I probably should explain why the ranting questions.
I am, and always have been, an independent fundamental Baptist. (If it helps you, you can add King James there for clarity if you need.) My father was a IFB church planter and I grew up soul winning every week, was a bus captain as a teenager, and never saw my mother wear a pair of “trousers” until she was basically on her death bed in the hospital some twelve years after my father had passed away.
I say these things not to shame anyone or brag but to make it clear that I know a little about ministry standards and feel they are important enough to define even in the church that I currently pastor. Our church believes in soul winning, conservative music, tithing required for leaders to serve, dress standards for those serving in the church, and we even preach against divorce from our pulpit. But I am a little confused as to where some preachers seem to draw the line of accountability regarding mission’s giving.
Let me explain further…
Recently I was speaking to two separate missionaries who were facing the same task - missionary questionnaires. One was being asked questions that totaled over a dozen pages and seemingly covered everything from doctrine to habits. The second was asked about his personal witnessing habits and exact total of souls won by him in recent days. Now mind you, neither one of these men were bitter or angry and neither was refusing to do their diligence to honor the request. They were, of course, being told that they MUST answer the questions for support to continue.
Now from the pastor’s point of view there is a need for stewardship. I get that as you should have seen in the first paragraph of this post. I also understand that mission’s dollars are becoming increasing scarce in some places and thus the need to be extra vigilant about their usage is absolutely necessary. The phrase “most for your money” clearly comes to mind here.
I also would never want to stand before God, as a pastor, and have Him say that I allowed a doctrinally unsound missionary to remain on the field preaching heresy or leading people astray. We are clearly warned again and again about wolves getting into the sheep. Also no man should continue to receive missionary finances when they have no desire for the lost to be saved.
But from the missionary’s point of view I also see a few things too and that’s the reason for the article. So, pastors, please be kind and think about what I am writing. It is for the missionary’s benefit and for the pastor’s long term well being.
First, pastor, before you send a missionary any questionnaire ask yourself this question - what if my ministry was judged the way I am judging this missionary? Now mind you, I am NOT talking about doctrine as that should be clearly established. But what about the issues you want the missionary to address?
Personal standards:
As an example, my daughter has a college friend who was raised on the foreign missions field. The friend’s missionary father was sent a questionnaire by a church which asked “What kind of clothes does your wife wear to bed?” Now it may have seemed reasonable to the person who sent it, as dress and modesty are crucial in any ministry, but my question, pastor, is this a fair question for you to answer? Would you be willing to tell another man what your wife wears to bed? Is it any of his business?
Ministry practices?
As I mentioned earlier, one of the missionaries I spoke with this week was asked about how many souls he had personally won recently and how many hours of soul winning did he do each week? My Bible says, someone sows, someone else waters, but God gives the increase.
Now before you react to that, let’s think about some other spiritual qualities that God also requires from His servants, such as, prayer. In my years of ministry, I have seen many missionary questionaries and to the best of my knowledge NONE have ever asked how many hours do you spend in prayer? But lots that have asked about souls won.
I have NEVER heard of a missionary questionnaire that asked how many tears have you shed for your field? But many churches want to know how many tracts have you given out this week.
I cannot recall any church asking each of the missionaries they support about how much time do you spend building your marriage? Yet, they want to know the exact number of baptisms last year.
Now, don’t get me wrong….I BELIEVE IN WINNING SOULS! But I would assume that most pastors would be distressed if their deacons or treasurer came to them and said, “Pastor, before we write you another check, we need to have the exact number of folks you lead to Christ last week, so that we can decide if you are doing your job effectively.”
And that is exactly what pastors are doing when they ask about how many souls a missionary has “won?” They are deciding whether they meet a judgment standard or ministry qualifications. If you question my judgment call here, then ask yourself what the reaction would be if the missionary said it had been many months since someone had been saved in their work? Even if immediate discontinuance of support did not immediately happen, there would be great hesitance to continue. That’s why the question was asked in the first place!
But we must remember the missionaries are NOT where we are and they are NOT us.
If you want to know whether a missionary is effectively trying to win souls or baptize enough converts, go work with him for a while and see for yourself. His field is not your field and his ministry is not your ministry. We cannot judge another man’s ministry based upon our own experiences.
Second, as a pastor, you know that time is precious. You know that you should not waste it on things that are frivolous or pointless. So it is for the missionary. When you ask them questions, be brief in your forms or better yet, call them and talk to them man to man.
As I stated earlier of the missionary who received over twelve pages to fill out and return within one week! What a waste of the man of God’s time!
But even better than writing or calling…send yourself!
Let me explain further…
About every year, I go to a different mission field. Most of the time it is with a missionary we support. This is so that I can see first hand where our money is being invested and how to pray for that missionary.
Now I know for some this is not possible or practical, but there is a larger point to be made.
Ten years ago, over a dozen of our members, including my then 10 year old daughter, went to Quebec for a missions trip. While there we painted their building, put thousands of John and Romans into homes, preached through an interpreter, hung their new chandeliers in the auditorium, and painted almost their entire building. We did what every mission’s team does! Right? Well…..
Six years ago, our church went to Scotland to work in the church plant of our missionary there. We “stuffed” each mail box in the village with literature, preached a family conference, sang at every opportunity given us, and did some general construction work around the missionary’s work. But sadly, we were informed that in almost 15 years in the British Isles, no other group had ever come to actually DO missions work with them. But surely that’s an isolated event, right?
Four years ago I, with a team from our church, went to England to work with “our” missionary who had been on that field for over 25 years. We passed out literature door to door, preached and sang in their services, as well as worked in their church’s outreach ministry for Eastern Europe. But once again, we found that in the 25 years they were there, many groups had visited them but NONE had actually done any work for the ministry there. These groups used them as a hotel and called it a missions trip.
And again last year, we traveled to Brazil and the same story was true. We painted, preached, decorated for and cooked the meal for the mission’s church Sweetheart Dinner. But once again, in over 17 years in Brazil, only one other group had come with the intent to actually do mission’s work!
How can we judge a missionary by a questionnaire? How can we simply expect them to know our heart and we know their heart if we never connect on their field and in their work? Yet how many churches do not receive the written answers they looked for and another missionary has support dropped?
Finally let me say that the best way to help a missionary is to encourage them, not critique them. The number one reason missionaries leave the field is because of interpersonal relationship problems, IE marriage issues, cultural differences with the nationals, or difficulties with other missionaries. Wouldn’t it be better to salvage the needy and support the faithful missionaries already on the field instead of having to replace them?
Also if you feel you must send a missionary questionnaire, do it through the sending/home church of the missionary and allow that church and pastor to be involved in the process.
I have been the home pastor of several missionaries down through the years and have only once or twice been contacted by supporting pastors with questions about the work those missionaries are doing. And to me that is the saddest part of this article. For a group that claims to be so local church IFB churches and pastors rarely use the “chain of command” when it comes to our mission’s support. Instead we put the burden on the missionary. Why not do the biblical thing and talk to his pastor first?
Just a couple simple thoughts from a simple minded preacher.
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