Of course I am not saying that everyone should be approved for the field. We certainly don’t approve all who apply. There are many valid reasons to turn someone away, including wrong motivations and attitudes, a lack of counting and resolving to pay the costs of service, or just the simple voice of the Spirit of God making it clear that it is not His will. But my frustration lies in the reasons that the North American church leaders are using to hold people back.
But Is It Safe?
Frequently I will find myself in a dialogue with a pastor or other church leader in which they are grilling me about the condition in which the potential missionaries from their congregation will serve. Here are the questions they often ask:
How safe is Guatemala?
How good is the healthcare there?
Is it a good place to raise children?
What are the schools like?
Will they have a good network of believers around them?
How frequent are your earthquakes/floods/volcanic eruptions/mudslides?
I am sure some of you are reading this and thinking, “So what’s the problem? These seem like good questions to me.” The problem is this: None of these things have anything to do with the call of God. They are simply developed country concerns that are used by the enemy to keep people from going and making disciples.
Where is the urgency and courage that drove the early church? Where is the dedication and determination that has driven missionaries for almost 2,000 years to lay down their lives for the sake of the Kingdom? When did the people who claim to have the assurance of heaven become cowards, concerned more with their own comfort and safety than the world Jesus died to save?
I grew up in church, hearing the stories of men and women who went to foreign mission fields, suffered great hardships, and often gave their lives. And their families often paid the price of missions along with them. These people were considered heroes of the faith. Why do we suddenly feel that we are exempt from taking the same risks and making the same sacrifices? We are not. In fact, due to our access to information from around the world, we are more accountable now than ever. We can no longer claim ignorance to the global need for Jesus. We see it everyday on our computers, cell phones, and televisions. We cannot pretend to be obedient to Jesus without going and sending! And we cannot use issues such as safety, comfort and family as excuses to hold ourselves or others back. And those who claim to be ministers of the Gospel are more accountable to this truth than anyone.
May God have mercy on us as leaders if we hold people back from the mission field for the sake of earthly concerns such as safety and comfort. And God forgive us if we communicate that our faith that is based upon the Heavenly Father giving His only Son as a sacrifice does not require our own children to sacrifice for the spread of the life-giving Gospel. No matter what our Jesus asks of us, He is worthy, and it is worth it!
If you are a pastor who has allowed the comfort of your developed-country existence to rob you of the urgency of the Gospel for our world, please step out of your pulpit and come see the world around you. Walk among the broken and the dying and see, firsthand, the desperate need for the church and the Good News. If, after that, you don’t have an urgency, resign and go do something you believe in, because you don’t believe in the Gospel that Jesus died to bring.
Seriously.
