EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN MISSIONS

Know Your Part in Bringing the Lost To Christ

By: GORETTE NAKYANGWE

Published by Gorette Nakyangwe at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Gorette Nakyangwe.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise stated.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedicated to my Lord and only saviour Jesus Christ, who painfully faced a shameful death that I might be saved and whose love and grace uphold me to this day.

Table of Contents

Introduction

CHAPTER 1- MISSIONS

CHAPTER 2- MISSIONARIES

CHAPTER 3- SHORT TERM MISSIONS

CHAPTER 4- THE CIRUCLAR PROCESS OF CHURCH PLANTING

CHAPTER 5- LONG TERM MISSIONS

CHAPTER 6- THE REALITY, Challenges of Fulltime Missionary Work.

CHAPTER 7- FAMILY AND MISSIONS

CHAPTER 8-HAVING AN EFFECTIVE LONG AND FULLTIME MISSION

CHAPTER 9- SENDER MISSIONARIES

CHAPTER 10- INTERCESSORS

CHAPTER 11- THE ROLE OF CHURCH LEADERS

CHAPTER 12- HELL IS REAL

CHAPTER 13- YOUR WORK IS NOT IN VAIN

Food for Thought

About the Author

Introduction

While so many churches have been established in so many parts of the world, there are still places in this same world where the gospel of Christ has not been preached. We praise and thank God for the revival in many countries and for the doors He has opened even in those places where Christianity was an abomination. The same God who opened those doors which were closed to the gospel will also open doors to the places where the gospel has not been preached. If we study the history of the churches in the world’s known Christian cities and nations, we realize that God did not go there physically but He through men who surrendered their everything reached these cities we are proud of today as Christian cities, some of these men of God have already finished their race and are gone to be with our Lord, awaiting their crowns of glory, so the question stands, who will go today? Who is that individual through whom God wants to bring revival to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Mozambique, Tanzania, your neighborhood, etc.?

Having gone on several short term missions and having spent some valuable time with long term and full time missionaries, I have observed a gap between the church and missionary work especially in Africa. Whereas it is God’s core mission to bring the lost back to Him, it is the ministry that has the least servants, not because there are no disciples to go out and make more but because some don’t know what exactly they can do to be part of the mission, many know but somehow they are not comfortable with this kind of work. May God help us see the need for co-operation in the ministry of reconciliation which He has entrusted to us as believers. Apart from going to the unreached areas there are so many other things a Christian can do to facilitate this work of spreading the gospel and in so doing you will have fulfilled your God given task of making disciples of all nations.

As you read this introduction you are probably scanning your mind and listing those you think will go to those places but it is also possible that at the back of your mind there is a voice saying, will you go? Will you participate?

This book spells out some truths about Christian missions and the place of every believer in expanding the Kingdom of God. It is my utmost prayer that by the end of the chapters you will be able to fix yourself into the puzzle according to the leading of the Spirit of God, and that after you have found your place you will take immediate action embarking on what you are called to do because the Lord has anointed you for that, you just need to get up and begin to walk in the light of your anointing.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 1: MISSIONS

Mission refers to an assignment, a charge, a task, a duty, an operation.

Mission in the Christian perspective refers to an assignment to preach the gospel of Christ where it has not been preached with the aim of reconciling men to God. The one who has been sent out has been commissioned.

Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the entire world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

Commissioned- Sent out to accomplish a particular task.

Commissioned- Sent out to bring back the lost into the Kingdom of God.

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power (authority in other translations) is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

By all the authority given unto Jesus, He sent us out to go and make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

A disciple of Christ is a believer, a follower, a student and a devotee to the faith and this is what He sent us out to do-to make them disciples, a missionary’s fulfillment is not only in telling people about Christ but also in seeing them become disciples.

As a means of clearing our consciences, some of us have found fulfillment in going somewhere and telling people “Christ loves you” without really teaching them the gospel truth that transforms them into Christ’s disciples, in as much as this will give us fulfillment, it is not all of what our savior sent us to do. Yes, He says if you tell them and they don’t reform it is up to them (Ezekiel 3:10,18) but reading between the lines of those verses we realize that God told Ezekiel that he was to speak to them that which God told him-THE TRUE WORD OF GOD.

Let’s take a look at Matthew 28:18-20.

ALL AUTHORITY IS GIVEN UNTO ME: Why did Jesus start with these words before he could say what he intended to?

The work of the great commission can only be accomplished with supernatural authority, although preaching and teaching of the gospel is done physically, it has much more to do with the spiritual. The souls that we expect to bring back to God are under another authority;i.e the power of the enemy, they are in another kingdom which is against the kingdom of God, and this already means that it is not a walk over getting them out of there, one has to have authority. Jesus could have commissioned the disciples before his crucifixion but he did it after the resurrection, why? Because he had to go to the enemy’s camp and take authority over him (he took the keys of hell) then he would be able to send us out. That is why at this moment he had the confidence to say that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me GO YE THEREFORE….

So from Jesus’ words we know that we don’t have to worry about the possibility of the task given unto us because we have been sent in divine authority, all other powers cannot prevail over us. This was to give us the confidence to confront the enemy and demand those souls that he is holding in bondage.

GO YE THEREFORE…Jesus did not beg his disciples to go but he commanded them to, because he had spent years training them in this ministry, it was now time to go and accomplish the objectives of the training.

AND TEACH ALL NATIONS…

The word teach means much more than just telling, teaching is meant to bring an impact, an understanding, in other words teaching means “to give a grounding in something”, when Jesus sent us to teach all nations, he meant that we are to give them a grounding in all things that He commanded. Note that this time round He said; go teach ALL NATIONS while before His death and resurrection He sent them to the lost sheep of Israel, here He shows us that the Gospel is for all, as it has reached you who is not an Israelite by birth but have become one by adoption therefore teach others too so they can also be adopted into the body where Christ is the head.

BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT…

So many years into my salvation I didn’t really understand the depth of the phrase which many of us use to summarize our prayers, “…in Jesus’ name we pray” I thought we say it because Christ said whatever we ask in His name we shall receive and I realize it is a common phrase even to those who are not born again, until one time when I realized that there was a deeper revelation in that phrase. I won’t talk much about baptism here but we all know that on the surface baptism symbolizes that we have died and risen with Christ. Usually when we are baptized we are given names by which we are identified. Being baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit means that we now have identification in this family, we are adopted into the family of God and so we can boldly ask anything in the name of Jesus because we have an attachment to that name through our faith and Baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Let’s take this illustration; a man by the names of John Steven gives birth to 3 sons, he adopts another son and names him after himself, after 70 years John dies and his property is to be divided amongst his children, a young man from nowhere appears claiming some of the property and he is asked in whose name are you claiming this property? We know only four sons of John Steven and you are not one of them, what identifies you as part of this family? He has no answer and is sent off with nothing. There was nothing to show that he was part of the family.

We can only ask in the name of Jesus if we have been adopted into that family, baptism is a symbol of adoption and baptism of the Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee of our inheritance in Christ.

When we pray to the Father, it is like there is a question…in whose name do you come to me? Then we say in the name of Jesus we ask or pray, now if Jesus doesn’t recognize us, however much we ask in His name we are wasting our time because we have no inheritance with Him. So Jesus said, if one has believed, baptize him in my name and that of my Father and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is by water and by the Spirit. The word of God says Jesus came by water and blood.1John 5:6, 8. The Spirit, the water and the blood go together according to the scriptures and therefore the need for baptism.

I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD

This is to show that Christ’s command was not only to the disciples but also to those who would become disciples after them…US. It is also a clear encouragement that Jesus is with us in this work of spreading the good news about Him.

Why Missions?

Asking yourself what the big deal is about missions, is it such a crucial matter that I have a part to play? Let’s find out;

Because of Love.

The work of missions is God’s initiation which He accomplishes through His disciples. Love is the basis of missions, because He loved us he had to do whatever it takes to restore the relationship he had with mankind even when it cost Him his only son. That is LOVE.

When you truly love someone you would want them to be happy all the time and you don’t wish them anything bad, you could even sacrifice your joy for theirs. This is what the Father did when He gave His Son for us to be saved. It is what Jesus did when He died that shameful death.

Take some time to meditate upon these verses;

1John3:16 hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Now after you have deeply and prayerfully meditated on the above verses, think of the people in this world that you so love and you are sure you love them, it could be your mother, father, siblings, husband, wife, friends, you know better.

Do you usually express your love to them? Do you tell them that you love them?

Are there any among them that don’t have Christ as their Lord and savior?

If yes how do you feel about their life and what would become of it if Jesus returned at this hour you are reading this page? What would happen to them? Would you want them to get saved through tribulation or by grace?

Will you have the guts to tell them “I love you” while they burn in hell and you enjoy in heaven. Will you?

Will they believe you when you say you loved them or will they blame you? Whatever they will choose it will be too late.

Think of what it can cost you to tell them about Christ and pay that price to express your true love to your loved ones. God the Father thought of the cost of reconciling us to Himself, it was very high, but because He LOVED us, He decided to launch the mission, to painfully pay the price, Jesus went through a very tough time but He LOVED us and endured the cross for our sake, I cannot compare the price that paid for my sins to anything in this world. Check this out;

Matthew 26:37 and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Matthew 26:38 then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

Matthew 26:39And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Mathew 26:42He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

Matthew 26:44 and he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Luke_22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

It wasn’t easy for Jesus, he did it anyway. In the same way His word tells us that we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Let love compel us to do the unthinkable for the sake of the spread of the Gospel. Paul says this;

2Corinthians_5:14 for the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

2Corinthians_5:18 and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

In verse 14 some translations say ‘the love of Christ compels us’.

If you have friends who are not on board to heaven and you have not directed them to Christ in any way possible then it is time you did something about it. I personally wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to go through the fires of hell, how much more my friends and family. The funny bit is that it is even harder sometimes to minister to those closest to us, that’s how the enemy is managing to hold our loved ones in bondage because we don’t have the guts to talk to them about the gospel but yet God is saying I have put these around you so that you can be an example, you are the letter for them to read. I remember when in college I had friends who I loved but found it hard to tell them about Christ, I decided to pray for them on a serious note and also chip in a word or two once in a while, God surprised me when later these people turned to Him, it taught me a lot about standing in the gap for sinners and trusting God for the redemption of their souls. What God did was to raise people who talked to these friends of mine and when they heard the gospel they believed. Glory to God.

BECAUSE OF LOVE WE DO MISSIONS. IT IS THE GREATEST LOVE YOU CAN EVER SHOW TO THE WORLD, SHOWING THEM THE LIGHT.

Why Missions?

Because they won’t Believe Unless they Hear.

When God created man, He loved him and wanted a relationship with him; this relationship was broken when man went against the will and commandments of God. Sin separated man from God.

Genesis 3:23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Genesis 3:24So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

But because of God’s love and mercies, he sought for a way of reconciling man to himself and this was through the sacrificial lamb Jesus Christ through whose blood we are saved, born again and reconciled to our Father in heaven. All those who call upon His name, believe in Him, and accept that He died for their sins are reconciled to Him.

Romans 10:9 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Romans 10:10 for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Now the question comes. How can one believe in him? How can one really know and prove that the gospel is real and that he/she needs it? This is where missions come in.

Romans 10:13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Now that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, he left us who are now disciples to take his Word around to those that are not yet disciples so that when they hear, they will believe for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

From God’s word we see that it is a believer’s responsibility to bring souls to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin.

John 20:21 then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

The only way that a man can be saved from sin and its consequences which is death (Romans 6:23) is by believing and following the gospel of Christ and the only way the gospel can reach that man is when Christians will do away with fear and all other barriers and boldly preach the Word, Paul says;

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

And Jeremiah says;

Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

That is why we should not be afraid of what to say but feed ourselves with the true Word and go out and spread it because it in itself is the Power of God unto salvation for them who believe it. And believe me when the Word of God richly dwells in the heart, with the power of the Holy Spirit upon you, you will not keep it to yourself. You will feel a burning desire within you to share that word.

Why Missions?

To Show Our Obedience to Our Saviour

Doing missions shows how obedient we are to Christ’s command in Matthew 28.

