Becoming a Missionary
A lesson about how to become a missionary.
Introduction
(5:15)
Becoming a Missionary pt. 1
(4:19)
Part 2
(2:36)
Part 3
(2:33)
Part 4
(0:36)
Part 5
(3:08)
Part 6
(6:33)
Conclusion
(0:52)
As you read this lesson, be sure to hover over the the Bible verses to read them or look them up in your own copy of the Bible. When the Bible passage is longer, you need to click on “more” in the bottom right corner of the pop-up window.
Introduction
Welcome! The Bible has much to say about this interesting topic. You may find it helpful to invite a mature Christian from your church to study this topic with you. You may have a lot of questions that are not answered here. Maybe there are ideas here that seem hard to understand. Do not get overwhelmed! You can contact us with any questions that you may have. The elders of your local church can help you as well.
Remember that learning the content about this topic is helpful, but knowing the information will not truly change you. For you to benefit fully from this topic, you must…
Become born-again by securing a personal relationship with God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, through faith by grace. This information cannot change you until the Holy Spirit of God gives you a new heart that is able to apply it to your life. To begin a personal relationship with God, it is imperative to understand and believe the following:
God is separated from you, because He is good, pure, and holy. 1 John 1:5-6
You are sinful, impure, and unholy because you do not measure up to God’s holiness. Romans 3:10-12 You are a descendent of Adam and Eve who rebelled against God. Romans 5:19
Your sinfulness provokes God’s anger and separates you from Him because He is holy. Romans 5:12 As a result, you deserve to be thrown into the Lake of Fire forever. Revelation 20:14-15
God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth. Jesus is God in the flesh. He lived a sinless life. He was nailed to the cross, shed His blood, and died in your place for your sins. He was buried, rose again, and went to Heaven to prepare a place for all who believe. He will return one day for those who believe. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Only the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is enough for you to be accepted forever by God the Father the moment you believe. John 3:16 God does not accept you on the basis that you try to be a good person and do good works. Romans 4:5 He accepts you fully and forever the moment you abandon your sins and call on Jesus to save you. John 3:36
As you understand, meditate on, and believe the information presented here about this topic, you must also do what the Bible says. James 1:21-22 Only by trusting and obeying God’s Word regarding this topic will you experience the full benefits of this information. James 1:23-24 Trusting and obeying God’s Word will change you as you learn this. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 You will be happy as a result of your obedience. James 1:25
Seek and heed the advice of your church leaders regarding this topic. Hebrews 13:17
Depend upon the Holy Spirit to change you. Galatians 3:1-3 You cannot change without Him enabling you. John 15:5 He will change you in His time and way; but not apart from your faith and obedience to God’s Word. Trust Him to do His work in your heart. Philippians 2:12-13
Allow the joy that you experience from obeying God’s Word to transform how you interact with others. James 2:12-20
Character
The most important factor for someone to become a missionary (sent-one) is their character; not their skillset. 1 Timothy 3:1-3
What have you already given up in order to know Christ better?
What new habits have you developed in order to know Christ more deeply?
In what areas do you lack integrity right now?
Describe how you spend time with God each day.
Describe the relationship you have with your spouse and children.
Would people describe you as immature, prideful, angry, or selfish? Whatever weaknesses you have now will only become magnified once you serve as a missionary.
Choices
The next most important consideration for us to become missionaries (sent-ones) are the choices that we make that either enable us in or hinder us from becoming a missionary.
What lifestyle changes have you made already in order to better represent Christ to others? 1 Corinthians 9:15-27
How are you serving inside of your local church now?
How are you serving outside of your local church now?
How are you ministering the Gospel inside of your church now?
How are you ministering the Gospel outside of your church now?
Reputation
Another issue to consider is our reputation.
How would your pastor say your character and reputation compare to that of a biblical elder, deacon, or godly woman?
How would your spouse and children say your character and reputation compare to that of a biblical elder, deacon, or godly woman? 1 Timothy 3:4-5
How would your church family say your character and reputation compare to that of a biblical elder, deacon, or godly woman? 1 Timothy 3:8-13
How would your neighbor say your character and reputation compare to that of a biblical elder, deacon, or godly woman? 1 Timothy 3:6-7
Is there something about your reputation that would hinder your effectiveness as a missionary? Can this be changed? Why or why not?
Perspective
Another topic that can either hinder or encourage us to become a missionary is our perspective of ourselves.
According to your perception of yourself, how does your character and reputation compare to that of an elder, deacon, or godly woman?
What are your spiritual gifts?
How have you been using your spiritual gifts?
