People sometimes place unfair expectations on missionaries that they support. They might expect the missionary to convert an entire nation to Christ before their first furlough. They might expect the missionary to become their child’s foreign language tutor. They might expect that someone living on missionary support would never buy their child ice cream because it is not essential to the mission. I think we can all understand that these are unfair expectations.
But what are good and proper expectations of a missionary?
I believe we should have expectations of the missionaries we send around the world. In this article, we’ll look at five things we should expect of every missionary we send out.
But first, who needs this information? You might be a part of a church’s missions committee or a missions board. You might be sending money as part of a church, or you might be someone who sends a check as an individual. If any of that describes you, what should you expect of that missionary who’s doing the work you’re supporting?
Before we get to the five expectations, one more thing: Let’s assume a couple baseline qualifications for every missionary we support. First, we should be able to vouch for their Christian character, for example, seeing in their lives the kinds of church leader qualifications we find in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Second, they need to have a clear, convictional belief in the gospel. Let’s say those things are in place. (And if you’re not sure, I encourage you to lean in and cultivate a more intentional relationship.) If they are people of good character who believe the gospel, what else should we expect of them?
5. Expect Communication
The world has changed in our digital age. With everything from electronic newsletters to social media, there are so many ways that you, the supporter, can keep in contact with the missionaries you support. As a missionary myself, I can easily talk face-to-face with supporters, for example, on FaceTime with blazing fast internet in Tokyo. Even if the communication isn’t personalized directly to you, you should have some kind of communication with those you support.
I recommend missionaries give regular updates, for example, in regular newsletters. One piece of advice I have for fellow missionaries is that their newsletter should answer specific questions related to the mission. For example, “How did you help move the mission forward last month?” and, “What did you do over the last 30 days to accomplish the mission you said you were going to do?” The missionaries you support need to communicate with you, and they shouldn’t be afraid of good questions you might have. It is okay to expect that they would be telling you what they’re doing.
“The missionaries you support need to communicate with you, and they shouldn’t be afraid of good questions you might have.”
4. Expect a Good Strategy
Someone might ask, “Well, aren’t all strategies good if their intentions are to spread the gospel?” Well, no. Some strategies are not good. You might listen to some strategies and think, “I don’t know any way that is going to work.” It is okay to challenge a strategy and try to figure out if it’s a viable ministry that has a chance of producing fruit. It’s okay to ask questions such as,
- Does this work out financially?
- Do you have the team to do that?
- Do you have the resources?
- Do you have the know-how to pull that off?
Making sure that the strategy makes sense is an okay thing to do. Asking strategy questions could make someone uncomfortable, but go ahead and try to poke holes in it. They too have probably thought of different ways that it could go wrong. It’s okay—and helpful—to ask those hard questions.
I could share many stories, but I’ll simply say there are times I have heard people talk about their strategy, I’ve thought, There is no way, and then I’ve asked, “How long have you been trying this?”
The response is something like, “Oh, six years or so.”
“And what kind of fruit are you seeing?”
“Well, we haven’t seen any yet.” It’s okay to expect that they would have a good strategy for the biblical mission they’re hoping to accomplish.
“It is okay to challenge a strategy and try to figure out if it’s a viable ministry that has a chance of producing fruit.”
3. Expect They Will Execute Their Strategy
Number three is connected to the previous expectation. Once they have a good strategy that makes sense, you need to be able to expect that they will execute their strategy.
In my own context, we are trying to make disciples through planting gospel-centered churches in urban Japan. And we have strategies to do this: We have teams, and each teammate has a role to play. We have strategized ways to do outreach so we can try to connect to the 99% of Japan that doesn’t believe in Jesus with the gospel. We have the strategy, but the next thing our sending churches and supporters should expect is that we then try to execute that strategy. They should be able to look into our lives and see that we’ve been putting in the effort this month, this year, etc. They need to see that we’ve been making progress.
Now, this doesn’t mean that supporters should be able to see equal fruitfulness across all missions contexts. Someone could watch our progress in a largely unreached place like Japan, compare it to another country where they’re experiencing nationwide revival, and think, “Oh my goodness, what you’ve done in 10 years they did in one week!” Not all contexts are equally receptive, and none of us can control all the results. Nonetheless, it should be evident that the missionaries you support have been putting solid effort into implementing a good strategy. It’s valid to ask, “In what ways have you been trying to execute that good strategy that you came up with?”
“It should be evident that the missionaries you support have been putting solid effort into implementing a good strategy.”
2. Expect Disciple Making
You should expect the missionaries you support to make disciples. This is the goal, and it should not be controversial. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples.” Our efforts should culminate in more and more disciples of Jesus.
Now, if you talk to someone who says something like, “Well, actually, our particular work is more of a leadership training role, as we’re training the leaders who are making disciples among their people,” that can be a fair strategy. But you still need to ask the question, “Okay, of the people that you equipped, did they end up making disciples? Of the resource that you created, did it help make disciples? Of the event that you planned, did it help make disciples? Did it catalyze someone else to make disciples?”
Somewhere along the road, were your efforts tied to making disciples of Jesus Christ? If not, there’s some flaw somewhere. It is okay for you, as a church or individual sending people into the mission field, to expect that disciples would be made. That is the mission. Let’s not lose sight of that.
1. Expect Them to Get the Gospel to Lost People
And number one, you should expect that they are getting the gospel to lost people. This is inextricably connected to number two (making disciples). It is how you make a disciple: you get the gospel to a lost person. Romans 1:16 says that the power unto salvation is the gospel. We need to make sure that the gospel message—what Jesus did, his death for our sins, his resurrection, his offer of salvation by grace through faith—gets to lost people. If that’s not getting to lost people, then we’re not going to see a lot of disciples made.
Someone might have very good intentions or lofty goals. They might say, “Yeah, we’re really hoping to see a revival. We’re hoping to see an awakening. We’d like to see 10,000 people brought to Christ.”
And it’s good to then ask, “Okay. How many lost people have heard the gospel through your ministry?”
“Well, four.”
It’s simple math. If you share the gospel with four people, you’re not going to see 10,000 disciples made. That’s just not how it works.
And even if you are sending someone who is not a front-line worker—perhaps they’re a professor, or an accountant, or an admin, etc.—no matter what, you should expect that a part of their life is speaking the gospel message and getting others to hear it. Whoever you’re sending should be able to take the opportunity on the street, on the train, in the marketplace, etc. to speak the gospel message. We should expect that of the people we send around the world.
“We need to make sure that the gospel message gets to lost people.”
Conclusion
Again, assuming good Christian character and belief in the gospel as a baseline, these are five things that you should expect of the missionaries you send:
- Expect communication.
- Expect a good strategy.
- Expect they will execute their strategy.
- Expect disciple making.
- Expect them to get the gospel to lost people.
Time is short. And Jesus and his gospel are worth it.
For this content in video form, check out Jay’s video HERE.