The gospel has to reach all ends of the earth before the end comes, it can only reach there when it is taken. Some people wish Christ’s second coming would be now, they are tired of the troubles of this world, but how can that be when we haven’t stepped out of our doors to go to the next town or let’s say to the next door to take the good news, good news is to be shared, just like the joy of a new born baby in a family is spread throughout the neighbourhood so should be the good news of the saving gospel. I know Christians who can take off time to go to their neighbours to gossip for hours but cannot spare an hour to tell the gospel, it is absurd.

Up to today there are people groups that don’t know anything about Jesus Christ, you may not believe it but there are places where the name Jesus has never been heard of, if you go there today you will meet people who will ask you “who is that you are talking about, is he contesting for presidency or what? Why are you telling us about him?”. It is our task as the church to reach out to these groups.

Ezekiel 3:10Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.

Ezekiel 3:11 And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

Ezekiel 3:17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

Ezekiel 3:18When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Ezekiel 3:19 yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Ezekiel 3:20Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Ezekiel 3:21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

Preference is up to us- I would choose to deliver my soul than have their blood required at my hand, what about you my friend?

Back to Top

CHAPTER 2: MISSIONARIES

Who is a Missionary?

A missionary is one who has been sent on the mission. The missionary is also a disciple, in order to fulfill the great commission you have to be one of the disciples; you have to belong to the Kingdom of God so that you can be able to tell others about Christ who is the King in this Kingdom. From the definition of the word missionary, we are all missionaries because we have all been sent out. Jesus said.. “as the Father sent me, so I send you”.

Back in the days we Africans knew missionaries to be white people, as long as they were not African and came to Africa to do some religious activities, build schools and hospitals, such were referred to as missionaries.

According to the word of God, all Christ’s followers are missionaries, white, black, red, coloured, name it. We are all members of one body. I have a friend who once amazed me as we talked about the power of the blood, he said there is a strong secret in the blood, whether black, red or white we all poses red blood, we may be different in many other ways but you can never find another colour of real blood unless it has gone bad or dead, all blood is red and the blood of Jesus brings us together Jew and gentile. We have all been sent out to accomplish the mission of bringing men to God, the difference comes in the specific assignments each has been given. Every believer is part of the new covenant that was sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood which was shed to reconcile man to God-this is the ultimate goal of the ministry-to reconcile.

Now the word of God says in

Ephesians 4:11-12And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

And in Romans;

Romans 12:5-8 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

This shows us that though one body, we have different tasks. Even in mission work we may have different tasks but all aimed at the same final goal- Making disciples. God gave us these gifts not to puff us up but to use for the building of His Kingdom so when we use them rightly, we honour Him and bring glory to Him.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 3: SHORT TERM MISSIONS

Short term missions are carried out within a short time span say a week, two, three, a month or some months where an individual, a couple or group of people set out to an unreached people group* (A tribe or group of people without an indigenous church of their own) with the aim of preaching the gospel of Christ, in some instances with the aim of establishing a church in that area (bringing the indigenous people of the area to church).

A short term mission can also be aimed at encouraging the believers and missionaries in an area, this is when an individual or group of people set out to an unreached group which is already in the church planting cycle with a purpose of encouraging the saints and preaching to those that have not yet heard the gospel in that same place.

A short term mission can also be aimed at surveying the land with future prospects of bringing the saving gospel to that area. This is when an individual or group of people visit(s) an unreached area to find out some information that will be helpful in their preparations for the gospel preaching in that area. Some of the important information they gather is:

The people groups in the area (tribes, languages, culture)

Religions and beliefs in the area

If there are any believers or churches and whether they are indigenous or not. This will help in establishing the category of the area whether it is reached or unreached or in the process of being reached. It is important to find out this information because then the missionaries will know where to start with their mission.

The transport system, is it by road throughout or water or air?

Accommodation facilities and utilities (water, electricity- this will help in organizing PA systems if necessary).

Attitude of the natives towards Christianity-helps in seeking the right wisdom while reaching these people. Some believers say that they have shared in the sufferings of Christ when they are chased with machetes and stoned by the natives, well good as it might sound, sometimes this happens because of not acting in wisdom (Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.) though we can’t rule it out, even when we have acted in wisdom we can still be attacked. When you have done a proper survey and preached wisely but yet still stoned then we can say that you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ like Stephen did (Acts 7) and as Christ warned in Matthew 10:17-20 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

The man of peace,

Matthew 10:11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.

As strangers the missionaries will need to identify someone from that community who will receive them when they come for the mission and one who is for them, in some places there might not even be found one man of peace, in such cases the missionaries will have to depend on the authorities for any help they might need. In as much it might sound hard because some leaders don’t want to hear anything to do with the gospel of Christ, with God all things are possible. He says, the hearts of kings are in his hands and he leads them like a stream of water, how much more a local council leader, God can give you favour before such.

Literacy level of the people (Helps in preparing preaching and teaching aids) No need of going with tracts to a village where no one knows how to read. You cannot air an English video where people don’t understand the language. You need to know all these in that short term mission.

How to Have an Effective Short Term Mission

We can call a short term mission effective if its outcomes are disciples of Christ and it can also be called effective if the good news has reached the ears of the unreached, the word of God is sharper than a double edged sword, it not only hits the ears but goes deep into the soul, though they may not respond immediately if the truth has been adequately taught the fruits will one day be evident. Paul said 1Cor 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. And somewhere else he said, “they have not all obeyed the gospel”, so we may not see all the listeners coming forward to receive Christ, this should not be a discouragement.

We may not be able to conclude that a mission has been successful right after the last day of the mission because short term missions also have long term outcomes, which may even take years, someone can turn to Christ upon meditation on the word he heard a year ago. But all in all any mission is successful if it literally fulfills the objectives of the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20.

Preparation:

The work of bringing people to Christ can also be called WINNING souls, the word winning is always used where there is competition, or a battle of some sort, if you are going for any competition and aspire to win, you will definitely have to prepare, as far as missions are concerned, the competition is between God’s kingdom which wants the soul to be saved and the devils kingdom which wants the soul to perish, the two are fighting for the same soul, the devil is canning and strategic that’s why Jesus while training and thus preparing his soldiers, the disciples, he also asked them to be wise, He told them about the nature of the other party, he said he was sending them as sheep in the midst of wolves therefore they should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves but before that he had said they should go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel meaning he was sending them to the children of God who had left the Kingdom and joined another kingdom whose people are of a different nature, there was no way they could receive them with joy and so Jesus gave His disciples prior warning, take a survey through Matthew 10: 5-32 for a clearer picture of what kind of last minute preparation Jesus gave His disciples for He had already spent much time before that giving them an in-depth preparation. The enemy thoroughly prepares himself once he knows that some people are planning to evade his kingdom, and that’s why there is always opposition in one way or another in trying to reach out. This competition calls for thorough preparation.

When you think of going for a short term mission, think of what is necessary both physically and spiritually.

Spiritual preparation: Prayer

Seeking God’s approval, asking God about where to go.

There are two different cases:

God speaks to us in many ways and He also does different things in many different ways, somehow one may get information about an unreached area or even find himself in an unreached area unknowingly and there God begins to use him/her to start up a mission of reaching that area. I remember one day on a bus from Morogoro-Tanzania where I had gone for a one day seminar, I was praying and meditating on mission work and out of the blue I got this heavy burden for the Mtwara region, one of the unreached regions in Tanzania, I had heard about the place but I had never been there, since I did not know much about the place I decided to continue asking God what exactly He meant by laying it on my heart. The more I prayed the more the burden increased and I knew that I had to pay a visit to Mtwara. I had never been there before though I had heard lots about the place, it is one of the places many people wouldn’t want to identify with because of its low class and development level. I know Christians who turned down job offers to Mtwara claiming the place was too remote and they would be behind development curtains if they accepted the job offers. This is just one of the so many places that are ignored and not cared for by not only the government but even the Christians. Anyway to cut the long story short, by God’s grace I managed to get funds from friends for a short term mission to Mtwara and my mission was to visit and encourage the labourers in that place and to also get to know more about the area. It is amazing what I found there, very few labourers, the lives of the people were alarming, very few churches, you could really tell that God was feeling compassion for these people groups and calling out for more labourers to come to this place.

What am trying to say is that God knows all unreached areas and he is asking “who can I send?” He can speak to us in different ways about where to go for which kind of mission. He can speak to you directly about an unreached area where He wants you to go or you could be knowing an unreached area but you will still need to confirm with Him whether to go there at that time or not to. Note that in Matthew 10 Jesus told His disciples to go to the lost sheep of Israel and He said do not go to the gentiles” not because the gentiles were not lost but He had His own reasons of sending them to the house of Israel that particular time. We see something similar to the point I am trying to bring home when we read Acts: 16:7-10, where Paul and other believers were going to Mysia but the Spirit of God did not allow them, instead God wanted them to go preach in Macedonia. It is important to know what God’s will is at a particular time. Even as we think of going for a short term mission, we have to inquire from God if we should go or where we should go, that way our mission will be successful.

It is sometimes dangerous to go to a place where the Lord has not sent you to, in as much as God’s desire is to reach all nations, it is always a good thing to enquire from him and confirm his will before setting off.

Still under spiritual preparations, as missionaries we have to pray for God to prepare us spiritually for the mission ahead, for God to equip us with the necessary spiritual equipment, the work of winning souls is not by might or power but it is by the Spirit of God, in this case missionaries are expected to operate under the influence of the Holy Spirit’s power, meaning that it is important and mandatory that every missionary be filled with the Spirit of God and also have the power of the Spirit. POWER in simple terms is the ABILITY TO DO. So without Holy Spirit’s power it is impossible to effectively and efficiently fulfill the great commission, this is why before Christ ascended to heaven, he sent out his disciples but told them to tarry in Jerusalem until they received the POWERof the Holy Spirit, only then would they be able to witness effectively and indeed we see in the book of acts what happened right after they had received Holy Ghost power, now power can be drained as it is used and that is why we are advised to be refilled every now and then, a good soldier of the gospel has to be re-charged with Holy Ghost power every now and then to enable him do God’s work under supernatural influence, even missionaries on a full term basis have holidays (furlough) in which time they are expected to refresh in the Lord. So being filled with the Holy Spirit and his power is one of the most important steps in preparing for a mission. Without the Holy Spirit it is totally impossible.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Feeding on the Word

Equipping oneself with the Word of God, Jesus says; “and this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached..,Somewhere else God through Paul says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If we want non-believers to become believers through faith then it is mandatory to preach to them gospel truth and nothing less or more, Paul said that:

1Corinthians 2:1And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

1Corinthians 2:4-5And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God(which is the gospel-Romans 1:16). bold mine.

As a Christian, you may be blessed with a persuasive tongue, call it a marketing tongue, glory to God, but when it comes to winning souls it is not more about one’s persuading ability but about the substance of what he/she is saying, it is the word of God that builds faith in God, many of us have succeeded in bringing people to church by our own words but you can agree with me that it has not been easy to keep these same people in church simply because they did not believe in God, their faith stands in the wisdom of men as the word of God puts it. They probably confessed because of fear, some Christians intimidate non-believers to a point that someone gets afraid and just surrenders, this is not faith but fear.

It is good for the word of God to richly dwell in us (Colossians 3:16) because the mouth utters from the abundance of the heart, when we have more of the word then more of it will come out of us, going for mission means taking the word of God where it has not reached, so as we prepare to go for a mission we really have to emphasize feeding on the word of God and not only when going for mission but it should be our lifestyle. Apart from feeding on the Word, we also have to think about our approach in presenting this word to the people group we are reaching, the Spirit of God is to be our guide in all this and we have to have sharp spiritual ears and at the same time obedient hearts to be able to follow the Spirit’s leading. Many of us have the word of God in us but we don’t know how best to present it to our target group. I remember I almost left a certain congregation because of the way one man of God preached, in all his statements he was seriously condemning and judging some of us that he even made us feel like we were not part of the elect, some of my friends left. The bible says do not judge, speak the truth in love, it does not help us to sprout out in anger because people are not born again, they just don’t know the truth, let’s talk to them in love as the word urges us to. Ok some individuals may claim that they do it out of holy anger, not bad because even Jesus depicted this when his Father’s house was being made a market of sorts, the difference is; here you are talking to people who don’t even understand that the sin they are living in is a ticket to hell so explaining to them would do much better than condemning and judging them, remember none of us was born a believer, we also by grace are adopted daughters and sons. There’re times people preach the gospel and at the end of the day the sinner thinks he is totally finished, there is no hope and yet we say it is ‘the gospel of hope’, so as we preach we should have it at the back of our minds that the Word is supposed to be of hope and not a discouragement.

