Essential Convictions for Missions
We desire, before God, that these convictions would characterize the integrity of our ministry.
► LOVE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD MUST BE THE PRIMARY MOTIVATION OF OUR LABOR.
This is plainly evident that this must be the primary motive of everything Christian, for this is the sum of the whole of God’s written word, and the sum of the greatest commandment: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This is truly the high calling of the Christian, and the supreme goal of every real missionary. Any failure to obey the greatest of the Lord’s commandments in heart and motive is a failure not only in missionary labor, but also in Christian practice.
Yet however evident the burning passion for God’s glory and His love in our hearts having a necessity of being our chief goal and motive may be, sadly in our day, we are observing a tremendous amount of professing Christians laboring on the mission field for lesser things. Many, lacking a genuine calling from the Holy Spirit, thrust themselves into the foreign field with a humanistic motive, with genuine sorrow in their hearts because their fellow man is suffering, and they go forth with the intention of relieving human suffering. Now it is not bad to feel compassion for our fellow man, in fact, it is commanded in Scripture, however, when sorrow over human suffering and the desire for humanitarian aid take precedence over the greatest commandment, it is nothing short of spiritual idolatry and a failure in missions. Our conviction is that humanism has usurped the place of God’s supremacy in much of modern Christendom and much of modern missions, and seeing this, our conviction is to exalt God supremely above all, and focus on seeing His desires fulfilled more than focusing on our fellow man’s desires. Therefore our mission is not to bring humanitarian aid to the poor, but rather to glorify God by seeking to see men reconciled to Him, and by seeing men worship Him supremely above all other things.
► LOVE FOR THE SOULS OF MEN MUST BE SECONDARY, AND FLOWING FROM A LOVE FOR GOD’S GLORY.
Now without a doubt, this conviction of ours must flow from the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit resulting in a practical obedience on this point to the second greatest commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). We do not set the first and second greatest commands as being in a dichotomy against each other, but see them as mutually beneficiary to one another. Therefore, as we seek to honor and glorify God, we also seek to express His love to our fellow man, not only in word, but also in deed.
We also hold to the firm conviction that laboring for the eternal welfare of the souls of men is the greatest labor of love that we can possibly do. Therefore, this commandment, although it can be expressed and manifested visibly in ways without number, is best expressed by preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ to all, and in so doing, laboring to help them come to the full understanding of the Gospel and going out of our way to show them our love by helping to bear their burdens. With this conviction, although we recognize a place for mass evangelism when the right Gospel is preached and even seek to engage in such ourselves when able, we also believe that the best and most effective evangelism is generally done on a personal basis with an individual, loving them, caring for them, demonstrating our compassion to them, helping them in life’s manifold problems, and being their friend, just as our Lord Himself was the friend of sinners. We read of the Lord’s compassion in the Gospels on numerous occasions as He was deeply moved with such over the multitudes and sought to bless them in word and deed, and it is our desire to imitate our blessed Lord and demonstrate His love to our neighbors, understanding that our neighbors are not just the people next door, but every man from every country, every background, every race, and every tongue.
► THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST MUST BE PROCLAIMED AS THE PRIMARY WORK OF MISSIONS.
There is no substitute for preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, the biblical Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preaching is the primary work of missions! There are many ‘missionaries’ and ‘missions organizations’ today that focus on humanitarian aid and on meeting people’s “felt needs”, yet many of these same people and organizations do not preach the Gospel clearly to the people they are helping. This is a tragedy. If we address people’s physical needs while ignoring their spiritual needs, they will end up being full, provided for and happier on this earth, but without understanding and believing the Gospel they will still perish and spend an eternity in Hell. We need to be focused on the eternal, not just the temporal, understanding that there is no substitute for speaking and preaching to men about the things of God relating to salvation. While it is good to help people with their physical needs in the name of Jesus, this should never replace the necessity of preaching the Gospel.
