discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University
discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University
discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University
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245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 146<br />
146 Developing Tomorrow’s Missionaries<br />
3. Creating a Network<br />
Though they have been “set apart” in the words of Acts 13:2, future missionaries<br />
must not isolate themselves. People feeling a call should seek to develop<br />
relationships with veteran missionaries as well as with mission mobilizers<br />
and others who are passionate about world evangelism. Throughout their careers,<br />
missionaries need a circle of prayer supporters interceding for them. Missionaries<br />
need people they can turn to for advice and counsel. They need people<br />
who can provide financial resources. These networks take time to create;<br />
they cannot be put together the week before cross-cultural deployment.<br />
How long it takes to walk through all the steps from hearing a call to deployment<br />
varies greatly from person to person and is, of course, somewhat dependent<br />
upon the age at which God’s call comes. However, the faithful and<br />
even dogged walking through the various steps will demonstrate to a mission<br />
board how determined people are about fulfilling their missionary call. It will<br />
say something about the potential for effective service in a vocation that requires<br />
tremendous tenacity.<br />
God does desire a relationship with every people group on earth. To that<br />
end, He calls people to be His agents of reconciliation, to bear the Good News<br />
to those of “every nation, tribe, language and people” (Revelation 14:6). The<br />
Church must pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth workers and then it<br />
must be ready to mentor, train, deploy, and support those workers.<br />
Questions for Reflection<br />
1. How is the general call to all Christians to witness both different from and<br />
similar to a missionary call?<br />
2. What constitutes a call? What are some ways that a missionary call may be<br />
received?<br />
3. What is the Psalm 25 pattern for receiving guidance?<br />
4. Why not become a missionary because of the great need?<br />
5. Why are there not enough missionaries to match the needs of world evangelization?<br />
6. What is the significance of the 4-14 window?<br />
7. In what ways can expatriate missionaries think of themselves in relation to<br />
the churches they are seeking to establish?<br />
8. What can a pastor do to mentor a young person who has a missionary call?<br />
How can others in that person’s life be mentors?<br />
9. What qualifications are important for missionary candidates?
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