Enough time should be given to prayer, intercession and supplication for the mission ahead. When God sends us, he knows the place we are going to even more than the inhabitants do, in as much as we might have surveyed and gathered information about a certain area, it is also a good thing to spend quality time with God and listen to him, listen to what advice and warnings he may give, God also gives us mission approaches to specific areas and it is only through prayer that we can be able to get this information. For example God may send you to an area to do a prayer walk for a certain period of time and leave, he will guide you on which areas to touch while praying, God may send you to a mission just within the churches in a certain area, may be to teach the members about life style evangelism or to encourage the churches and so many other avenues, so it is important to seek the face of God during preparation to know what exactly God wants us to do.

I have come to learn that even the missionaries who are already in the mission fields need people to visit them and encourage them, this boosts them in the work they are doing and they become more effective, though you who has visited may think that you haven’t done any mission work yet to them it is a mega mission activity you have done because its impacts are tremendous. I remember some years back I visited a missionary family in one field and there I found another person who had also gone to visit them, while I was there I did not go about preaching instead I used to pray and a few evenings went out with the wife of the pastor who is also a missionary, in the evenings we usually visited her disciples-in-the-making. After about four days the other visitor told me, Gorette do you know that the devil is not shaken by your presence in this place? Hmmm!! That was a tough one, any way I did not respond but I knew what this person meant, his expectation of me was to go out door to door preaching or at least organize some open air crusade which I did not do, anyway I told my lady friend about it and she said that’s not true, the prayers you are sending up and the discipling we are doing in the evenings are really shaking the devil, you cannot imagine, I believed her though there was nothing so vivid but she had been on the field for years and she knew better, anyway I was encouraged because before I went there I had prayed and I knew that my mission for that period was to spend some time with the the missionaries in that area, learning from them, just spend quality time with them and I was happy to do it. Right now I can say that because of that one week I am able to write this book because it was my time of self-realization and since then I have a new mind set about the great commission.

It is not all times that a short term mission is meant for door to door or open air crusades, it could be something else but with a final goal of reaching out, so it is important to seek God and know what He is saying about your plan.

Praying for the unreached places

Mission work though done physically is a spiritual matter, we are told that though we walk in the flesh we don’t wrestle against the flesh, our weapons are not carnal but have power through God to break strongholds casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

So we have to depend on the Holy Spirit even while praying for missions, ever gone for a short term mission and all you experienced was serious opposition that you hardly reached your goal in the set time? Opposition from the masses, opposition from the leaders, opposition in the night, I mean the whole environment turning out unfavorable?

Paul often requested the churches to pray for him, that doors for the gospel would be opened in the places where he wanted to preach, he wasn’t speaking about physical town gates or village doors, but for God to make it possible in places where it was thought impossible, for God to give him favor that at least people would listen to what he had to say, For God to go with him and take over the authorities that have closed up that area, for God to provide whatever was necessary for him to reach that particular group. In the same way we too need to pray for open doors for the work of missions. Most of these unreached areas are territories of the enemy and he assumes full custody, no body just enters and takes anything, without prayer it is impossible to enter some of these territories.

The first time I went for a short term mission it did not occur to me that praying for favorable weather was that necessary after all we were going to a place known to be hot with hardly any rain during that period. But I got my lesson right on the mission field, I learnt that the devil is clever and as we do our spiritual mapping he too does his, the only difference is that God who is in us has higher authority so when all is done right we prevail. If the devil fails to stop you in one way, he will try another, he can decide to disorganize the weather, it is necessary to pray about the weather, that in all days it will be favorable for the mission activities, when it rains from morning, programs are interrupted, you may not be able to go to people’s homes if you planned door to door evangelism, if it rains in the evening you may not be able to do the open air meetings or show any videos that you may have planned. Here is my story; one evening during a mission in Kilwa, Southern coast of Tanzania, without any sign rain started falling from nowhere and it was heavy that it was disrupting the open air meeting, much as many of us thought it is a natural occurrence, one of the short term missioners raised his voice in prayer through the microphone and rebuked the rain, instantly it stopped, ministry went on and it was very powerful, that incident is so fresh in mind because I did not think the devil could go that far, I sometimes undermined the power of the devil but I have learnt that he has power though it cannot prevail over me because He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world. Someone might be wondering why I am mentioning the devil a number of times, I know it is not a pleasant thing but we have to know that nobody wants to be in bondage but the enemy is holding them there and if they had power in themselves they would escape but there is no other power that can help them than the power in the gospel of Christ. Now in order to hold them in there the enemy makes people believe that he doesn’t have much power and that being where they are is their choice and so he makes them think it is the right thing to do. So they don’t bother helping themselves out. We need to pray for them.

Still in praying for our short term mission ,remembering our target group is another good thing, we have to pray for the area we are going to take the good news to, yes God has allowed us to reach them and indeed he will use us, but this should not stop us from praying for them, I like the prayer of this singer who sang that “for our inheritance give us the lost” he prayed to God who even needs the lost the more, even us today, we ought to pray for the souls of the lost. Paul said in Rom 10:1 that “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” And he continues to explain why.

We too have reasons to pray for the lost souls we want Jesus to redeem through the gospel we are planning to take, that God will give us favor before them and that he softens their hearts to the Word, for he is the one who said he will turn their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, it is no sin to remind Him. We have to deal with the powers that have blinded them, the bible in 2Corinthians 3:14 says;

But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same Vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which Vail is done away in Christ.

We may not physically see the vail but atleast we are sure that it is there according to the Word of God. If we engage in these kinds of prayers we will be surprised at what God can do.

As one man of God prepared to go for a mission he was told that there are terrible witches in that area and that they once bewitched a man of God to an extent that he got out of his hotel room naked up to the pulpit without his notice. This was enough to put this missionary off so to spare himself the embarrassment, but what did he do? He prayed hard and took authority over the principalities that were ruling that land, it was not easy, the journey had so many hindrances but finally the mission went on successfully, people gave their lives to Christ and there was no day the missionary left his room naked!!!. With God all things are possible and there is nothing too hard for God. He says ask and I shall give you the nations.

God tells us not to be ignorant of the schemes of our adversary; if he won’t get you on the field he will look for somewhere to trap you. He can decide to attack your loved ones at home, as we pray for ourselves, for the mission and for those we are going to reach it is also important to remember those we are leaving at home, and all that belongs to us. You may find it hard to understand when you go for a short term mission only to return home to an empty house when everything has been stolen or somehow a fire caught in your absence or something worse. There is no need to rejoice in the devils revenge for the work we have done when we could have dealt with it before. If we don’t pray he will prevail over us.

As mentioned earlier most of the places we go to for mission are territories of powers of darkness, as in, they physically and spiritually reign in those places, so in as much as we do the physical survey we also need to do a spiritual mapping and deal with those powers even before we go so that by the time we go, we have already taken ground in the spiritual realm. Otherwise we may need to spend some time on ground dealing with those before we begin what took us there in the first place. You cannot plunder a strong man’s house before you bind the strong man.

Every short term mission will involve some financial preparations, God is our sole provider and so we also should trust Him for financial provision, for transport, accommodation, meals, PA systems, tracts and all that we may need for the mission to be successful.

“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.” J. Hudson Taylor.

Our God is a miracle working God; He is able to meet all our needs according to his riches in glory. Money should not limit us from taking the gospel to the unreached areas. But I can be honest with you that one of the biggest challenges facing mission work today especially in Africa is financial support to the ministry, I am not convinced that God hasn’t released this supply but I think there is a link missing somewhere. But still if we pray and act, God can do something.

As we pray for our short term mission, it will be very kind of us if we remember to mention before God the man or woman of peace. Many of the believers who live in unreached areas are careful not to insight their community in any way because this can cause them an expulsion from their homes, hosting a mission group is one of the ways in which a community can be insighted, and this may not be so comfortable for some Christians living in unreached areas though they desire to see changes in their area too. I know it sounds strange but if we could read their minds we would be able to prove, this is not the case for all of them but usually it is for those who are new in the area, some have never hosted a big mission group or sometimes the fact that they don’t know the group so well calls for a lot of wisdom on their side. It has happened in some places that some missionaries refused to join in supporting a short term mission in their area, they literally refused to be part of it although they stay right there, many times we have condemned them thinking they are not cooperative, that they are causing disunity, sometimes we have even thought that they have some personal issues with their fellow missionaries. Well though some of these allegations may be true, it is not the case for others. At times this behavior arises due to a feeling of insecurity that they get. It is important to pray for them on a serious note as we prepare to go to their areas. There are short term missionaries who went to a certain land to preach and the man of peace warned them saying it is not wise to hold open air crusades in this place and please when you go house to house avoid using the name Jesus. At the end of the day it was found out that the problem was not really the people, actually they were thirsty for the word and they were welcoming, but it was the man of peace, he had fear for his life and his family. He had never held open air crusades, he had not yet started using the name of Jesus to preach, he was still at a certain stage in his reaching out and he feared that blowing it out in one week would spoil everything. Some of the missionaries who had gone on this trip were the kind who didn’t care what the consequences would be, they continued with their plan of open air meetings and the mission was successful and no body touched the missionary family.

The same may not have worked in another place. Let’s take an example of the early church. After being filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples began witnessing from Jerusalem, they were witnessing Jesus Christ and they did everything in the name of Jesus Christ, when asked in which name they healed the man at the beautiful gate, they didn’t hesitate to say that it was in the name of Jesus, the bible says there is no other name given on earth by which men should be saved. We cannot talk of salvation without talking of Jesus. I know it might be hard in some areas and some wise Christians have devised means of introducing the gospel of Christ without mentioning the name of Jesus but I am convinced beyond the shadow of doubt that it is possible to mention the name of Jesus and have a successful mission in a place where they don’t want that name to be mentioned. Whatever is done at the end of the day salvation is through the name of Jesus therefore it will have to be mentioned at some point. The believers of the early church realized that if they were to fulfill the great commission they had to have boldness, that is why after Peter and John were told not to teach in the name of Jesus anymore, they went back to their fellows and narrated what had happened, the people lifted their voices to God in one accord and prayed that they could preach the gospel with boldness and that God would confirm his word with signs and wonders, indeed God answered them. Even Paul in his prayer requests, he asked that boldness to utter the mystery would be given him. The devil has succeeded to some extent to instill fear in Christians and convince them that they are being wise by not mentioning the name of Jesus, we all know that there is supernatural power in the name of Jesus, that at the mention of that name, even demons bow, prison gates open on their own accord, prison warders surrender through the power of that name, it would do us good and ease our missions if we use the name of Jesus because whatever is binding those souls will be shaken once it hears that name but if we decide to continue with what we call “wisdom” if it is not of God we might get frustrated because we don’t see the fruits of our work.

So as we pray for our missions it is equally important to pray for our hosts and also pray that God gives us the boldness, and do away with the fear that grips us when we meet non-believers. God says don’t fear him who can only destroy the body but fear him who can destroy both body and soul.

All in all the Holy Spirit will lead us into the right prayers for the short term mission.

Walk your Talk

As Christians we are expected to live holy and exemplary lives, even as we think of going for mission we ought to get right with God and walk according to his commandments. The bible says sin separates us from God, he dwells in a holy place, the last thing you want is to go to a mission field without God, it is a battle ground, and it takes God to win this battle. Keeping ourselves in the presence of God at all times is a good thing as we prepare for a mission, but it is best if it becomes our life style to seek and stay in the Lord’s presence all the time, Paul said he keeps his body under subjection lest after preaching to others he is left behind(1Corinthians 9:27).