Christ commands us to go into all the world to PREACH the Gospel to every creature, because it is only through the means of preaching that God has ordained to save them that believe. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word, and the Word is not preached where hands labor but tongues remain cold and dead. Christ sent tongues of fire to the church, that the church might proclaim the Gospel in the power of God to the ends of the earth! Waiting on tables is certainly a necessary ministry, but it must not replace the preaching of God’s Word. While there may be times when God ordains that some leave the ministry of waiting on tables in order to enter the ministry of preaching His Word, there is no Biblical precedent for leaving the preaching of the Word in order to wait on tables. True missions will proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ or work toward the proclamation of His Word (such as Bible translation or helps ministries that help those who are preaching the Word). There is absolutely no substitute on earth for preaching the Word of God as the means of seeing Christ’s cause in the earth advanced and of seeing salvation come with blessing and power to the souls of men.
► TRUE LASTING FRUIT IN MISSIONS IS IMPOSSIBLE APART FROM GOD’S SUPERNATURAL POWER.
The original disciples and Apostles would have been nothing if it weren’t for Pentecost (Acts 2). Their impact would have been minimal without having first waited on God and receiving a heavenly, supernatural enablement for ministry. Christ has ascended on high in order to send the promised Holy Spirit upon the church, that the Gospel worker may be clothed with power from on high, enabled by the might of the Spirit to preach the Gospel in the unction and anointing of God to the lost world. We are called to be co-laborers together with Christ, and as such, our labors must be in unison with the ability and anointing which the Holy Spirit sovereignly gives according to the will of God. We are utterly, totally, and absolutely dependant upon God to confirm His Word with deep conviction in the hearts of men, convincing them of their sin, of His righteousness, and of the judgment to come, that they may cry out to the Savior to find peace for their souls. If men are to be cut to the heart and cry out, “What must we do to be saved”, then we need to walk in and preach in the power of God, since it is God alone who has the power to reach into a man’s heart and pierce it through with the sword of His Word.
On the mission field, there are many obstacles to the spread of the Gospel, there is a real enemy we are at war against, and there are real dangers and hindrances to the success of Christ’s messengers. Men themselves are fallen, depraved, and without any hope to change or save themselves by nature. If any are to be saved, it will be the result of God’s power in the Gospel of grace working miraculously in a way which no man has the power or ability to do. Therefore, we recognize our utter lack of any ability of our own, our complete necessity for God’s blessing, and our desperate need for His power and His Spirit to fill us and guide us and enable us to do the work of the ministry every step of the way.
► SOUND DOCTRINE MUST BE BELIEVED, EMBRACED, AND TAUGHT WITHOUT COMPROMISE.
While there is a tremendous thrust in our modern times of apostate religion prating itself abroad in the mask of Christianity, seeking to unite all denominations and all peoples in an attempt to exalt what they call “good works and peace” above holiness and truth, we recognize that true Christianity is a faith which is established upon the solid doctrines which Christ and His Apostles laid down as the foundation of the Church. These doctrines are taught clearly in the complete revelation of God’s will regarding salvation found in His holy Word, the Bible, and they must be believed and held to without compromising on any essential point which is related to salvation.
We are commanded to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, not to drop the most essential doctrines of that faith in order to unite with both apostate men and wicked devils who promote doctrines of demons. Truth is a glorious thing; it must not be watered down, tainted, distorted, or compromised in any way. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, and He bears witness to the truth of the Holy Scriptures. Doctrine is an extremely important thing –a great emphasis is placed on holding fast to sound doctrine, guarding it, and preaching it in the Bible, especially in the Pastoral Epistles. While there is room for great men of God to differ on certain theological details, and while there must be grace given to each other in the Body of Christ when we differ on “minor details” of God’s Word, there must be no room given for essential salvation-related doctrines to be compromised in any way, since a compromise in those doctrines will have eternal consequences. Furthermore, when it comes to working together in ministry with others, especially in the great task of making disciples, doctrinal accord is extremely important that the whole counsel of God may be taught and proclaimed without contradiction.