What character qualities do you think you lack in order to become a missionary? Can these be changed? Why or why not?
What abilities do you think you lack in order to become a missionary? Can these be changed? Why or why not?
Motivation
Another factor to consider in becoming a missionary is our motivation.
If you were to become a missionary, what would you want to do and why?
If you were to become a missionary, to whom would you want to minister and why?
If you were to become a missionary, where would you want to minister and why?
What ministry do you feel is overlooked?
Do you want to become a missionary? Why or why not?
Have you ever prayed about whether or not the Lord would want you to become a missionary? Why or why not?
Are you pursuing becoming a missionary simply because someone you respect strongly encouraged you to do so?
Would you still pursue becoming a missionary if you knew that God definitely wanted you to be one, but others you respect didn’t?
Would you still want to be a missionary if God barely met your needs? Would it be worth it to you?
What is keeping you from asking your pastor and elders if you should be a missionary?
Calling
The biggest factor that determines whether or not we should become a missionary is God’s calling.
How would you respond if God hindered you from becoming a missionary?
How would you respond if your pastor disagreed with you about becoming a missionary?
How does your spouse feel about you becoming a missionary?
To what ministry do you sense God is calling you?
In what way does God uniquely want you to minister?
What else can you do vocationally and still feel like you are doing all that God wants you to do?
What is one particular ministry that you would prefer to do as your vocation?
What ministry that you feel God wants you to do full-time is being unrealized because of your job?
Domestic Missionaries
Domestic Missionaries (Sent-Ones)
Domestic missionaries are believers commissioned by their local church to serve in another community.
Sometimes they are elders who are sent out by the church to:
teach and preach in other churches.
evangelize and making disciples in another community.
help raise up elders and deacons in order to form another church in a different community.
Sometimes they are deacons who are sent out by the church to:
assist elders in receiving and giving of funds/resources from the sending church for that elder’s ministry in a different community.
assist elders in ministering to the physical needs of those they are evangelizing and discipling.
help meet the needs of believers who are poor, widows, or orphans in another community.
Sometimes they are women who are sent out by the church to:
assist the elders and deacons who are ministering in another community.
minister to other women and children in another community.
Some domestic missionaries deliberately focus on an area in their native country that does not have a bible-believing, disciple-making local church. Some deliberately seek to evangelize and disciple or help raise up elders and deacons amongst foreigners who live within their own country. Sometimes they go to an existing church in another area to help revitalize it.
Domestic missionaries regularly evangelize as they build relationships with people of their community.
Domestic missionaries disciple those they lead to the Lord and others who were already believers in the community.
As those whom they disciple eventually mature and become qualified, they appoint elders and deacons as leaders of that local body of believers. Acts 14:19-23 Thus, that local body of believers becomes a church.
Then the domestic missionaries move on to another area to repeat the process.
Evangelists
They eagerly, joyfully, and regularly share the Gospel with strangers and friends.
They train individual believers and churches how to share the Gospel until evangelism becomes a normal part of their lives and church.
They assist missionaries and pastors in raising up qualified leaders as they disciple those they are training.
Pastors
They eagerly, joyfully, and regularly oversee a local church to ensure that the local body is healthy in its doctrine and function.
They train individual believers to be equipped to serve one another within the local church.
They raise up some leaders to serve in the same local church and others to be sent out to serve God elsewhere.
Teachers
They eagerly, joyfully, and regularly teach believers to ensure that local churches are doctrinally healthy.
They train men who can teach others sound doctrine.
Foreign Missionaries
Foreign Missionaries
Foreign missionaries are believers commissioned by their church to serve in a different country.
Sometimes they are elders who are sent out by the church to:
teach and preach in other churches.
evangelize and make disciples in another community.
help raise up elders and deacons in order to form another church in a different country.
Sometimes they are deacons who are sent out by the church to:
assist elders in receiving and giving of funds/resources from the sending church for that elder’s ministry in a different country.
assist elders in ministering to the physical needs of those they are evangelizing and discipling.
help meet the needs of believers who are poor, widows, or orphans in another country.
Sometimes they are women who are sent out by the church to:
assist the elders and deacons who are ministering in another country.
minister to other women and children in another country.
The foreign missionaries deliberately focus on an area in a country that is foreign to them that does not have a bible-believing, disciple-making local church. Many go to a people who do not speak their language. They learn the language of the people so they can minister the Gospel to them. Some deliberately seek to evangelize and disciple or help raise up elders and deacons in that foreign country. Sometimes they go to an existing church in another country to help revitalize it.
The foreign missionaries regularly evangelize in the country as they build relationships with people of that community.