In as much as we want God to use us to bring others to Him we should give him a chance to work in us too, to transform us and make us better witnesses so that our walk goes hand in hand with our talk, actually non-believers do more watching than listening, you tell them you are a Christian they will wait to see it in your walk and this is bible; “you will know them by their fruits”. Even though it is a short term mission, it is a good thing to live a worthwhile life in the few days you will be there and afterwards because we live in a dynamic world. You will preach to someone today, tomorrow he/she will be in your town for whatever reasons and somehow you may get to meet in another circle, so if you are the kind that are holy on ground, your work may be in vain because this person ends up getting confused. I have a good friend of mine who once told me a story of a young man who belonged to our fellowship at college, apparently this friend of mine visited a restaurant in the evening tending to night and there was this brother having a cozy “good time” with a certain lady in a corner, my friend watched for a while as he continued with what had brought him. It so happened that they met at the exit of the restaurant and the brother greeted with the usual “praise the Lord brother” and my friend responded with “Praise him for what?” he told me he wasn’t pleased with the example this man of God was setting that’s why he gave such a response. What I am trying to say is that our life style as missionaries whether short term or long term has a big say in achieving a successful mission. I was a good short term missionary while in college and even after, I still am though I have spent some time now without visiting a mission field. I struggled with keeping the standard, there were times I felt I was washing and spreading in the dust because of the way I lived my life at times, there were times I wasn’t a good example and this always ate me up and yes I knew my life was a letter wherever I was.

Further Preparation

As we prepare ourselves spiritually we also have to think of how to reach and survive in the mission field, this calls for further preparation, yes we have already prayed for provision as discussed earlier but it is good to source funds and organize for the mission early enough because last moment preparations bring about tension. If a good prior survey was done, then the kind of transport to be used will be known and prior organization should be done.

The leaders have to put in place means of getting to the place, if it is the kind where you need to take a boat or canoe like Rufigi, Tanzania the leaders have to communicate with their hosts to prepare for them the canoes or boats according to their number and a place on the shore where the vehicles will be safe till the end of the mission. Transport costs to and fro have to be put into consideration. As said earlier, if it is of God He will provide no matter how far the place may be. I experienced a miracle one time when I was responsible for the mission funds, we went to the mission field on a deficit and were sure didn’t have return money, a brother who had stayed behind promised to send us some money that would help us pay for our return journey, but to my surprise after calculating the mission expenditures I had money that was more than enough for the transport back even though the other brother had not sent us yet, up to this day I don’t know where that money came from. God works miracles but this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t prepare ourselves financially.

If it is a group there is need to identify leaders in the different departments that will be at the mission fields, the good thing about doing this while at home is that it helps in saving time on the mission field and it also gives someone time to consider if they are ok with the task they are given plus time to prepare if necessary. We see what happened with the early church when they had not thought of some ministries as important; the ladies started complaining and they had to appoint leaders, leaders are needed in every area to avoid any misunderstandings. As we know that there is more to preaching the word on a mission, some people need special prayers, some need food, some need clothes, all these things need attendants depending on how you planned your mission activities. For example it is good to appoint the preachers and teachers in case of open air and video, the people who will manage the PA systems, those who will be in the kitchen, time managers, alms suppliers, etc. according to the setting of the mission.

Following-up the Converts

It is good to discuss the follow up methods before you go for the mission though these can change after the mission, in some places some people may need to stay behind right after the mission, to teach and nurture the new converts, if this will be the case these should be identified earlier so that they prepare themselves for the extra days.

I remember a time some missionary friends went to an unreached area for mission, the mission was good, and many people gave their lives to Christ. After the mission everyone went back to his and her home. They planned a follow up after some months which they did, on reaching the place, the people blamed the missionaries for leaving them desolate, they left them with no one to take care of them spiritually and yet this was a place that did not have a single church. What happened is that no one had prepared to stay there after their mission days, this shows that they did not prepare well and they probably did not do a good survey before setting off to come to find out who would take care of the converts since there were no churches at all.

Missionaries must impart to their converts the spirit of missions that brought them as missionaries, or they will forge dead-end links in God’s chain of purpose. Any Christian or any church that is not missionary is out of the will of God. Non missionary churches are too immature to think beyond their own needs to the needs of others, are ignorant of God’s purpose, or are disobedient to their Lord. (Biblical Basis of missions-Avery T. Willis).

Mission Tools

In choosing mission tools, the target group MUST be put into consideration, you may not need fliers or tracts in an area where 99% are illiterate even if you have translated them to their language, they won’t be able to read them anyway, find out about their best means of communication and learning methods, if they are the kind that enjoy drama, prepare something for them to be reached through drama, if they learn through storytelling, use this opportunity to tell the story of Jesus, etc., identify with their interests and use them to preach to them the good news.

Seminars

Having anointed experienced people to teach us about missions before we set off to go is also a good thing. Some of the people in the group may not know what to expect, how to behave on a mission field and what mission is all about, but if seminars are held before the mission this information will be passed on and it will be helpful while on the field. Time should be spared for some seminars for the missionaries themselves while at home.

On the Mission Field

On a short term mission, our conduct also matters in the camp, and wherever we are conducting the mission. In Colossians we are told to watch our words and the way we conduct ourselves towards outsiders. Jesus is a loving Lord and was a loving one even when he lived in the flesh. He taught with love, he did not classify himself with a particular group this actually brought trouble at times, people called him a sinner because he associated with sinners, lepers, the same with us, it is not good to isolate oneself while on mission ground, show some love, these are people who don’t even know what it means to be loved, it speaks volumes when we show that we love them and would like to associate with them even for the short time we are going to be with them. I have been to missions where the people don’t even want to say bye because of the love they received from the missioners. So whenever you are on a mission and there is a chance to meet people say during the open air crusade, the whole group doesn’t have to be in the same place, scatter and mix up with those that have come to listen to the word, help them where they don’t understand, otherwise if you isolate yourselves you will make them think that you are different and they are different which can make them conclude that the gospel you are preaching is meant for people like you and not them. There is a place we went to and some people when approached were glad to take us to another group saying those are the ones you may preach to, they felt we were two different groups, it is not supposed to be that way.

Holiness within the Mission Camp.

Our sins separate us from God, being on a mission without God’s presence is disastrous, we may prepare well in every way but as a group and as individuals it is very important to be careful about our actions, words and thoughts that we don’t sin against God, in Exodus God was opting not to go with the Israelites saying they are a stiff necked people he might end up destroying them completely, our God has emotions and our sins do not please Him, He is Jehovah Nissi whom we expect to fight for us on the mission ground, anything that can cause his glory to depart from us should be done away with if we are to have an effective mission ,we have very many examples in the Bible where sin brought calamity in the camps, look at the battle with Ai(Joshua 7), look at Jonathan’s story of testing honey in Saul’s time, etc. so if as a group you agree on something before God, please endeavor to keep those vows. This is not only on the mission field but wherever we may be as Christians; we are expected to live in holiness and obedience to God’s word.

Mission Approach

With the circular process of church planting in mind.

When you have knowledge about the stage of church planting in which your group is (you can find out this information from the missionaries on fulltime if there are any.), you will know which approach to use when reaching them, although the general knowledge may be known, individuals in an area can be at different stages in the circular process, you may find someone who has never heard of the name of Jesus in the same place with someone who was once a believer and probably left the faith, therefore while talking to people on an individual level it is important to realize which stage they are(you don’t have to ask them but you can tell as you converse with them) and start with them from there, sometimes while on short term missions people are in a hurry to make an invitation after a 2 minutes’ talk, if the word has not been well understood by this individual in those few minutes especially if they are in the early stages of the circular process then there is no need to rush them into the repentance prayer, actually once someone has been cut to the heart by the word whether it is two minutes, a week or months of preaching to them, they are most likely to ask what they should do to get saved or to join the new life, no need to force them. This is what happened in the early church; the apostles and disciples of Jesus taught the word under the influence of the Holy Spirit and people made an initiative by themselves by asking. “what should we do?” this showed that they were ready for the conversion. Not all people have the confidence to ask that question, some may be ready and fear to ask so it is still important to give them an invitation but the point is; we shouldn’t force them to convert. I guess we have all heard of this zealous preacher who would beat Jesus into the lives of his listeners, you refuse to convert, you taste the stroke of the cain till you surrender. Jesus has to be introduced into someone’s life, telling them that Jesus loves them alone may not work because they don’t even know who you are talking of in the first place.

Our mentors and teachers who are the apostles are a good example. When Philip found the Ethiopian Eunuch reading the book of Isaiah he started right there, when Stephen had them accuse him of wiping away what Moses had taught, he started right there, he used their same ideology to tell them the truth, he gave them the story from Moses’ time to Jesus’, the same with Paul and Peter. So let their level of knowledge be your starting point if your mission is to be successful, above all, our ears should be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading He can guide us on where to start and when to make an invitation.

Some missionaries under the influence of the Holy Spirit have put down guidelines of telling the salvation story from Genesis to the ascension of Christ within a short time, it is not bad to look for knowledge even as we depend on the Holy Spirit, another way of getting knowledge is by seeking it and one way of the Holy Spirit teaching us is through the information He brings our way, it could be a book, a teacher or any other source though still we have to be very careful when seeking knowledge so that we are not deceived by the so many books circulating around, some are just a camouflage of the truth and we ought not to trust them, even though we may use other books written by men of God we have to ensure that their information is not against the Word of God, the Word of God should be the standard on which to judge other literature that we use on our missions.

Taking Care of the New Converts

For the short time that we may spend on our mission trip, we need to include the new converts in our time table let alone the planned follow up after we have left, once someone gives his/ her life to Christ, he becomes a disciple and therefore is supposed to be in a class to know more about this Jesus and what it really means to follow Him. From the book of Acts we see that the new converts gave themselves to studying the Word of God daily, this helped in building their faith. Transitioning from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light is not a light issue, the devil takes it personally and would want to have back what he thinks is his, therefore some of these new converts go through some time of dilemma where so many voices are speaking to them, when they start right away to study the word of God, their faith will be built on a strong foundation, they also need prayer, they need to be prayed for and they also need to learn how to pray so that even when they are alone in the night they can call on the name of the Lord. To make this easy the missioners can organize seminars for the new converts where they can be taught together, the teaching tools should be those that this kind of group understands. If the whole mission group is to leave the field right after the mission period has expired then the converts should be given guidance on how they will continue in their faith even in the absence of the missioners, if the place has churches and church leaders then it is important that the missioners make a proper introduction between the converts and church leaders and hand them over to the church leaders. To make this whole process easy the church leaders must be involved in the mission from the beginning so that the converts are not made to think that the missioners are a special group to run to ignoring their fellow community members. Once converts are not given this early care it becomes hard to get to them during the formally arranged follow up. If it is a group that can read and write, it would be good to leave them with Bibles and other material that can be helpful for their spiritual growth.

What is in it for me?

The time spent on a short term mission is a good time to assess oneself, here you can know whether you are called as a missionary or not depending on how you feel about the ministry. It was during these short term missions that I realized my interest in missions; I had and felt a special passion for the lost souls even the very first time when I did not know the language of the locals. As you continue to participate in short term missions you will know which kind of missionary you have been called to be and this will help you get aligned to your life purpose. Jesus chose and trained his disciples after which he sent them out to the field, the same to us when we go for short term missions it is like we have gone to put into practice what we have been learning as Christ’s disciples, as we minister and reach out we also evaluate ourselves. During this time you will know how bold you really are, how radical you really are as far as your faith is concerned, you will know how your heart is attached to the lost hearts, you will also know how knowledgeable you are in the word of God because sometimes you will meet people who have tough questions and need you to be deep rooted in the word. So mission time not only benefits the unreached but it also enriches the missioners. To be a short term missionary you don’t have to have so many years in salvation, super spiritual, mention it, just surrender to Jesus as you are and commit to the service, the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life will nurture you slowly by slowly into a seasoned missionary. Who thought that Paul would become a worldwide example of missionary work as it is now?. God can use anyone as long as there is will on that person’s side.

In summary, an effective short term mission can be achieved with good prior preparation of the missioners, the trip and thorough knowledge of the group we are planning to reach, but all these will be ineffective if God is left out of the picture. Moses asked God to go with them saying that then people will know that we have found grace and he added to say that if your presence doesn’t go with us then we won’t leave this place, he knew what it meant to be with God on that journey, the same with us, we cannot reach out to the lost without God’s presence.

