discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

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1540s when he pleaded for young people to join him as missionaries to Asia.
From India while on his way to Japan, Xavier wrote back to his alma mater, the
University of Paris, “Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and
come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ.” 3
Some, like George Verwer of Operation Mobilisation, have sounded a similar
note. Verwer, a proponent of radical discipleship, has said, “If you’re not
called to stay, then go!” 4 In the early 1980s, Keith Green had a song with the
words, “Jesus commands us to go; it should be the exception if we stay.” Verwer,
Green, and others like them see the general call to be so urgent that they
have said all believers should expect to enter missionary service unless they feel
a specific call not to go.
The Missionary Call
Developing Tomorrow’s Missionaries 135
Sentiments like George Verwer’s “if you’re not called to stay, go” underscore
the pressing nature of the mission task. They reflect how heavily world evangelism
weighs on the heart of God. However, using the general call to motivate individuals
to become expatriate missionaries is not in line with the way God
called individuals in Bible times. It does not fit either with the testimonies of
missionaries throughout Church history. Paul, for example, wrote about the clear
sense he had that God had asked him to go to the Gentiles. Paul did not go to
the Gentiles simply because he saw the Abrahamic covenant saying that God
wanted His people to reach out to all peoples. Rather, Paul went to the Gentiles
because He became convinced that the Lord was telling him personally to go.
Because missionaries have testified to being called in different ways, what
constitutes a missionary call can seem hard to define precisely. Indeed, God’s
call to special service may come in a variety of ways. God startled Moses with
His unexpected call through a burning bush (Exodus 3:1—4:17). God’s call
may come during a dramatic vision, as it did to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-13). God’s
call may come as a voice in the night as it did to a little boy named Samuel (1
Samuel 3:1-11). The call may give rise to some uncertainties that need to be
cleared away, as was the case with Gideon (Judges 6:36-40). The realization of
a divine call may arrive like the gradual dawning of a new day, beginning in a
dim way and then increasing in intensity and clarity. The call can be a simple
“Come, follow me,” as it was for several of the Twelve (Matthew 4:19; 9:9). In
their situation, as it has been for many today, the Lord’s clear leading was
through a series of small steps with missionary service not being envisioned at
first. When John left his father’s fishing business on the Sea of Galilee, for example,
he had no idea he would eventually become the leader of the church in
the Gentile city of Ephesus.