of Roman Catholicism throughout the Western Hemisphere, a missionary effort often marred by a distorted message and unchristian methods.
The 18th and 19th centuries witnessed the beginnings of the modern missionary movement which saw the gospel spread through the committed labors of such men as David Brainerd (among Native Americans), William Carey (India), Adoniram Judson (Burma), David Livingstone (present-day Malawi), J. Hudson Taylor (China), Horace Underwood (Korea) and Samuel Zwemer (Arabia). Among 20th century missionaries were my maternal grandparents, Will and Delia Short, who carried the gospel to present-day Zambia in the 1920's and served in Africa for the next 60 years. They were overlapped and followed in Africa by several of my uncles and aunts, cousins, my mother and one of my brothers.
When I was growing up, missionaries from around the world regularly ate at our table or slept in our house. Our local church, for which my father preached without salary, spent half its budget on missions. During our 37 years of marriage, Sara Faye and I have been privileged to contribute to missionary works of various kinds in countries around the world. Missionaries from a variety of Christian groups are among gracEmail subscribers today, dedicated men and women engaged in apostolic and evangelistic light-bearing and church planting. From the first century until the present, those who "went out for the sake of the Name," serving God faithfully and sacrificially in hard places, have been worthy of our admiration and support (3 John 7-8).
It was never God's plan for Christian converts to remain forever dependent on apostles or missionaries who brought the gospel to them from afar. Those taught by the apostles were to teach others, who were to teach still others, extending the living chain of Christian discipleship down through time (2 Tim. 2:2). Maturity in Christ is the constant goal, in self-sustaining faith communities whose direction, power and growth comes from Jesus the universal and ever-living head (Eph. 1:15-23; 4:14-16). Such faith-communities are authenticated by their reception of the gospel (1 Thes. 1:5, 9-10; 2:13), their patient suffering (Phil. 1:27-30; 1 Thes. 1:6-7; 2:14) and their own sounding forth (literally "echoing out") to their neighbors the good news of Jesus Christ that has come to them (1 Thes. 1:8).
Satan is crafty, however, and he always seeks to distort God's good work. Sometimes he attacks new converts, sometimes those who traveled from distant lands to bring the gospel to them. Faithful foreign missionaries will be first to say that unfaithful ones sometimes seek their own glory and personal agenda, exploit their converts and advance sectarian or denominational goals above the cause of Christ. Unfaithful foreign missionaries sometimes manifest a condescending spirit to those they should serve instead. Misguided sponsors and supporters of foreign missionaries sometime think in imperialistic terms about underprivileged peoples and operate out of an attitude of spiritual neo-colonialism. Such attitudes are contrary to the spirit of Christ and both hinder and dishonor his cause. They also are inconsistent with the realities of history. The gospel did not originate with the West. Jesus was neither British nor American.
On the other hand, converts in underdeveloped countries are particularly susceptible to the enticements of foreign financial support, sometimes "shopping" among foreign missions agencies or denominations for the most lucrative relationship. The existence of some unfaithful missionaries should never blind us to the far greater number of faithful, dedicated men and women who leave the comforts of family and homeland to share Christ in difficult places. Nor should the vulnerabilities or misdeeds of some unfaithful converts keep us from acknowledging and appreciating those many other converts throughout the world who by openly trusting in Jesus invite personal, social and financial ruin and sometimes risk earthly life itself.
It is right to support all who faithfully proclaim the gospel, whether they be westerners sent to foreign countries or national converts working in their own native lands (1 Cor. 9:7-10; 3 John 7-8). In either case, those supported should be accountable and those supporting should be prudent. It is right for converts to learn to support those who teach them (Gal. 6:6-7) -- a virtue sometimes best exemplified by the poorest of the poor. Having been taught the gospel, it is right for converts to financially support their teachers as they leave them to take the gospel to other places still (Rom. 15:24; Phil. 2:25; 4:15-18).
Should we who are so blessed in the West support missionaries from among ourselves who go to foreign lands, or should we support faithful national converts in those lands who are approved and taught by local spiritual leaders? The choice is surely not either/or. We may resoundingly answer "Yes" to both parts. Whom do Asians and Africans respect more highly and hear more readily -- foreign missionaries from the West or their own countrymen? Both, I am told, at different times and places and under varying circumstances. Western missionaries are sometimes far more effective where local tribal rivalries prevail. Native missionaries usually have greater success in countries marked by strong nationalistic feelings or an anti-foreign spirit. Again flexibility must be the key.
Is it better to invest financial support in American or British (or New Zealander or other) missionaries who are thoroughly trained and well-equipped for the task? Sometimes the answer is "Yes." Is it better to invest mission dollars in faithful and proven national workers who already are there, know the language and culture and identify immediately with their own people? Again the answer is sometimes "Yes."
We all believe that the gospel is intended for every person and surely we can agree that those who have never heard it have a higher claim on our attention and prayer than those who, surrounded by a Christian witness, ignore it every day. It is clear from Scripture that we depend on God; he does not depend on us. He, not we, will make his kingdom succeed. We are privileged to work with God but we are clay pots and nothing more. Let us be open, flexible and balanced as we seek to do his will. Let us join with God where we see him at work. And let us learn always to say, when the day is done: "Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen."
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