Foreign missionaries disciple those they lead to the Lord and others who were already believers in the community.
As those whom they disciple mature and become qualified, they appoint elders and deacons as leaders of that local body of believers. Thus, it becomes a church.
Then the missionary moves on to another area to repeat the process.
Evangelists
They eagerly, joyfully, and regularly share the Gospel with strangers and friends in their native country and/or in other countries as the Lord leads.
They train individual believers and churches how to share the Gospel until evangelism becomes a normal part of their lives and church.
They assist church planters and pastors in raising up qualified leaders as they disciple those they train.
Pastors
They eagerly, joyfully, and regularly oversee a local church to ensure that it is healthy in its doctrine and function.
They train individual believers to be equipped to serve one another as a local church.
They raise up some leaders to serve in the same local church and others to be sent out to serve God elsewhere.
Teachers
They eagerly, joyfully, and regularly teach believers to ensure that local bodies are doctrinally healthy.
They train men who can teach others sound doctrine.
Parachurch MiSSIONARIES
Apologetics
They train believers and churches how to defend the faith.
Bible College or Seminary
They train believers how to study and minister the Bible.
Homeless
They help the homeless as they disciple them.
Widows and Orphans
They help meet the needs of widows and orphans as they disciple them.
Addiction
They help people stop addictive behaviors as they disciple them.
Counseling
They help people to deal biblically with their problems as they disciple them.
Youth Ministry
They focus on ministering to the youth as they disciple them.
Other
Spiritual Support
Missionaries need…
…the spiritual backing and oversight of a local church.
…an elder/pastor dedicated to shepherding their hearts and those of their family.
…a local church that will commission them to their particular Gospel ministry, confirming that God has indeed approved their character and mission.
…a local church to which they are accountable.
The missionary should keep the church regularly informed of their work through:
In-person updates.
Letters
Phone calls
Video chats
Social media
Expressions of gratitude
Ideally, the missionary should update them monthly about their:
Ongoing work
Needs
Struggles
Praise items
Gratitude
… an elder/pastor to whom the missionary will give an account of their spiritual wellbeing.
The missionary should keep the elder regularly informed of their spiritual wellbeing through:
In-person meetings.
Letters
Video chats
Phone calls
Social media
Expressions of gratitude
Ideally, the missionary should inform them weekly about:
What the missionary is learning about God.
What the missionary is learning about himself.
What the missionary is learning about ministry.
The missionary’s immediate family relationships with one another.
The missionary’s immediate family relationships with God.
The missionary’s immediate family relationships with those to whom they minister.
The missionary’s immediate family relationships with other ministers on their field.
The missionary family’s physical needs.
The missionary family’s spiritual struggles.
The missionary family’s blessings.
The missionary family’s dreams and ideas for the ministry.
Financial Support
Missionaries are to be supported financially. 1 Corinthians 9:1-14
God has directed that ministers are to be supported financially so they can serve.
Missionaries need God to provide for their needs through His people.
Their financial support should come from churches and individual believers.
The more believers and churches that receive their monthly reports, the more likely that they will pray for and financially support them.
Some missionaries may choose to forego financial support.
1 Corinthians 9:15-27
Sometimes the people to whom the missionary is ministering lack a good work ethic. Therefore, it might be to their benefit to see the missionary work with his own hands so they can learn from his good work ethic.
Sometimes the people the missionary serves may think that they own him or are somehow earning their salvation by financially supporting him. Therefore, it might be best for them if the missionary does not receive financial support from them.
Sometimes the people the missionary serves may think that the missionary is charging them to hear the Gospel. Therefore, it might be best for them and the missionary that he does not receive financial support from them.
Sometimes working in the community may give the missionary a deeper relationship with the people in his field. Therefore, it might be best for the sake of the ministry for him to work among them for some time in order to build rapport.
Sometimes earning an extra income (that does not hinder him from doing the work of the ministry) may allow the missionary to support other ministries financially.
Additional Thoughts:
Raising financial support:
The missionary must realize that any support that he receives is ultimately from God. He is truly only depending upon Him, not man, to provide for him.
With his needs fully met, he can invest more of his time, energy, and focus into the work of the ministry.
The missionary’s financial support can come in the form of monthly or one-time financial donations. Support can also come through material supply; such as food, clothing, shelter, etc.
If God called the missionary to ministry, then the responsibility of the his provision is God’s. If God expects the missionary to work for Him, then He will provide what the missionary needs to serve Him in that way.
The missionary must pray to and trust God to provide for his needs so that he can minister for Him without distraction.
