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Bryan: How do you know when you're ready? Brooks and Chad have talked about this in previous episodes on calling and preparation, but there's a critical step that's easy to overlook, and that's membership in your local church. Church membership is important for every Christian, and it's easy to take for granted. But for sending churches, it serves a unique purpose. Faithfulness in church membership is one of the primary ways church leaders can gauge a Christian's readiness to be sent to the field. This idea of assessing readiness is behind our question for Chad this week. Our question comes from Holly who asked, "How long should you be a member at a church before you go to the elders about global missions?"
Chad: Thank you for your question, Holly. In answering the question, "how long should you be a member of your church before you go to the elders about global missions?" it's important that we establish a few principles.
Our first principle really is inferred in your question, but bears stating. The first principle is this: Christ sends through the instrument of His spirit-empowered church. Paul asks in Romans 10:15, "And how are they to preach unless they are sent?" So we know that gospel ministers must be sent. Further, we're told in Ephesians 4:7-11 that Jesus gave the gift of officers to His Church. And those men are set apart by the Holy Spirit according to Acts 20:28, through the laying on of hands by the elders according to 1 Timothy 4:14. And I suspect that you know this and really are inferring your knowledge of this in your question. And thus you're asking how long should a member wait before seeking the elders about foreign missions. And that really drives us to a second principle.
The elders must be sure that a church member is biblically qualified and trained before sending them. Let me point out three biblical texts that indicate this truth. First, we are told regarding the office of an elder in 1 Timothy 3:6, that he must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. So while you're not asking to become an elder, you are asking your elders to set you apart for full-time gospel ministry. Thus, we should expect a similar standard of character and maturity. In fact, Paul addresses this when he says in 1 Timothy 5:22, "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands and thereby take part in the sins of others." And I think the NASB gets the connection right in this verse when it translates the text to indicate that if the elders are hasty in the laying on of hands of setting someone apart for full-time gospel ministry, then the elders will take part in that person's sin because they have hastily sent out someone who's not sufficiently mature in the faith. And so when that person scandalizes the church, they bear some responsibility for that. Finally, 2 Timothy 2:2 says, "What you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." Note that Paul wants Timothy to entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. And there are two obvious comments to make here. First, the man must be proven faithful— these are the kinds of people we send into full-time gospel ministry, faithful people. Second, they must be entrusted with the things passed down from the apostles, or the apostles' doctrine. And that requires thorough training and examination in the doctrines of the faith that we proclaim.
And this all leads me to my third principle. And this might surprise you, but if you're a faithful member of a church and you want to go into full-time missionary work, then you ought to approach your elders as soon as they will allow you to come and express your desire. You see, you desire a noble task. You should tell them you desire this and you should trust them to pray for you and speak into your life and to guide you down that road beginning as early as possible.
Now, there are some areas where your elders may not feel equipped to guide you if you're on the road to ministry to unreached language groups. They may wonder about what they do not know and what you do not know. And if that's the case, as it was for my own elders when we started down this road, then reach out to Missionary or to Radius International, and we're happy to provide some advice to your elders about training, qualifying, and sending missionaries to unreached language groups. It would likely prove helpful for you and for some of your elders or pastors, deacons or missions team leaders to come down to a Radius day in order to learn more about our training and to interact with folks who can help you all think through next steps. As an aside, if your church is part of the Presbyterian Reformed world, then we invite your pastors, elders, and deacons to Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary's missions midweekers, which we put on each year. Or you can contact the Paton Society, a new Presbyterian Reformed sending org to unreached language groups, to gain more guidance.
Finally, we already provided some help for how to send well in episode 33 of Ask Missionary. So I encourage you to check that out. To review, here are your next steps: reach out to your elders soon, ask for guidance and prayer, and don't be afraid to point them to resources that you've learned about that can help them walk you through this. Remember, you need their involvement because having a good sending church is key to being sent well and to being sustained in faithful long-term ministry on the foreign field.
Bryan: If you're a pastor or leader in your church and want to learn more about your congregation's role in sending missionaries, visit missionary.com/partner. There you'll find out more about Missionary's church partnership program dedicated to preparing local churches to send well. And if you have a question about missions, drop us a note and your question may be featured on an upcoming episode. Don't forget to subscribe and to tune in to next week's episode of Ask Missionary. Thanks for listening.