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Bryan: When the Lord spoke to Moses from the burning bush and told him, "Come, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt," Moses's first instinct was to doubt his fitness for the task and respond with a list of questions that demanded miraculous signs to convince him. Missionaries who aspire to go to the unreached today might wish for a miraculous command like Moses got. But like in Exodus 3 and 4, our doubts about what kind of work we're suited for still need to be addressed. Listener Zach John gets at the root of this problem with a question for Pastor Chad Vegas: How would you counsel someone thinking through fit for majority language work versus unreached language group work?
Chad: Thank you for your question, Zach John. Let me begin where I begin with everyone. I believe that everyone who is seeking gospel ministry, whether at home or in the foreign mission field, should begin with six commitments.
First, commit to praying daily and asking the Lord for wisdom. James says that if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask the Lord. And I am never sufficiently aware of how utterly dependent I am upon the Spirit of God to give me such wisdom. And I'm sure that's true for everyone else. So we need to commit to praying, to ask the Lord for wisdom.
Second, commit to reading your Bible daily and ask the Holy Spirit to take you by the hand of faith into the heart of God for His people, including yourself. We must see the Lord for all He is and for all He is to us if we ever hope to minister to others. We want to know the love of the Father and the grace of our Lord Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. If we ever hope to be of real use to others, we are always sheep before we are shepherds. So ask the Lord to show you His heart for the nations and for you as you read the Holy Scriptures. The Lord will be pleased to show you.
Third, commit to seeking the wisdom of your church leadership with regard to how you spend your life and energy. A calling to vocational gospel ministry is a sacred life that you're given to, and not merely a season of life that you're passionate about. Further, that calling needs to be external—it needs to come from Christ's church, and not merely internal or from your heart. The Lord calls you through His church. We see this even with the apostle Paul in Acts 13, and we hear in Romans 10:14-15 that no one can preach unless they're sent, and you're sent by the Spirit through His church.
Fourth, commit to the truth that soldiers do not go wherever they want—they go where the Lord allocates them. We never tell the Lord, "thus far I will follow You and no further." Rather, the Lord determines the field of our service.
Fifth, commit to seeking good Bible training. I generally commend a good seminary and good practical training. I generally commend Radius. I'm personally a big fan of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary because they have a missionary church planting MDiv that includes a year with Radius International. There are other seminaries that are beginning to set up the same. But the point that I'm getting at is that good training will help bring clarity to where the Lord is sending you, and it will help give you longevity in the work to which the Lord is sending you to do.
The sixth and final commitment is to recognizing any real circumstantial issues in your life that sort of bind up where you are able to serve. For example, you may have real health, family, or age-related limitations. It's possible that due to particular bodily ailments in you or your wife and your children that you won't be able to go to certain fields of service, but there are folks who can help you work through those questions. I often refer those kinds of questions to organizations like Global Serve International, as they have experienced personnel on the ground in the most difficult locations throughout the world who know, for example, the medical care that may be available to you there.
Further, you have to consider your age and your stage in life. If you have teenagers, it may not be wise to drag them across the world to a foreign mission field. If you are in your 40s, it is increasingly unlikely that you're going to learn another language, let alone two more languages. So you have to consider the wisdom of your own skills and ability to do that. You need to be aware of what is and is not really available to you. And as you walk down this road, keep bringing all of this before your church leaders. These are things you have to work through together.
Now, here's the objection that comes. I have heard a number of times from folks who want to serve in unreached languages but who are at churches that have no interest, and so bringing it to their leaders isn't particularly helpful. How do you handle that? Well, I would encourage you to pray for your elders, to resource them with books and films—we produce those at Missionary in order to help the sending church understand her responsibility and execute her responsibility faithfully. Invite them along to conferences, not only Missionary, but maybe take them to a Radius day. Let them see what the Lord is at work doing, and trust the Holy Spirit to work in them. But do all of this patiently, graciously, and prayerfully.
I know in one sense I've really provided you with no definitive answer to sorting out your exact question. And I suppose this is the way that wisdom works. As Proverbs 4:7 says, "The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight." Let me encourage you with this: fear the Lord and walk in His ways, and your answer to this question will get sorted.
Bryan: To learn more about reaching unreached language groups, visit missionary.com/radius to find out how Radius International trains missionaries for the unique challenges of ministry among the unreached. If you have a question you would like to hear answered on Ask Missionary, drop a comment on this episode, get in touch with us on social media, or send us an email through missionary.com and your question may be featured on this show. And don't forget to subscribe to the show to get notified when the next episode airs next week. Thanks for listening.