We had been in our host country as your IMB missionaries for less than a year—plenty of time to feel completely inadequate for the task and grow increasingly paralyzed by fear. The government watched our every move. The Muslim neighborhood we frequented welcomed us with cautious curiosity. They welcomed Americans—just not American missionaries.
Missionaries are people too. They need support and structure when fear threatens to weaken their resolve.
We wrestled with a growing realization that our years of preparation—not to mention the decades of efforts by missionary organizations to access this people group—could be snuffed out by one wrong move. Our initial enthusiasm slowly gave way to caution. Caution gave way to fear, and fear stole our resolve.
What do you fear?
I remember it was a cold, rainy Thanksgiving morning. I opened my Bible to listen and pray. I don’t remember what passage I read. But I will never forget what God said: “Fear is an act of worship.” There was no time to break out the study tools to nuance the difference between the fear of God and the fear of man because the Spirit was already applying this lesson to my life. I was directing my worship to the wrong object, and this fear was killing my resolve.
Matthew wrote his gospel to a church in a similar situation. This church of mostly Jewish Christians lived a “ghetto-like existence in Syria.” (David Bosch, Transforming Mission, 79-80). They found themselves in an increasingly hostile situation: despised by the Romans for being Jews and despised by the Jews for being Christian.
“The fear of lesser things is an act of worship that robs us of our resolve.”
Yet, this is the gospel that reaches its climax in the Great Commission, to go and make disciples of all peoples.
Matthew is emphasizing what Jesus had told him. In other words, “Are you despised by the Jews? Do you live in fear of the Romans? Get out of the ghetto, and go make disciples.” Fear was killing their resolve.
The text appears to support this idea as well. Matthew 28:17 reports, “And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.” (NASB) The word “some” can be translated as “they.” Likewise, when Matthew uses the word “doubt” in 14:31, Peter’s “doubt” looks more like a fearful response to wind and waves than unbelief in Jesus (Köstenberger and O’Brien, Salvation to the Ends of the Earth, 102-03). Textually and contextually, Matthew 28:17 can read “And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but they lacked resolve.”
Peter feared the wind and waves. Matthew feared the rising costs of following Jesus. This Syrian church feared the Jews and Romans. I feared the government and religious leaders. The fear of lesser things is an act of worship that robs us of our resolve.
What to do when you lose resolve
I visit a lot of churches. I meet a lot of precious believers. They worship. They love Jesus. They really do. But when it comes to the Great Commission, they may lack resolve. They fear the barriers of language and culture. They fear the questions they can’t answer and the arguments they can’t win. They retreat in the face of social pressure to keep their religious opinions to themselves. As Andrew Murray says, they consider the Great Commission “a command beyond their strength” (Murray, Perspectives, 831).
“We find our resolve when we remember that King Jesus is with those on mission with him.”
They’re not alone. One of the most tragic stories in modern missions began in 1910 at the Edinburgh Missions Conference. More than a thousand delegates from Europe and America gathered at the meeting entitled “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation.” Delegates and speakers met the challenge with enthusiasm and optimism.
Yet, in less than 50 years, following two world wars, the movement ground to a halt, and many mainline denominations began to abandon international missions altogether. Edinburgh had lost its resolve.
How did I find my resolve that cold November morning? Scripture lifted my eyes above the wind and waves and fixed them on the risen Son of God who’s been given all authority over all people. That’s what Jesus did for Matthew on the mountain in Galilee. That’s what Matthew did for the Syrian church in the closing chapters of his gospel. We find our resolve when we remember that King Jesus is with those on mission with him.
A community to strengthen our resolve
But that’s not all. As a Southern Baptist, I belonged to a missionary sending structure. 43,000 Southern Baptist churches contribute to the Cooperative Program, and these contributions support the work of sending agencies like the IMB. The IMB works alongside sending churches to equip, send, and support international missionaries. This help proves critical when missionaries lose their resolve.
That’s why we need Missionary Sending Cohorts. These cohorts are a vital part of a sending structure that helps local churches identify, equip, send, and support members for the vast array of Great Commission tasks. Missionary Sending Cohorts tackle the international challenge.
More reasons to establish a Missionary Sending Cohort:
1. This cohort increases the pool of Great Commission workers.
Right now, only a handful of churches intentionally identify and equip their members for international missions. Most of this work takes place in our seminaries and college student ministries. Missionary Sending Cohorts are based in the local church. For those churches that don’t have the internal resources to form a cohort, churches can partner together. These cohorts can greatly expand the current pool of Great Commission workers.
2. We need international missionaries at the local level.
Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the US. Our city serves as one of the largest refugee resettlement cities in the world. The nations are coming to Houston. We need people equipped to go to them.
3. The cohort equips participants for international missions.
This cohort is a two-semester workshop that equips believers in the theory and practice of the 6 core missionary tasks: entry, evangelism, discipleship, church formation, leadership training, and engaging new fields. This small group of participants meets every other week, taking the week off in between to apply what’s being learned.
4. The cohort equips participants to strengthen their Great Commission resolve.
Knowing what to expect and what to do strengthens our resolve when facing the challenges of international missions. Cohorts nurture relationships between believers who will experience similar challenges.
Additionally, participants are intimately connected to the local church since the training originates there. These relationships provide vital sources of encouragement when the challenges come.
5. International missions thrive through sending structures.
Many mainline mission agencies lost their nerve between 1910 and the 1960s. But agencies like the International Mission Board thrived when others faltered. These structures enabled agencies to survive theological challenges, the financial crisis of the Great Depression, and two world wars. Similar to national agencies, local sending structures are critical to the Great Commission task in the local church.
How Structure Helps
A case in point.
In 1929, the China Inland Mission issued a call for 200 additional missionaries to join their missionary force in China. This call came in the face of 5 missionaries recently martyred and an increasingly hostile climate. In January 1931, Frank Houghton published the hymn “A Task Unfinished” to the tune of “The Church’s One Foundation.”
“The awakening we see in China today came from the heavy lifting of yesterday’s sending structures.”
The first verse declares:
Facing a task unfinished
That drives us to our knees
A need yet undiminished
Rebukes our slothful ease
We, who rejoice to know Thee
Renew before Thy throne
The solemn pledge we owe Thee
To go and make Thee known.
By the end of that year, 200 missionaries had answered the call.
The awakening we see in China today came from the heavy lifting of yesterday’s sending structures. Even more than those structures outside the church, we need sending structures in the local church that identify, equip, send, and support missionaries for the vast array of Great Commission tasks.
If you’re interested in establishing a missionary sending cohort, contact me a cris@ubahouston.org.
As the Senior Consultant for Sending Pathways, Cris Alley helps support the local church in thinking and acting like missionaries.
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Missionaries are made by an internal and external call.