► TRUE MISSIONS IS INCARNATIONAL AND RELATES TO THE PEOPLE.
We believe that being an effective missionary does not merely consist of traveling to a foreign land and doing some sort of ministry activity for a very limited amount of time, nor does it consist of bringing one’s culture and manner of life to a foreign land in order to push it on the locals in the name of Christianity. We recognize that cultural influence and traditional manner of life are major factors in people’s worldviews, customs, beliefs, practices, and in nearly all things that characterizes them as a people group. Included in this is their language, their food, their cultural traditions, and much more. With this in mind, a true missionary will not come to them seeking to destroy their rich culture and enforce his own (often Westernized) culture upon them, but will empty himself and embrace their ways as a people, relating to them, and becoming all things to all men that he may by all means save some, when such things are not in contradiction to the principles and commands of God’s written Word.
Cultural differences are often a huge barrier between American missionaries and the people they are attempting to reach. In fact, many professing missionaries even seem to be nearly oblivious to the fact of how offensive they often are to the culture and traditions of the people they are in the midst of, causing offense and even disgust in many occasions. We believe that an effective missionary needs to come alongside the people he is trying to reach, and not only live amongst them, but to become one of them. This means that a missionary needs to learn the language of the people, eat the food of the people, try to dress like the people, and live like the people, in all things that are not contrary to God’s Word. We believe that there should be as little and few barriers between a missionary and his people as possible so that there is nothing that is hindering the Gospel message that the missionary is laboring to promote. The Gospel itself causes enough offense many times without having to go out of our way to be offensive by our own lack of prudence in practical matters. The Lord Jesus Himself often related to His people, emptying Himself and becoming a man, and embracing everything of the Jewish culture and manner of life when it wasn’t in contradiction to His Father’s commands, even adapting His manner of teaching to a way in which it would most effectively communicate gospel truth to His hearers. We inspire to imitate our Lord in His wisdom.
► BIBLICAL CONVERSION MUST BE UNDERSTOOD AND EMPHASIZED.
Nobody should be a missionary or a preacher or minister of the Gospel who doesn’t understand biblical conversion. A lack of understanding biblical conversion has resulted in utter devastation to the souls of men all around the world as American missionaries go forth and win converts to their religion rather than winning souls to Christ. We have to understand that conversion is a supernatural miracle of God, that salvation is of the Lord, that regeneration is absolutely essential to genuine conversion, and that a real convert will evidence his new life in Christ by a life of practical obedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ in the New Covenant in a growing holiness and love for the Lord. Nobody is converted who lives a lifestyle of continual immorality and ungodliness. Every one who is born of God will not continue in the practice of sin (1 John 3:3-9).
We further hold to the firm conviction that there is only one manner of biblical conversion; only one proper response to the Gospel, and that is through repentance and faith. While salvation is by grace alone apart from works, the fact remains that those who truly receive God’s grace will respond to it by turning from sin and devoting their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. We despise the modern day practice of using the “sinner’s prayer” or “confession of faith” in which a person repeats a little prayer after a preacher and upon saying the little prayer is pronounced born again and assured of his salvation. This practice is completely unbiblical and is completely absent from church history until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. And not only is this practice unbiblical, many times it is anti-biblical, because it assures those who haven’t exercised evangelical repentance and faith that they have been truly saved when they have not and are still dead in their sins, thus giving them a false assurance and hardening them to any suggestion to examine themselves to see if they’re really in the faith. Genuine saving faith cannot be produced by the means of a little prayer, it is a supernatural gift from a sovereign God, and is granted by His grace to select individuals as the Gospel is preached to all. We admit that there are some who are genuinely converted by the apparent means of the “sinner’s prayer”, but it is not because of such a method, it is in spite of it, it is because such individuals had true repentance and faith in Christ, and truly called on the Lord with a heart of faith in Him alone to save them.
