3. Missionaries are spiritual giants.
The third fallacy, which I briefly addressed earlier, is that the title “missionary” is, necessarily, a high spiritual rank. There is nothing in the definition of missions that implies a spiritual hierarchy among missionary and non-missionary disciple-makers. Missionaries are simply disciple-makers in foreign places, particularly among people groups who do not have self-sustaining churches. Now, they are certainly different in that they require more resources to do this task since, in their foreign context with no churches, they face the unique disadvantages of being culturally illiterate and lacking Christian fellowship. However, these disadvantages have nothing to do, necessarily, with relative spiritual maturity.
This fallacy may discourage some to consider missions because it implies that a high degree of spiritual competence is needed to earn the title missionary. For instance, suppose a person considering missions thinks, “Fine, I’ve got a skill set that will get me in to an unreached country, but I’m am not a spiritual giant. I can’t be a missionary.”
My response is that if there is absolutely no missionary among a people group, then even a minimally competent disciple-maker is substantially better than none at all. He would be the best disciple-maker in the entire country!
You May Be More Qualified Than You Thought
So, you may be far more qualified than you think both in terms of spiritual fitness (or lack thereof) and vocational usefulness for the very specific task of missions. Whether you are still in school and pursuing a “secular” degree or have completed your formal education and are working in the “marketplace,” I hope you can see that your vocation may not only not be an obstacle to missions but may very well be the unique key to unlock the door to a particular “closed” country unreached by the gospel.
