Before I was a long-term missionary, I had unrealistic expectations of what it meant to be a missionary. I had several experiences with short-term mission trips. These trips gave me my first experience of crossing cultures, but they were very different from being a long-term missionary because I knew I would be returning home in a few days or weeks.
On my short-term trips, I never moved past the honeymoon phase of culture shock. It was exciting and fun to be in a different culture. The trip emphasized experiencing an adventure rather than the hard work it takes to persevere through the difficulty of living in a different culture long-term and functioning every day in a different language.
Because my trips only lasted a few weeks, there simply wasn’t time to be a part of the long-term missionary task of seeing the church planted. I failed to grasp that the primary task of missions is actually church planting.
If you have never been a long-term missionary, you can get a realistic view of the life of a missionary by learning the stories of missionaries who gave their lives to see the missionary task completed of seeing an indigenous church established among a people group where the church previously did not exist.
Indigenous churches have been planted among thousands of people groups around the world. You and your church are the fruit of those who at one point crossed language and cultural barriers to make the gospel clear! By understanding their sacrifices we can better know the sacrifices required for those who go out for His name sake. This will also help you more effectively live as a Global Christian, however God leads, whether as a missionary yourself or as a sender, intercessor, mobilizer or welcomer.
When we get a realistic understanding of the missionary task, we grow in our commitment to see God gloried among the nations, no matter the cost.
The following seven missionary biographies, three books, two audio messages and two videos have given me a realistic understanding of the missionary task and inspired me to live with the same passion and sacrifice that they exemplified.
In college, I was first introduced to pioneer missions (outside of the book of Acts!) when I read Peace Child, by Don Richardson. This is a remarkable story of the sacrifices and challenges of making Jesus known among an unreached people group who were cannibals in the jungles of New Guinea and became followers of Christ. The Richardsons spent years learning the culture of the Sawi people so that they could proclaim the gospel clearly. A page turner!
What are the passions and commitments that drive a missionary to give their life for the gospel? As a new Christian, I read Jim Elliot’s own personal journals and was riveted by Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testimony of Jim Elliot, by Elisabeth Elliot. Jim Elliot famously wrote, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot set his mind on the eternal reward of honoring God among an unreached people group in the jungles of Ecuador. He and four fellow missionaries gave their lives for the gospel when they were martyred at the hands of Huaorani Indians.
On a couple of road trips, I listened to John Piper challenge me from the lives of two pioneer missionaries. Piper preached on the cost and commitment that is sustained by a passion for the glory of Christ in the Life of Adoniram Judson: The Cost of Bringing Christ to Burma and the Life of John G. Paton Courage in the Cause of Missions. Adoniram Judson, one of the first missionaries sent from America, suffered greatly to bring the gospel to the country of Burma. He endured the death of multiple wives, children and physical abuse. John Paton was fearless in proclaiming Christ in the New Hebrides Islands because he was certain of Jesus’ promise “I am with you always to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). Adoniram Judson and John Paton both found that Jesus was worth every sacrifice!
Hudson Taylor, missionary to China and founder of China Inland Mission, was one of the greatest missions mobilizers in the history of the church. In his lifetime, he mobilized over 800 people from England to serve as missionaries in China. His passion for God’s glory and his love for Chinese people are clearly demonstrated in The Autobiography of Hudson Taylor: Missionary to China (Illustrated). He lived a life dependent on God the Father through prayer in all things.
In college I was shown a video that dramatizes the progress of the gospel among an unreached people group in Papua New Guinea. It is only 23 minutes long but it demonstrates the challenges of the missionary task and the immeasurable rewards. The conclusion of the video is priceless. You can watch the video yourself on YouTube entitled Ee-Taow: The Mouk Story. Recently, I watched Brad Buser tell the more recent story of their years of efforts to plant the church among a people group in Papau New Guinea. You can view their story here.
Through missionary biographies we can be inspired and instructed by the examples of those who “have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles” (3 John 7). When we get a realistic understanding of the missionary task, we grow in our commitment to see God glorified among the nations, no matter the cost.