► BIBLICAL EVANGELISM MUST BE PRACTICED AS THE PRIMARY MEANS OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL.
We have the models and patterns for Biblical evangelism laid down clearly for us in the New Testament. The pure, sound, anointed preaching of God’s holy Word and the Person and work of Christ amongst the lost is the primary work of evangelism. We cannot resort to worldly methods and compromised practices of “pragmatism” in order to draw pleasure seekers into the church to grow our numbers and reduce our reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no substitute for going out into the highways and hedges and compelling men to come into the Kingdom of God by believing the Gospel in order that the Lord’s house may be filled. We have to “go out into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature”, and in order to do this, we have to meet the lost where they are, on the streets, in the marketplaces, and in the public areas.
There are many evangelistic methodologies today that are completely unbiblical. While we do not judge the motives of those who engage in unbiblical methods so long as the real Gospel is being preached, we also recognize that the ends doesn’t always justify the means. We understand that means can be used that do not compromise the Gospel in any way or work against the Holy Spirit and on occasion have used such means ourselves (such as showing evangelistic films on large screens to remote villages), but even these things must be kept in their proper perspective and must be used as means to open doors to preach the real Gospel, and must not be used as substitutes for opening our mouths and proclaiming the Word. While engaging in using other means to draw people together, we hold to the firm conviction that such means must not take away from the message in any way or quench the Holy Spirit. Such means must be used with a pure conscience, with the glory of God in view, and with the intention of using it to clearly present the Gospel message in proclamation. The Gospel does not need worldly methods, gimmicks and tricks to promote itself, it just needs holy men with faith in their soul and a Bible in their hand, and such men, blessed by the Holy Spirit, can shake whatever community God puts them in.
► THE CALL TO MISSIONS IS A CALL TO SACRIFICE.
In our day many have a sort of romantic view of missions and desire to set out on the mission field with an adventurous heart seeking a thrill for personal gratification. Many American missionaries move to a foreign land with an amount of financial support that is entirely too much and they adjust their lifestyle to use the full of amount of this support in everyday living. The result is that they basically take their American way of life and prosperity and shift it to a foreign land and live the same manner of lifestyle as they would if they were still at home. And this creates untold barriers between them and their people, complacency in their home life, sluggishness in their mission, and is a loaded down burden on the finances of their supporters since in reality they could live on much less and still maintain the same standard of living as the people around them while living reasonably well and healthy. We recognize that real missions is not a matter of just moving from one place to another, and transferring all our material and traditional comforts with us, but it’s a call to sacrifice. True missions is costly, and is best fulfilled as we, in all wisdom, deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus by carrying His message as His ambassadors to people who desperately need Him.
Missionaries are called to be Christ’s heralds to the nations! It is a high and holy calling and is not for the spiritually weak or faint in heart. It is a call to sacrifice, a call to “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ” for the sake of His people (Colossians 1:24). It is a call to “endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10). True missions puts one on the frontlines of enemy territory and in danger of attack on all sides, including the real possibility of facing severe spiritual and mental tests of faith, and of facing life-threatening animosity from people and illnesses which are found in some lands. Yet all this, the real missionary will bear in a burden of love, seeking to glory His Lord by life or death.
This is plainly evident that this must be the primary motive of everything Christian, for this is the sum of the whole of God’s written word, and the sum of the greatest commandment: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This is truly the high calling of the Christian, and the supreme goal of every real missionary. Any failure to obey the greatest of the Lord’s commandments in heart and motive is a failure not only in missionary labor, but also in Christian practice.
