The City of Darkness, an excerpt from The Mind of a Missionary
English cricketer C.T. Studd (1860 – 1931), circa 1882. One of the Cambridge Seven, he was an author, a contributor to The Fundamentals, and was founder of Heart of Africa Mission that became Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade. He died in the Belgian Congo, carrying out missionary work.
Image: Wikimedia Common
In 1922, at the height of his spiritual yield in Africa, renowned British cricketer, C. T. Studd, received great pressure to return home. “The apostle to that region” faced illness and summons back to Britain. Even after a lifetime of Kingdom service in China, India, and now Central Africa, looming social expectations from his country of origin weighed heavily on him. But by then, he was a well-known witness in Ibambi (a city in the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo.) The sixty-one-year-old “gaunt figure with the thick beard, aquiline nose, burning words, and yet merry laugh” blazed new Gospel trails in the heart of the African continent toward the end of his missionary career. “How could I spend the best years of my life in living for the honors of this world, when thousands of souls are perishing every day?” he challenged. The missionary stood his ground against the supposed well-intentioned expectations of others. “Had I cared for the comments of people,” he said, “I should never have been a missionary.”[xvii]
A wide array of subtler expectations marks the stories of missionaries serving abroad. In Mission Smart, David Frazier says,
Today, workers often feel pressure from within themselves or from their churches to do something in ministry. Such expectations may stem from the focus of their Bible and missions training, from the pace of their lives before they arrived, or from Western success standards.[xviii]
Jesus plainly called us to bear fruit that lasts; but He also stated that all fruitfulness flows from intimacy with Him.[xix] God is not looking for mindless gears in the missionary machine, but passionate lovers who seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.[xx] He is not looking for “payback” from His people in the form of reluctant obedience. God is relational above all else; His love propels and sustains His followers. His mission does not hinge upon our begrudging compliance; He cares for the well-being of His sons and daughters. But such pressure to perform on the field often results in fatigue, broken relationships, or missionary attrition (which we will explore in chapter seven).
“In my years of missionary service, I have come across many pastors and church leaders who cared more about a return on investment than the missionaries themselves.” Steve Schirmer is the president of Silk Road Catalyst and a former full-time missionary in China. He feels that many sending churches convey harmful expectations to their missionaries. “I personally experienced this phenomenon,” he said.
One of our supposed ‘partner churches’ communicated only in regards to numbers. They wanted to know our five-year plan, how many churches we planted, and how many converts we made. But their interactions were never relational; not once did they ask about the spiritual, emotional, or physical health of our family.[xxi]
Do we or do we not believe there are thousands of souls dying every day and entering eternity without God?
“It is imperative that missionaries and churches protect the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of those going out,” missionary coach Sarita Hartz confirmed; “that they don’t unwittingly send the message that the missionary is worth less than the mission.”[xxii]
Category: Ministry, Winter 2019
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