After the Short Term Mission

I don’t mean to scare anyone on this but normally the enemy is not happy after invading his territory and he would want to get back at those who did it, many are times I have experienced strange things after short term missions, I normally leave the place fired up for Christ and all I want is to testify of what God has done and I always feel drawn closer to God after these missions but the funny thing is that this fire can go on for just a few days and before I know it I am totally spiritually drained, I never used to understand this and I thought I was just being spiritually lazy until one man of God explained it to me, he said I have got to be watchful whenever I have a successful Christian mission ,could be evangelism or anything to do with my life or ministry, he said always the enemy looks out to spiritually drain the victor, after hearing that, all my after mission memories came back and I realized it was true.

Other people go as far as falling physically ill with unexplainable diseases. We have got to be aware of the schemes of the enemy and stop him before he succeeds in destroying us;

Finally keep in the faith lest after you have preached to others you are left behind. Paul said he puts his body under subjection lest after preaching to others he be left behind. Watch your walk with Christ.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 4: THE CIRUCLAR PROCESS OF CHURCH PLANTING

Brief description of the circular process of church planting;

Preparing-Clearing the land

Removing the trunks and ploughing

Sewing

Watering

Harvesting.

Below is a brief description of the above processes, describing the circular process of church planting can be a book in itself, what I have written here is just a small over view. There are other sources where this information is deeply elaborated. Danie Vermeulen in the book, “The Process of Planting a Church” describes the whole process in detail.

Missions are about church planting, bringing people into the Kingdom of God. The circular process of church planting is not a fixed principle of church planting but a description of the stages to soul winning. Not all souls go through the circular process before they turn to Christ but it is a good tool to know and consider while reaching out or preparing to reach out.

Jesus in the parable of the sower talks about seed that fell on different grounds and what became of it. From that parable we learn that though the seed (the Word) might be good, it may fail to yield good fruit or fail to yield fruit at all depending on the state and level of preparation of the ground which received it. Similarly just as Christ figuratively described that to the disciples so have some anointed men and women of God come up with a similar process of church planting. If the ground which had thorns in Matthew 13 was cleared and well prepared the outcome would have been different. Therefore in planning to plant a church in an area or to bring people to Christ, the land has to be cleared, trunks have to be removed, then the word is sewed, watering is done and the harvest is waited for. In 1 Cor 3:6, Paul planted, Apollos watered and God gave the increase.

Preparing and clearing the land

This calls for possession of the proper tools, depending on the land you are to clear, if it is a forest area, more tools will be needed, if it is bare land, you know what to use, if it is a rocky area, you know what to use, in the same way, before you set out for a mission, spiritual mapping should be one of the steps in clearing the land. Find out about the spiritual state of your unreached group.

Spiritual Mapping is the researching of an area to discover any inroads Satan has made, which prevent the spread of the gospel and the evangelization of a city for Christ. (Cindy Jacobs)

The time for clearing the land is a time of driving out all foreign inhabitants of the land, pulling down all the high places that hinder the spread of the gospel.

After spiritual mapping and gathering all the information about the place, then it is time to clear the land, acting on the information gathered, here is where prayer comes in, going against all the contrary powers and agents in the area.

Removing trunks

There are hierarchies in the spirit world, governments that rule the land. Whereas it may be very easy for you to unseat your local council chairman, it may not be so easy to do the same for the president, those two have different security, your local council chairman doesn’t have a single body guard but your president has one who even escorts him to the wash room, similarly in the spirit world you cannot deal with the strong man with the same way as you deal with his subjects, in farming, you can pluck out a weed with your one hand but cannot do the same for a tree trunk, you need extra effort. After clearing the land which is the surface clearance you have got to get into serious prayer against the high rulers and their high places, plucking out the trunks because if they are not removed they will still come forth and hinder the word of God. If it calls for fasting and prayer let it be, if it means walking around the whole city let it be so, for the Jerichos have to fall for the children of God to possess the land.

Genesis 13: 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." (NIV)

Joshua 1:3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. (NIV)

Sewing/Planting

Now that the land is cleared and well prepared, it is time to sew the seed. After all rocks, thorns have been removed; the word of God can now begin to be planted in the fertile hearts of the unreached. This is the sewing stage.

Watering

This is to represent all activities carried out between sewing and harvesting, when a seed is planted it is not left to grow in the weeds and dry ground with an expectation of a mighty harvest, the seed has to be taken care of, watering has to be done, weeding has to be done, pruning, etc. Likewise in church planting, after you have spread the word, follow up has to be done, more of the word has to be taught to strengthen what they already have, remember faith comes by hearing. There should be continual teaching of the word of God in that area. Continual prayer is also another way of watering. Praying for the area and the souls you have reached is another way of asking God to give them the grace of repentance talked of in 2Timothy 2:25.

Harvesting

When the word of God has richly dwelt in their hearts, it will produce fruit, the Word of God is sharper than a double edged sword, once it has cut through their hearts, they will definitely turn to the Lord. After planting and watering the Lord will give the increase.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 5: LONG TERM MISSIONS

Unlike short term missions, long term missions are those on which one goes for years, could be three, four or more, it could be a life time, these are normally people who have confirmed that God called them for this work and have therefore decided to take it on.

Full time missionaries

Some fulltime missionaries do short term missions too (Paul’s style).

Most fulltime missionaries are long term missionaries, these have completely dedicated their entire lives to the work of reaching the lost, they stay right within the unreached community and their daily activities are aimed at spreading the gospel in these areas. A full time missionary could have been sent by his/ her church or could have come on his own in obedience to the voice of God. Since these are fully dedicated to the work of the gospel they normally have partners, could be the sender church or friends who stand with them, providing material, financial, moral and other support as the missionary concentrates on mission work.

One must be very sure of his calling before deciding to venture into full time missionary work for many have tried it but failed. When you are sure God has called you into fulltime, long term missionary work then the rest is left to Him, He will provide all you need. The Word of God says he who called us is faithful; this means we shouldn’t worry about anything, all we need to do is confirm that this is where exactly He has called us to be and take the other steps.

The dynamics of a full time mission are far different from those of a short term one, there are people who have been called to be missionaries in their Jerusalem, their home area and there are those who will go as far as Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world, the preparations for the different groups will be different. If you are going to be a missionary to your home community then it won’t be the same as for someone going on a cross cultural mission and therefore your experiences will be different.

If you are going to a new area you will need to spend some time, could be years trying to fit into the community, learning their ways of living, in as much as this may sound simple, the reality of it may be different, you could find yourself in a community whose values violet the principles of your faith, in this case you have to seek God’s wisdom on how you will live among them for those so many years without crushing with them or offending them to an extent of expelling you from their community, it is therefore important that one planning on a full time, long term mission should take some time studying the culture of the people he/she is going to reach and devising means of how to fit in the society without losing the major objective. This might not be the case for one called to his own people, if you are reaching your own then you don’t have to adjust much as someone going to a new place.

If your language is different from that of your target group then you will also need to organize on how you are going to learn the language, if it is possible to get a tutor then it is good to start on the lessons before embarking on mission but if there is no tutor you will have to learn from the community and this calls for close involvement with them slowly learning from them without really pushing them to teach you particular vocabulary because this could offend them and cause them to push you off especially if they find out that you are interested in learning the language just so you can persuade them to follow your faith. The most important thing is getting to fit in the community by learning to live at peace with them. Actually they may not need to know what your mission is; you can come in just like any other immigrant who has just come to live in a new place and slowly God will begin to use you to reach out to them.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 6: THE REALITY

The fact is that there are challenges in full time missionary work and some of the challenges fulltime missionaries are facing today are centered around, finances, delayed outcomes, lack of good social services in the areas they are reaching. Glory be to God that He is able to get us out of them all.

Delayed Outcomes

Staying in a place for over ten years, working hard to see that the word of God gets to the people only to close each year without any convert can be frustrating, everyone who embarks on a mission of any sort, Christian, business, academic, etc is looking forward to something. When you are a missionary, your heart has compassion for the unreached and you wish to see them turn to Christ and live for Christ, now when you don’t see this happening as you anticipated you might get discouraged. Delay in outcomes has caused some missionaries to leave the mission field thinking they were probably not called for that mission. Church planting is not a one day thing, it also calls for patience on the side of the missionary, we are called to different places with different people groups, just because your missionary friend has many converts in a few years’ time doesn’t necessarily mean there is something wrong with your work, he might have found his group at a better state of receiving the gospel and you probably had more to deal with.

Financial Challenges

Money matters have become a serious challenge to mission work, a fulltime missionary who has entirely committed himself to the work of the gospel also has financial needs, when these needs are not met it is not easy to concentrate on the mission work because then he has to think of how his family will survive, medical bills, schools dues, etc. fulltime missionaries have been encouraged to take on the tent making style where they can make money while reaching out but this is not possible for all of them. The church is responsible for meeting the financial needs of those they have sent, money for mission work has been released by God but the problem is majorly in making the church understand its position in supporting mission work. Many churches have mission budgets but not many have made missions their priority, the least amount is allocated to mission work and some don’t even know how to use that amount in the right way for they haven’t sent out any missionaries and wonder where this money should go.

Lack of Quality Social Services for the Family

Another challenge for fulltime missionaries is the lack of good social services in the places they are sent to, you can find there are no good hospitals or if they are there one has to walk miles to get to the good one. Schools in the area may not be good for the education of their children, no clean water, electricity, etc. this has forced some missionaries to leave their families at home and go alone to the mission field which is also not so good. For some organized mission agencies, education is provided for the missionaries’ children ruling out that challenge.

Scarcity of Laborers

The number of missionaries in unreached areas is alarmingly too small, this increases the load on the few that are there. You find one missionary in a whole village of thousands of unreached people. There is need for more laborers and therefore we should pray to the Father of the harvest to send out more laborers and that those that have been called will heed to this calling.

A Long Time Missionary Who is Also a Tent Maker.

Tent making literally means “to make tents” the phrase came into the missionary vocabulary from Acts 18:1-3, In as much as Paul was an apostle mandated to preach the gospel to the gentiles, he was also involved in the trade of tent making from which he made a living for himself and those he ministered to.

Acts 20:33-35

“I have coveted no man’s silver or gold or apparel. Yeh you yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said “it is more blessed to give than to receive”.

1Thessalonians 2: 9

“For you remember brethren our labor and travail for laboring night and day because we would not be chargeable unto any of you we preached unto you the gospel of Christ.”

It is a choice of some missionaries to tent make while others have directly heard from God that they have been called to be tent making missionaries. A tent maker missionary is not a full time missionary because he dedicates some of his time to business or work that can earn him/her some money to take care of his needs, such might have some support from his church or partners or may be fully supported by his/her trade. This is where professionals come in, some people have found a hard time deciding whether to join missionary work because they find themselves interested in advancing their careers and therefore think it is completely impossible to be a missionary and at the same time a doctor, engineer, accountant, business man/woman, mention it. Well I have got good news for you, you can be a successful practicing doctor and at the same time a successful missionary. How?

If you know that you have been called to be a missionary but deep inside you feel you should not give up your profession then you have got to talk to God about it, ask him to position you where you can accomplish the two. In today’s world everyone wants to stay in the urban areas, there are so many vacancies in the rural areas and this is where the opportunity is because there is also so much evangelism going on in the urban areas as opposed to the rural, this creates a need for the gospel and for social services in the rural areas, here is where you best fit in. if you are sent by the government of your country as a medical officer in one of the unreached areas then this is a great opportunity to take on missionary work in this area, imagine you are a doctor in an unreached area, this is an open door, an opportunity many of us would wish for, you will daily get to meet people who need physical as well as spiritual healing, in this way you will be practicing your profession and doing missionary work as well. You just have to be careful lest you lose your job and mess up everything. The work of evangelism especially in the missionary setting is about sacrifice, it is a depiction of what God the Father did when he sent his only son to die for us, the circumstances may not be favorable but for the sake of perishing souls we have to leave our comfort zones and go where no one else would wish to go to extend and expand God’s kingdom. And God is looking for such as these, people ready and willing to stand in the gap for the lost no matter what. I am always touched by the words of this song;

Give me ears to hear your Spirit

Give me feet to follow through

Give me hands to touch the hurting and

The faith to follow you

Give me grace to be your servant

Give me mercy for the lost

Give me passion for your glory

Give me passion for the cross.