The worker is worthy of his wages. If the missionary faithfully works for the Lord in the ministry to which he is called, then he is worthy to be fully supported. If the missionary is lazy in the ministry, then he deserves the wages of a lazy worker.
Ministry is God’s work.
God calls all believers and churches to partner with Him in His ministry.
We are commanded to contribute our time, energy, prayers, efforts, resources, and finances to God’s ministry.
Some believers (missionaries) are called specifically to be the mouth, hands, or feet of God on the mission field.
Other believers are called specifically to ensure that missionaries can minister on the field without distraction.
God knows who He will call to serve as a missionary, but since we do not know, we pray.
God knows which believers and churches He we will call to support the missionary to enable ministry to continue on the field without distraction. We do not know which believers and churches they will be, so we pray.
When a missionary commits to serve on the mission field, he is partnering with God in His work.
When a believer or church commits to financially support a missionary, the believer or church is partnering with God.
God’s work on His mission field is about God and what He desires to do. God’s work on His mission field is not about the missionary or the believers/churches that support him.
Support-raising is like evangelism.
People will not believe the Gospel unless they hear it. Only God can move their hearts to believe the Gospel once they hear it from us. We don’t know who will believe it or when, but we do know that some will. When we do not share the Gospel with people, we are robbing them of an opportunity to respond to it. We invite people to respond to the Gospel, but we cannot force them to accept it. We entrust their response to God. It’s been said that about 1 of every 10 people will allow us to share the Gospel with them. Generally speaking, about 1 of 10 who hear the Gospel from us will believe it. The more we share the Gospel, the more opportunity for a positive response.
Churches and individual believers will not support a missionary financially unless they know that he is one. They will not know that he is serving the Lord unless he tells them. They need to know his ministry and its needs. We do not know who will support him or when, but we do know that some will. When he does not share his ministry and needs with believers/churches, then he is robbing them of an opportunity to partner with him. The missionary invites believers/churches to partner with him in ministry, but he cannot make them do it. He entrusts their response to God. Generally speaking, about 1 of 4 who hear from him about his needs will partner with him. The more he shares with more believers/churches, the more opportunity for more believers/churches to respond favorably.
The missionary should calculate how much financial support he needs to raise and how many believers and/or churches he will need to reach in order to obtain full financial support.
Questions for reflection:
Do you believe it is right for a missionary to be fully financially supported for the work of the ministry? Why or why not?
If you were a missionary, would you believe it is right for you to be fully financially supported for the work of the ministry? Why or why not?
What better quality ministry work and how much more ministry could you do if you were fully financially supported as a missionary?
Is the fruit of you fully devoting your attention to the ministry worth the hard work of raising support?
Have you considered devoting 3-6 months solely to focusing on support-raising so that you can be fully supported sooner rather than later?
Will you still serve God as a missionary even if the support does not come in to your liking or timetable? 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
How are you showing your spouse and children that God provides for those who serve Him?
Will your children want to serve God as missionaries based upon your example?
What would be more beneficial to the ministry to which God has called you: being fully financially supported or working another job alongside your ministry work? Why or why not?
REPRESENTING CHRIST in Our Missionary Work
We do not exist simply to live for ourselves. We were created to represent God.
When we minister for God on the mission field, it is not primarily about us, or the people to whom we are ministering. It is about God being represented well in our ministry work. His reputation is on the line, because we represent Him.
God wants us to enjoy fellowship with Him. We must demonstrate the importance of enjoying fellowship with God together by our mission work.
As we make it a priority to minister regularly and biblically for God on the mission field, we will become more like Christ, and we will be represent Christ well in our mission work.
Sharing the Gospel shines a light on our lives. As we minister with integrity, we won’t be tempted to shrink back from sharing the Gospel with others.
Doing everything we can to minister for God on the mission field gives us boldness in our faith. This boldness enables us to be transparent with anyone, letting other believers into our lives and enabling us to disciple them as well.
We must let God’s reputation and love for people motivate us to grow in our ability to minister for Him on the mission field.
The love of Christ is enough to motivate us to prioritize ministering for God on the mission field.
Conclusion
Now that you have studied this topic, we encourage you to...
Ask us or any of your church leaders about any questions or concerns you still have about this topic.
Pray for yourself to grow in maturity regarding this topic.
Do your best to practice what you have learned.
Tell someone else about what you have studied.
Ask one of your church leaders to help you overcome your weaknesses regarding this topic.
Teach this subject to others.
Consider reviewing this topic once each year.
Commit to growing in this area together with other members of a local church.
Trust the Holy Spirit to change you as He uses His Word, others, and circumstances to make you more like Christ.