Preparation for Missionary Service
A TV series many have enjoyed is called, “Alone.” Each season begins with ten people, men and women, taken into super-remote, far northern forests in late fall, and left there, with no contact between them and no connection to loved ones.
They each have ten tools for their survival, including bow and arrows, ax, saw, fire-starter, two tarps, sleeping bag, and a few others. They have to build their own shelters, find their own food, and protect themselves from predators. It’s a contest, to see who can last the longest totally on their own, alone. The winner gets a million dollars.
Season after season the same basic process occurs: Most contestants tap out due to the isolation from loved ones. Some last a few days; others several months. But it’s the isolation that finally drives the majority of contestants to quit. How did they emotionally prepare for the challenge? Thus far there has been no formulaic answer. They just did it.
Being a missionary is somewhat like “Alone,” at least in the first year or two. It’s different in that missionaries are surrounded by human beings, and have some occasional contact with folks who speak their language and provide various insights and resources for them. But the isolation is often palpable.
In “Alone,” finding food is a huge part of the challenge. As a missionary, learning to go to the market (whatever that may mean in each culture) is one of the first challenges. How does one say, “banana” in Cambodian or Dari? How much is a pound in Malay or Swahili? Language acquisition is essential to endurance, some of it happening Stateside prior to going.
In “Alone,” the contestants are the outsiders. Insiders include deer, musk ox, bears, cougars, rabbits, mice, wolverines, hawks, eagles, and perhaps moose or reindeer; and most of the insiders (except he bears and cougars) are leery of the outsiders in their forest. On the mission field, missionaries are the outsiders and the insiders initially wonder why-in-the-heck these foreigners are in their world…, at all.
So how does one go about emotionally preparing for being an outsider in a foreign culture, with limited language skills, perhaps a family to help integrate into that culture, and isolation from everything that’s familiar and everyone you love?
I suppose the Apostle Paul faced these issues as he traveled. Indeed, as Christianity spread throughout the world, it happened to just about every believer who followed Jesus’ call to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” So it’s not a new challenge. But it is a challenge.
Yes, there are a few formulaic aids: Prayer, scripture, language training, taking a short-term mission trip or two, and it certainly helps in this era to have tools like Facetime and Zoom. But as Lee Iacocca once said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
In “Alone,” keeping the purpose of winning $1,000,000.00 and being the best of the bunch is the reason for both going and staying. It forces creativity; provides motivation in the midst of hunger. It sees solutions that would never have been noticed without being forced to seek them.
So it is with missions. Creativity, a clear focus on calling and purpose, a commitment to endure, plus prayer, plus God’s word and promises, plus eking out preliminary friendships with language tutors and indigenous folks, plus tenacity. That’s what missions is all about. And quite frankly, some go to the field with full knowledge of all the above, and still, the isolation and stress are too much. That’s OK. Perhaps that was the issue with John Mark quitting Paul’s first missionary journey. Whether it was or not, he was still used by God – it’s called, “The Gospel of Mark.”
The winners don’t get a million dollars. They get “stars on their crown,” which is a quasi-biblical metaphor for being rewarded for faithfulness with what God entrusts to us. Yes, God does reward, lavishly.
It really comes down to God’s calling, which is probably why Paul wrote,
“He who calls you is faithful, he will surely do it.” 1 Thes. 5:24.
John Splinter serves on the staff of GlobalGrace