And I will go where there are no easy roads

Leave the comfort that I know

I will go and let this journey be my home

I will go

I will go

I’ll let go of my ambition

Cut the roots that run too deep

I will learn to give away what I cannot really keep

Help me see with eyes of faith

Give me strength to run this race

I will go Lord where your glory is unknown

I will live for you alone

I will go because my life is not my own

I will go

I will go

I will go

Working as a tent maker is very good because one doesn’t have to worry about the financial support that has not yet come in from the partners or church, honestly speaking one of the greatest challenges missionaries and other ministers face is financial challenge, so when you are a tent maker it kind of eases this challenge because you can provide for yourself and your family from the proceedings of your work. Despite the fact that it is good to tent make it can also be a challenge to balance between work and ministry, some missionaries have found themselves so much into their work that they forget what took them in the first place, one ends up spending all his time meeting the work targets without any time left for ministry, in this case the missionary will find him/herself an ordinary resident just like any other people that migrated to that area from somewhere else. It is therefore important to discipline oneself and not get off the focus and original plan. God in his word talks about committing our plans to Him, which means that God allows us to make plans but we have to commit them to Him, the best way a tent maker can effectively accomplish the mission is to have a plan, this will help in aligning his time and resources and remaining on track.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 7: FAMILY AND MISSIONS

Family support is very important for any missionary; I have learnt this through the days as I study the relationship between family stability and mission effectiveness. A family that is not together in this work is likely to accomplish very little, a missionary husband whose wife is not supportive in mission activities can find mission work to be a burden and some have even left the mission fields because of that, it is not only the wife but also the children, sometimes children find it hard to adopt to the mission environment and would prefer to be somewhere else, this becomes complicated when the kids start pestering their parents to leave and go to a better place, sometimes children can be so demanding of things you won’t even find on the mission fields, as a parent you may feel bad that you can’t provide what your children are asking for and it may be a challenge, some missionaries’ children don’t want to associate themselves with anything to do with mission work, they feel like it is a punishment and that their parents made the wrong choice where as some children enjoy what their parents do and would want to follow in the same steps of becoming missionaries when they grow. Some missionaries have failed to settle in a missionary field because their kids could not handle, so they ended up returning home and burying their calling towards the lost, therefore Family Co-operation is very important if you are to have an effective fulltime mission life. In some families the parents decide to leave the children home and go establish another home in the unreached area but keep visiting their children wherever they left them, this is common because most of the unreached areas cannot offer quality education, health services and other social services that are needed for proper raising of our children, some mission organizations have devised means of helping missionaries take care of their kids.

What if it is the wife that is not interested in this work? This is a far different case, if by God’s grace you know that you are called to missions before you marry, then I would say it is something to be especially thankful for to God, you will have to inform your future wife/husband what you intend to do and agree on everything before, because everyone has expectations and depending on these your calling can thrive or be buried. I know a couple who did not agree on this venture and it caused serious problems in their marriage because the wife saw the husband as one lazy john who just didn’t want to work and was using full time missionary work as an excuse, the wife was not used to the life in the village and they always had arguments because of the man’s calling. There is no need to put God’s work to shame because of differing ideas, am sure God cannot put two people together to tear each of them apart, instead the wife is meant to be a suitable companion meaning husbands and wives should be able to fit in each other’s ministry, it may not necessarily be the same calling but at least there should not be serious clashes. It is always good to discover one’s calling and ministry because without knowledge people perish and therefore without this knowledge a marriage can fall apart. If you are already married and there one of you realizes that he/she is called to reach a certain people group, it will be good if you prayerfully discuss this together and allow for God’s leading, am sure God can talk to the two of you and show you how to handle and work together. I know a lady who divorced her husband because he was not in support of her new calling of reaching a certain unreached people. The husband was not ready to come along with her and so they called it quits but the question is “was that the best way of handling it? Did it glorify God?” I think there was a better way. I personally met this lady and I could tell that something was missing in her life; she was also struggling with ministry with no support of family. Family support is very important in missionary work though it is also true that one can be rejected by family because of God’s work, His grace is still sufficient to solve what man cannot.

The best way to handle family and missions is to find solutions to any challenges that might crop up or try to disintegrate the family as a result of mission work. God loves missions as much as he wants us to be happy and in harmony with our family members.

Cross Cultural Missions

Being a full time missionary in a strange land is not easy at the start but with time one can cop. The major challenges are usually language and culture; cross cultural missions require a sacrificial heart. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Paul says:

For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

The bible says though we are in the world we are not of the world, so adjusting to the culture of the people one is reaching doesn’t necessarily mean that one becomes like those people but in wisdom one has to fit in for the sake of the gospel.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 8: HAVING AN EFFECTIVE LONG AND FULLTIME MISSION

As we saw for short term missions, long and fulltime missions too require preparation, when Jesus spent time with his disciples, he was preparing them for long term mission work. Everything that has a great outcome had good preparation.

After praying and confirming that God has called you into full time missionary work, what next? Should you just set off and go to the unreached people group and start spreading the good news or what should you do?

Sharing

It is always a good thing to have people you trust, people you can talk to about your new revelation, people who will pray with you and stand with you because you are definitely not going to be in this alone. It is mandatory to talk to your family about it, your wife/husband has to know about what is going on, your church leaders have to know and give you a blessing in what you are heading for. Generally it is important to talk to those you feel ought to know about your mission and inform them of your plans, they may support you and pray with you or they may not but all the same they have to know.

After God has told you that you have to go, don’t end at that, ask Him, how He expects you to go, talk to Him about all your worries and cares and He will give you direction. For example if you are called into full time missionary work, it is important to talk to God about your sustainance in the field, ask Him where your support is going to come from, if it is going to be your church to support you, then go ahead and talk to your pastor, don’t be afraid to tell him/her what exactly the Lord has said to you, if God said that church is to give you your monthly up keep, say it to them, when the water at the brook had dried out, God told Elijah to go to Zarepath and there He had commanded a widow to sustain Elijah, but note that when Elijah reached the gate, he saw the widow but even though God had told him that He had commanded the widow already, Elijah did not wait for the widow to call him and invite him into her house for food instead HE ASKED HER for water and later food, actually had he waited for the widow to call him, I guess he would have died of hunger because the widow had her other problems to take care of and die, the same applies here, once you have inquired of God about your survival God will speak and guide of where your support will come from, but you have to go there and state your case and tell them to grant you support, if God says he will connect you to people, then ask Him who those are and let the peace of God rule in your heart and guide you to the individuals who are to support you. Talk to them, give them your plan and organize with them on how they will be sending you support. Paul in his letters, we see that he solicited for mission support in some cities and kept reminding them of their pledges and even giving them examples of how their fellow believers elsewhere have been a blessing, he did this without shame because he knew that it wasn’t about him but about the expansion of the Kingdom of God and after all even those who gave shared in the blessings of spreading the gospel. We can see this in the 9th chapter of 2Corinthians. It is a good thing to know your needs and bring them before God and discuss how they are to be met before you set out to the field. It is better to know that God has said you shouldn’t go with anything than to just go without ascertaining from God because when things don’t work out, you can go back to what God said. Some full time missionaries have found the work so burdensome when they have gone without meals, they suffer afflictions and they have felt that they can’t continue not because God did not call them but because they did not take the time to sit with God and know what they have been called into. Therefore for one to have an effective long and full time it is very important to clear out your issues with God in that even when the fig tree will give no fruit you will hang in there knowing for sure that God called you and is with you to the end of it all.

Training

When we become believers in Christ, we also become disciples and we are trained in a lot of things by our pastors as pertains to the doctrine of Christ, but when it comes to our ministries and callings, God has put in place teachers in the church, God has trained trainers to take us through these different ministries, of course it is not a common thing to find teachers of specific ministries in the various churches we attend but they are there and we fellowship with them. Glory to God who has raised mission schools all over the world, it is important that a missionary attends mission school before setting off, yes you have been called and have been anointed and the bible says the anointing will teach you, this is very true but the same God who wrote the word is the same God who raised the teachers, He had reason for this, (equipping the saints for the work of ministry). There is something to learn from those who have been there before, in the mission school you will get different experiences and it also helps to get you into the mood of what you are heading for, you get to visit different mission fields, meet other missionaries and learn from them, things you won’t get when you are alone down in the village. If it is not easy for you to enroll in mission school you can still find teachers in your church. The things you learn while in mission school will be a great tool for the time you will spend on the mission field.

Surveying the Land

This is an obvious case, before one can go to settle in a particular area with an aim of reaching out to a particular people group, he/she must take some time off to survey the place, learn about the people he/she is going to reach, their culture and norms, beliefs, faith, language and perception about the gospel. One has to find out how many churches are in the area if any and which people he/she will be working with. The missionary has to identify a man of peace if any and work out his reception when he comes to settle, if there is no man of peace, he still has to find a way of settling in the land. The missionary can use this time to find out about the ruling principalities in the area and know what he is up to. When Paul went to Athens, he took a walk around and it was during this time that he noticed that some of these people were worshiping an unknown God. This became a very good starting point but had he not surveyed first he probably would have been off track trying to reach people he doesn’t even know what they believe, so this time prior to our settling in is a good time to learn about our target group and organize ourselves well for the ministry. As you find out different information about your people group you get to direct your prayers to specific things about the area you are going to reach. When in mission school you may have been taught about unreached people groups but you will realize that the knowledge you got is general knowledge but the specific facts about your group will be realized on ground and surveying time gives you an insight into some of these facts about your unreached people group.

Prayer

An effective long and fulltime mission cannot be achieved without prayer, God is the author of missions and He knows all mission dynamics and therefore must be consulted on a daily basis on how to go about our mission work. Well as you may have so many people out there praying for you, there is need to also pray for yourself and your ministry because actually it is you who knows what exactly is happening on ground on a daily basis and therefore can state your cause to God more clearly, this doesn’t rule out the truth that the Holy Spirit can also guide those off-ground to pray in line with what is happening on ground because when one commits him/herself to interceding for mission work, interceding for a certain missionary, God connects them to the people group and makes them part of that ministry even when they are far away but all in all the missionary has to be committed to prayer and constant communication with God.

O. J. Frazier, missionary to China, literally brought thirty thousand Lisu people to Christ through prayer. His first six years in the area resulted in very little fruit among the primitive tribes. Then he began to intercede for them and to enlist prayer partners in England. God honored their spiritual warfare over the evil forces possessing the Lisu people. Once response came, Frazier noticed that the churches that he did not visit as often grew faster than those where he worked regularly. His conclusion was that he prayed more for the churches that he could not visit and, therefore, they prospered more. ( Mrs. Howard Taylor, Behind the Ranges (Chicago: Moody Press, 1964).

Prayer is designed to involve us in God’s purpose more than to involve God in our plans. Once we understand the purpose of God in the world, we should invest our lives in it. God delights in answering prayer that is according to His will. He refuses to answer prayer that is not in His will. Our task, then, is to discover what God wants and to ask for it. (The biblical basis of missions-Avery T. Willis Jr.)

All advances in the kingdom are preceded by prayer. No revival ever begins without prayer. When God wants to do something, he moves men to pray for it. Trace the movements of God in history, and you will find they were born in prayer, bathed in prayer, and grew by prayer.

A LEAF FROM AVERY T. WILLIS’ BOOK “BIBLICAL BASISOF MISSIONS”

Read the following passages and cite the movement that was born in prayer: Exodus 3:1-10; Nehemiah 1:4-10; Matthew 4:1-11; Acts 1:12 to 2:47; and Acts 13:1-13.

The birthplace of the American foreign missionary movement was a prayer meeting in a haystack near Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1806. A spiritual awakening in the churches motivated Samuel John Mills and four friends to pray outdoors twice a week. One Saturday afternoon they ran to a large haystack for protection from a thunderstorm. They prayed and talked about Asia, which they had studied in class. Mills declared that they must send the gospel to the heathen. One disagreed, saying that civilization must precede Christianity. They knelt to pray to be united in purpose. As they finished praying Mills cried out, "We can do it, if we will." Later in Andover Theological Seminary, Adoniram Judson joined Mills’s prayer group and became the first missionary of the American Board for Foreign Missions. God’s mission to the world begins when his people get on their knees. Importunity gives God an opportunity to demonstrate his power. Intercessory prayer is not to be done at our convenience but because of someone’s inconvenience. Jesus said, "Ask . . . seek . . .nock…

If every missionary had people praying daily for his specific requests, a great surge of power would be felt all over the world.

Feeding on the Word

Reaching out is about teaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, this calls out to the missionary to be a reader of and meditator on the word of God, every missionary wants to see fruit for their labor, you can only reap mangoes from a mango tree therefore planting an avocado seed in expectation of mangoes is a total waste of time, it is the word of God that will produce faith and bring forth fruit for your ministry, unless the word is planted in the hearts of those you are reaching, you don’t expect to reap anything of like manner, reminding people of their problems on a daily basis won’t build faith in them, therefore for mission work to be effective, the missionary should be devoted to studying the scriptures not minding how many times he/she has rounded the whole bible, the word of God has so many deep revelations and everyday God has something to say, therefore we should be readers of the word so that it richly dwells in us and will therefore come forth when we open our mouths to speak ,God through Peter tells us that us who speak should speak the oracles of God. Our own words and creations cannot save a soul, it is the gospel alone that is the power unto salvation. A missionary who is lazy at reading and studying the word of God is likely to get frustrated after sometime because his/ her work will seem in vain, he probably wakes up every morning rushes to the market to preach, daily telling people whatever he knows but if it is not in line with the gospel it can turn out very frustrating. And it is not just about picking parts of scripture and using them to talk about what pleases us, e.g “And Jesus came down to Capernaum; then you start; sinners if you don’t humble yourselves like Jesus did in the scripture I have just read, if you won’t come down from your castles and bow before this altar and give your lives to Christ, you are doomed" wow!!! wow!!! wow!!! It is true that if they don’t give their lives to Christ they are doomed for hell fire but there is no way it connects to Jesus coming down to Capernaum. As missionaries we should let God Himself in His wisdom speak through us. Using the word of God anyhow because we are told the gospel saves still won’t have any positive effect; everything should be done in order and according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we want to see fruits then we have to feed from the vine and then pass that on to our target group.

1Peter 4:11If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Living the Word

Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

According to the scriptures we believers are a letter to be read by those around us and believe you me non-believers are so watchful of those who call themselves believers, if a nonbeliever is caught in adultery, it won’t be a big deal as compared to when it is a believer, why? Because even society expects everyone who confesses salvation to walk worthy of it. So as missionaries we have got to practice what we preach and walk our talk if our ministry is to be effective. All those around us are looking at us and probably waiting for the day we make the slightest mistake. If our ways are not according to the gospel we preach, the gospel is rendered ineffective.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 9: SENDER MISSIONARIES

Well may be up to this point you still don’t think you are part of the missionary body, I can tell you that you are a missionary, another group of missionaries we have are the sender missionaries. Whenever a soul comes to Christ the devil records a mega failure because his aim is to keep many in his camp, he is trying to do whatever he can to frustrate mission work, one of the things the devil has done is to blind the church about its role in missionary work, it is such a hassle for a missionary to get people to partner with, people who will say, though we cannot go we will send you and stand with you. You find that some missionaries are standing on their own and sometimes they get frustrated and opt out of this calling, something that retards the spread of the gospel. If you are sure you cannot go and you have sought God and are convinced you are not meant to go, there is still one thing you are sure of and that is the truth that you are a co-worker with God in the ministry of reconciliation. Usually if we are commissioned somewhere and because of some reasons we cannot make it, we will find all means of making it up to the person who called us, we will at least send someone to represent us on that occasion, the same with mission, where we cannot go we can send someone, a person who sends someone on a mission field is called the sender missionary. If you have a letter that you would want to deliver somewhere, you will call whoever you plan to send, give them the letter and the fare or vehicle plus whatever it takes to get that letter to its destination, the same with missions, if you are a sender missionary then you are supposed to provide whatever is required for the message to reach the people you are targeting. A sender missionary commits him/herself to support the person going to the field financially, spiritually, morally, materially and in any other way possible. It doesn’t end at that but this person should also be responsible for following up on the progress of the mission, if possible pay the missionary on ground visits whenever one gets time to see what is going on and to encourage them in the work they are doing. Many of us cannot go to the mission fields but we can send, the bible says how will they preach if they are not sent? You can send someone today.

Asking yourself where to start? Pray and ask God to lead you on how you can start your mission as a sender, talk to your pastor about your call to send, he/she will help you launch into your calling. Make contacts with missionaries you know, they can also have good guidance.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 10: INTERCESSORS

It is impossible to accomplish the great commission without prayer, if there is anything that shakes the devil it is prayer, the devil cannot pray to God to retain souls of men!! Therefore we as Christians have a strong weapon that the enemy cannot with stand and that is prayer. Before any physical changes can take place in a sinner’s life, there must be a spiritual impact, it is therefore mandatory for the church to pray for mission work, to pray for the lost souls that God can soften their hearts so that they heed to the gospel. Missionaries on the mission grounds go through a lot of challenges, tests and trials and it is our responsibility to lift them up in prayer.

Exodus 17:11-13 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Joshua could not do much prayer while on the battle ground but yet we see that the Israelites’ victory was to depend on lifted hands, on prayer. Likewise we said mission work is a battle, we talk about WINNING souls because someone else is fighting to retain them too, we therefore need a Moses to keep his hands lifted up. If you cannot go for a short term mission, you are not a full time missionary, you are not a sender missionary then may God give you the grace to pray for missionary work. The missionaries also pray for themselves but as we all know we need support as the body of Christ. I have come to situations in my life when am so drained even to pray and I have asked God to raise someone somewhere to stand in the gap for me, I can imagine those on the front line of the battle. When Peter was in prison for the cause of the gospel, the believers gathered and lifted up their voices in prayer to the Lord and we all know what followed. The constant battles that go on in the lives of the missionaries need constant prayers, there must be men and women of God who have decided to stand up in prayer for the missionary work. If the devil’s agents can fast to ensure that souls are not won for Christ, how much more we the soul winners, Jesus said that you cannot take plunder in a strong man’s house unless you bind the strong man,

Matthew_12:29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his house.

If missions are to be successful someone somewhere has to deal with the strong man, bind him and limit him from controlling the lost souls and therefore bring freedom to them. Paul one of the renown missionaries of the times shows us that prayer for mission is very important, many times in his letters to the churches he requested for prayer, because he knew that although God had called him and anointed him, he still needed to be soaked in the prayers of the saints in order for doors to be open for him to do the work of taking the gospel where it had not been taken.

Ephesians 6:18-22 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things: Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

Colossians 4:2-4

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

2Thessalonians 3:1-2

Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

It is a good practice for a missionary to have prayer partners, people that he/she is sure are praying with him/her about the work in progress. The missionary shares with these people what he would want them to pray about, he/she gives constant updates of what is going on in the field. Mission intercessors can even spare time to go and spend some time with the missionary praying for the area he is reaching and encouraging him in the work. It is such an encouragement to a missionary on the mission field to know that there are Christians standing with him/her in the work that he is doing.

“In our lifetime wouldn’t it be sad if we spent more time washing dishes or swatting flies or mowing the yard or watching television than praying for world missions.”— (Dave Davidson)

“Prayer needs no passport, visa or work permit. There is no such thing as a ‘closed country’ as far as prayer is concerned…much of the history of mission could be written in terms of God moving in response to persistent prayer.” —(Stephan Gaukroger)

Asking yourself where to start? Pray and ask God to lead you on how you can start your mission as an intercessor for missionary work, talk to your pastor about your call. Make contacts with missionaries you know, they can also have good guidance.

Back to Top

CHAPTER 11: THE ROLE OF CHURCH LEADERS

Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

Verse 12 explains why Jesus ordained those ministries, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. This clearly shows that God has equipped His church for the expansion of the body of Christ and not only that but also for the preparation of the bride. Apostles in the church are not meant to just sit, embrace the title and warm the pews, evangelists are not meant to do the same, neither are the prophets and the teachers but instead they should work hand in hand with the pastors in making disciples who will also go out and make disciples, some of the churches today have members and not disciples yet Jesus’ strategy was a growing chain strategy expecting that those who have gone before should teach others to follow in the same steps, expanding the Kingdom of God. Paul was a good example here, after teaching and directing Timothy in the things of God, he charged him to find faithful men and entrust them with what he had been taught in this way there wouldn’t lack a generation to pass on the knowledge of the mystery of salvation, which of course to us is no more mystery.

Church leaders have the responsibility of producing disciples, training them as Christ did the 12 so that the Word of God can be spread all over the world, today almost every pastor prefers to keep his members to himself even when they are trained enough to go out and reach others and plant churches, the pastor feels there will be a loss if one is sent out. If a church leader doesn’t show interest in the work of reaching out or only shows interest where he expects to reap for his own benefits (this is very common) then it won’t be easy for the members to have an interest in missions because to them it is not a pillar of the church. Therefore the leader has an important role to play in instilling a mission mind into his/her members.

Church leaders according to Ephesians 4 are called to prepare the church for the work of the ministry. In light with missionary work , the leaders have the responsibility to make the body of Christ understand its position in kingdom expansion, make the members aware of the need for missionaries in all arenas those that will go, those that will support, those that will intercede, etc. some church leaders don’t even want to see one of their members leave the church not even for missionary work, this is sad because after Jesus had trained his disciples, though he loved them he didn’t expect to stay with them all the time or even take them with him to heaven right away instead he sent them out even to the uttermost parts of the world. Church leaders should be able to honor the callings upon the lives of their members by allowing them to go where they are called and supporting them even when they are gone.

A Church with a mission mind should therefore support the following; Going on missions, sending and standing with missionaries on ground, praying for mission work.

In Romans 10:13-17 we are told that how will they preach if they are not sent? God had a reason for including this in His word to show that people need to be sent to the unreached to take the good news, now who will send them? God wants to use you the church leader to bring the world to the church, He is looking for someone to use, someone who can train disciples, someone who can train soldiers for the battle field. Think about it, ask yourself? What is the vision of my ministry? How does it fit in God’s vision for human kind? Because you are working with human kind-for God. If God has brought people before you to serve them, it means there is something He is working out through you for the benefit of these people and those that will follow after them and those that will follow after those and the chain goes on till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.Therefore by all means your vision and mission have to be in line with the vision and mission of Christ for human kind. If you didn’t get it clearly from God on the offset then this is the time to go back and ask Him to tell you what exactly He expects of you and how it links to His mission of reconciliation and presentation of a pure bride, the church. I am not saying go to church on Sunday and send out all your congregation, no, but know exactly how you are supposed to lead your congregation in a way that your church structure and activities point towards God’s mission of reconciliation. Remember God not only works at bringing people back to Him as in back to church but also preparing them for the great feast where a holy and pure bride (the church) will be presented and that is why we have the different arms of ministry mentioned in Ephesians 4 from verse 11. Therefore every church leader ought to study and understand with revelation the mission and vision of God. What does God see at the end of it all? A pure and holy bride, what action points has He put in place to come to this vision, what is His mission? It is Apostleship, Prophesy, Evangelism, Teaching and pastoral work, with this God will achieve His vision. If you preach the prosperity gospel and your focus is strictly that, I won’t object at this stage, yes God will prosper your people according to His principles, Halleluyah!! But it will not profit them to die unholy, unproductive and impure because that is not the church that God is taking home, the branch which abides in the Vine bears fruit and that fruit abides, the fruitless branch will be cut off and cast into the fire. It is also clearly stated that the unclean shall not inherit eternal life, ask yourself, is my congregation fruitful? Clean? Of course before that, you ask yourself first, Am I a fruitful branch, and am I clean? The Bible says we should seek to be approved by God, men might be praising you and bowing before you but you know better than them and your heart is your witness? Will you survive the fateful day after you have preached your breath out??? It will profit you and your sheep if you teach them the whole gospel which will bear good fruit in their lives which fruit will genuinely attract unbelievers to the church bringing fulfillment of God’s mission in your church. Praise the Lord church leader!!!!!.

As we plan our church activities, let’s not forget to include the core goal of church establishment and the Lord of all glory will bless us here on earth and in the life after we shall receive the crown due our efforts.

Ephesians 4:1-16 describes both God’s purpose for his church and the means to accomplish it. In addition to teaching that every member has a calling and a spiritual gift, the passage says that Christ endowed the church with certain persons whose duty it is to equip the saints. "These were his gifts: some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip God’s people for work in his service, to the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-12, NEB).

The Greek word translated equip or perfect in verse 12, means to mend. It can mean to mend a net, to set a broken bone, to put a person in a right place or condition, or to restore a fallen church member. It also can mean to educate, to train, to guide, or to enable a person fully to do a task. The equipper’s task is to perfect the saints so that they can do the work of the ministry and build up the body of Christ.

Translators of the King James Version incorrectly inserted a comma after the first clause in verse 12, making all three clauses seem to be the work of the equippers. (The original manuscripts had no punctuation.) But in the Greek a different word for, for meaning in order that clearly shows that it is the saints who are to do the work of the ministry.

The primary purpose of the equippers is to enable the saints to minister. Each equipper functions in the area of ministry that God has appointed to him (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher).

However, his ultimate goal of building up the church depends on his equipping the saints to minister in that particular area.

What are they to equip the saints to do? First, to walk worthy of their calling (Ephesians. 4:1). The word vocation in this verse is a translation of the word calling. The equippers implement God’s call to the saints by helping them live worthy lives of humility, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance, and unity (Ephesians. 1:18; 4:1-6).

Second, they equip the saints for ministry. They help them understand their gifts (Ephesians. 4:7) and prepare them for service and witness.

Third, they equip the saints to build up the body of Christ. The word translated build up means to construct a building. A building should be built with quality materials and should be large enough to accommodate the purposes of the owner. The saints, as well as the equippers, build up both the size and the quality of the body of Christ.

Each equipper has a ministry to perform and to model while he is equipping the saints. Look at each ministry, building up quality and quantity. (Biblical Basis of Missions, Avery T. Willis).

Back to Top

CHAPTER 12: HELL IS REAL

How on earth can she talk about hell in a Christian book? Yes you don’t want to see this, you don’t want to hear it, you don’t want to talk about it but I beseech you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to take time to read between these lines because they are as important as all the rest you have read up there. To be honest with you I don’t so often think about hell yet I know for sure if I took some time to meditate upon its reality I would have a different mission perspective, I would be more radicle and up for missions than I am now.

The reason I have not feared to write about hell here is because God himself wants you to know the reality of this matter.

If you believe in the Word of God, you believe in Jesus and you believe that He was crucified, died, was buried and rose up in glory and triumph and ascended into heaven then you sure believe that there is hell, why? Because when Jesus died He went to hell and from there is where he came and ascended in heaven.

Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

These scriptures show that Jesus’ soul went to hell but it wasn’t left there, God the Father resurrected Him. He had to go there because he took our place, he carried our sins and suffered God’s justice for our sake. Hell is the place for the souls which die in their sins.

Jesus himself in the gospels speaks about hell, at some point he said if your one eye causes you to sin then it is better you pluck it out and continue to heaven than to have your whole body cast into hell fire. Jesus’ messages about hell and hell fire show that it is not a place to wish for, it is terrible, the fire is unquenchable, just think about that. Paul says our salvation is nearer than when we believed. Hell fire is as near as our salvation is, the time of tribulation will be just a test of what that eternal suffering will be but yet none of us would want to go through even the tribulation.

In showing that hell is real Jesus told the story of the rich man and poor Lazarus. The rich man had it all according to the standards of this world or let me also say according to the standards of today’s “church”, he had the money, the posh house, servants of all sorts, etc. but he didn’t have God and so he had to face God’s justice, one of God’s characteristics is that He is a just God, when He says the soul that sins shall die, He means it, when He says those whose names are not written in the book of life are headed for hell fire, He means it, when He says he who confesses me before men him will I confess before my Father in heaven he means it, He is just and that is Him, He never changes, He is the same of yesterday, today and forevermore, if one has a thought that after Christ’s second return grace shall continue to abound, then that person is lying to him/herself because God has already set His standards and He has spread them out, nothing is unknown lest men give excuses (Romans 1: 19-20). In the rich man’s story we see him beg for A DROP OF WATER, stop here and think for a moment, which kind of scarcity can make you beg for at least a drop of water? A drop!!!. This is a man who had everything at his disposal while on earth and here he is saying “I am tormented in this flame”this story is so touching that when you read it you can feel like oh I wish I could help but ask yourself who is more merciful than our God? There is none, His mercies cannot be compared to any, there are sins I have committed in this world and I know only the God kind of mercy can forgive such, and indeed he has forgiven me. His mercies could not fail to attend to this rich man but because He has decreed it that way, it has to be that way. Even though the rich man cried and cried, He remained in hell. Note that even when he called, he called on Abraham to tell Lazarus, he did not call on God. God and sin do not mix. The sinner is for hell, the saint is for heaven. The Word of God says, let us seek God while He can still be found, He says that in the times of the dark days people will wish for death but they won’t see it, in the days of the tribulation, people will even ask the rocks to hide them from the wrath of the lamb, actually they said to the rocks, “fall on us” imagine a rock falling on you, but to them this was much better than facing the wrath of the lamb, I am telling you brother, sister it is going to be horrible, glory to God you are saved from it, but what about your loved ones, what about the other souls that Christ died for. Let us lay down our lives for the brethren, for he who loses his life for the kingdom will gain it but he who keeps it will lose it.

Revelation 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

Revelation 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

Back to Top

CHAPTER 13: YOUR WORK IS NOT IN VAIN.

He who loses his life for Christ’s sake shall find it.

Pretending that missionary work is a walk over would be a lie and therefore a sin, it is not easy at all times, sometimes missionaries tire, sometimes they are discouraged, disappointed by the fruits of their labour, disappointed by family, by the senders, etc. Sometimes they miss the life out there, they miss fellowship with fellow believers especially those in areas where there are no believers at all. Sometimes they receive unwelcome notes, they are persecuted and so many discouraging things, the list goes on. I just want to encourage you missionary reading this that whatever you are doing is not in vain and the suffering you face in this day cannot be compared to the later glory. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Take heart missionary; endure the persecutions for when your work will be tested it will stand.

1Cor 3:13-15 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

If no one appreciates what you are doing now, if your target group is deep in the woods where no man can see what you are doing, don’t give up, stay right there, preach the word and one day, your work shall be manifest and you will receive the crown due your efforts.

Take courage missionary, fight the good fight, finish your race with your faith intact and you will rejoice at the fruits of your labor. Even if you suffer afflictions for the sake of the gospel, be ye not ashamed of preaching the gospel of Christ, knowing the one you believed and being persuaded that He is able to keep that which you have committed unto him until that great day, be of good cheer.

There are times when my state of being wants to discourage me from preaching the gospel of Christ, it speaks to me saying if His freedom cannot be seen in some areas of your life how dare you open your mouth to say that He is Lord and that He can set free, look at yourself. But I am encouraged by the letters of Paul where he explains that their state of being did not hinder them from preaching the gospel, for everything that they seemed to be was just the exact opposite of who they really were.

2Corinthians 6:4-10 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Matthew19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Even when no man may stand with you or believe you, though they beguile you, forget about them for the Lord is with you to strengthen you, that by you the preaching might be fully known and that all the unbelievers might hear. The Lord will deliver you out of the mouth of the lion and from every evil work and He will preserve you unto His heavenly Kingdom.

Faithful is He that calls you who also will do it.

Back to Top

Some Food for Thought

Common Mission Quotes

“A church without missions or a mission without the church are both contradictions. Such things do exist, but only as pseudo structures” (Carl E. Braaten. The Flaming Center. 1977:55)

God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit [is] expanded to include yet another “movement”: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world.”(David Bosch, Transforming Mission).

“A mission which becomes a commercial concern may end by ceasing to be a mission” — (Stephen Neill)

“The calling of the church in every culture is to be mission.That is, the work of the church is not to be an agent or servant of the culture. The church’s mission is to be the presence of the kingdom. The church’s mission is to show the world what it looks like when a community of people live under the reign of God” (Robert Webber, The Younger Evangelicals, 2002, 133).

“The church has given bread to the poor and has kept the bread of life for the middle class” Viv Grigg, Cry of the Urban Poor

“The effectiveness of the gospel is hindered by insensitive affluence that makes social relationships not only difficult but embarrassing; for as long as there is an economic gap between missionaries and their converts, fraternal fellowship is difficult to maintain.In the end, the gospel that the missionary tries to proclaim is watered down, not intentionally but watered down nonetheless” (Nthamburi, “Wealthy Missionaries:An

African Viewpoint,” In Bonk’s Mi$$ion$ and Money.

“The use of money is like a two-edged sword:It can empower missions on the one hand while hindering or destroying it on

the other.Money can empower missions by (1) supporting effective missionaries to open new areas of the world to the Gospel, (2) partnering with developing national churches to train and oversee effective national leaders, and (3) developing media and materials to strengthen specific local ministries.Money can hinder missions by (1) creating unhealthy dependence, (2) controlling churches which should be self-supporting, (3) creating jealousy between those supported by the West and those not supported, (4) unknowingly attracting leeches and con-men who hope for benefits, support, or a chance to study abroad, and (5) over-support of missionaries who physically separate themselves from the people among whom they hope to minister” (Van Rheenen, Monthly

Missiological Reflection #2, “Money and Mi$$ion$,”

“Preach the gospel always, and if necessary, use words” – (St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis of Assisi)

“The missionary who is immediately immersed in the local community has many advantages. If the newcomer lives with a local family, he or she can learn how the insiders organize their lives, how they get their food, and do their shopping, and how they get around with public transportation. Much can be learned during the first months about the insiders’ attitudes and their feelings about the ways foreigners live. As the new comer experiences an alternative lifestyle, he or she can evaluate the value of adopting it. On the other hand, the missionary whose first priority is to get settled will only be able to settle in a familiar way. Since nothing else has been experienced, no other options are possible. And once a missionary is comfortably settled in the old life-style, that person is virtually locked into a pattern that is foreign to the local people.” – (E. Thomas and Elizabeth S. Brewster. “The Difference Bonding Makes” in Perspectives of the World Christian Movement [3rd Edition]. 1999:445)

“Missionaries must cross linguistic, cultural, and social boundaries to proclaim the gospel in new settings. They must translate and communicate the Bible in the languages of people in other cultures so that it speaks to them in the particularities of their lives. They must bridge between divine revelation and human contexts, and provide biblical answers to the confusing problems of everyday life. Their central question is: ‘What is God’s Word to humans in this particular situation?’” — (Paul G. Hiebert, R. Daniel Shaw, and Tite Tienou.Understanding Folk Religion. 1999:26)

“Martyrdom and mission belong together. Martyrdom is especially at home on the mission field” (Hans von Campenhausen.

“Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God!” — (William Carey)

“The church exists by missions like fire exists by burning” (Emil Brunner).

Back to Top

##### END #####

About the Author

Gorette Nakyangwe is a Born Again Christian, born and raised in Uganda, East Africa with a special passion for mission work, desiring to see souls all over the world turning to Christ. After going for several short term missions , paying visits to fulltime missionaries and working with Mission Agencies Gorette decided to put together in writing that which she learnt through those escapades.

She is also a writer of Christian fiction and non-fiction books and novels aimed at spreading the gospel through all life aspects.

Connect with me online at:

http://www.facebook.com/godchosenblessed%20

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Gorette

twitter.com/nmgorette

mailto:http://nmgorette@gmail.com

Table of Contents

Introduction

CHAPTER 1- MISSIONS

CHAPTER 2- MISSIONARIES

CHAPTER 3- SHORT TERM MISSIONS

CHAPTER 4- THE CIRUCLAR PROCESS OF CHURCH PLANTING

CHAPTER 5- LONG TERM MISSIONS

CHAPTER 6- THE REALITY, Challenges of Fulltime Missionary Work .

CHAPTER 7- FAMILY AND MISSIONS

CHAPTER 8- HAVING AN EFFECTIVE LONG AND FULLTIME MISSION

CHAPTER 9- SENDER MISSIONARIES

CHAPTER 10 - INTERCESSORS

CHAPTER 11- THE ROLE OF CHURCH LEADERS

CHAPTER 12- HELL IS REAL

CHAPTER 13- YOUR WORK IS NOT IN VAIN

Food for Thought

About the Author