Yet however evident the burning passion for God’s glory and His love in our hearts having a necessity of being our chief goal and motive may be, sadly in our day, we are observing a tremendous amount of professing Christians laboring on the mission field for lesser things. Many, lacking a genuine calling from the Holy Spirit, thrust themselves into the foreign field with a humanistic motive, with genuine sorrow in their hearts because their fellow man is suffering, and they go forth with the intention of relieving human suffering. Now it is not bad to feel compassion for our fellow man, in fact, it is commanded in Scripture, however, when sorrow over human suffering and the desire for humanitarian aid take precedence over the greatest commandment, it is nothing short of spiritual idolatry and a failure in missions. Our conviction is that humanism has usurped the place of God’s supremacy in much of modern Christendom and much of modern missions, and seeing this, our conviction is to exalt God supremely above all, and focus on seeing His desires fulfilled more than focusing on our fellow man’s desires. Therefore our mission is not to bring humanitarian aid to the poor, but rather to glorify God by seeking to see men reconciled to Him, and by seeing men worship Him supremely above all other things.
► LOVE FOR THE SOULS OF MEN MUST BE SECONDARY, AND FLOWING FROM A LOVE FOR GOD’S GLORY.
Now without a doubt, this conviction of ours must flow from the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit resulting in a practical obedience on this point to the second greatest commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). We do not set the first and second greatest commands as being in a dichotomy against each other, but see them as mutually beneficiary to one another. Therefore, as we seek to honor and glorify God, we also seek to express His love to our fellow man, not only in word, but also in deed.
We also hold to the firm conviction that laboring for the eternal welfare of the souls of men is the greatest labor of love that we can possibly do. Therefore, this commandment, although it can be expressed and manifested visibly in ways without number, is best expressed by preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ to all, and in so doing, laboring to help them come to the full understanding of the Gospel and going out of our way to show them our love by helping to bear their burdens. With this conviction, although we recognize a place for mass evangelism when the right Gospel is preached and even seek to engage in such ourselves when able, we also believe that the best and most effective evangelism is generally done on a personal basis with an individual, loving them, caring for them, demonstrating our compassion to them, helping them in life’s manifold problems, and being their friend, just as our Lord Himself was the friend of sinners. We read of the Lord’s compassion in the Gospels on numerous occasions as He was deeply moved with such over the multitudes and sought to bless them in word and deed, and it is our desire to imitate our blessed Lord and demonstrate His love to our neighbors, understanding that our neighbors are not just the people next door, but every man from every country, every background, every race, and every tongue.
► THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST MUST BE PROCLAIMED AS THE PRIMARY WORK OF MISSIONS.
There is no substitute for preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, the biblical Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preaching is the primary work of missions! There are many ‘missionaries’ and ‘missions organizations’ today that focus on humanitarian aid and on meeting people’s “felt needs”, yet many of these same people and organizations do not preach the Gospel clearly to the people they are helping. This is a tragedy. If we address people’s physical needs while ignoring their spiritual needs, they will end up being full, provided for and happier on this earth, but without understanding and believing the Gospel they will still perish and spend an eternity in Hell. We need to be focused on the eternal, not just the temporal, understanding that there is no substitute for speaking and preaching to men about the things of God relating to salvation. While it is good to help people with their physical needs in the name of Jesus, this should never replace the necessity of preaching the Gospel.
Christ commands us to go into all the world to PREACH the Gospel to every creature, because it is only through the means of preaching that God has ordained to save them that believe. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word, and the Word is not preached where hands labor but tongues remain cold and dead. Christ sent tongues of fire to the church, that the church might proclaim the Gospel in the power of God to the ends of the earth! Waiting on tables is certainly a necessary ministry, but it must not replace the preaching of God’s Word. While there may be times when God ordains that some leave the ministry of waiting on tables in order to enter the ministry of preaching His Word, there is no Biblical precedent for leaving the preaching of the Word in order to wait on tables. True missions will proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ or work toward the proclamation of His Word (such as Bible translation or helps ministries that help those who are preaching the Word). There is absolutely no substitute on earth for preaching the Word of God as the means of seeing Christ’s cause in the earth advanced and of seeing salvation come with blessing and power to the souls of men.
► TRUE LASTING FRUIT IN MISSIONS IS IMPOSSIBLE APART FROM GOD’S SUPERNATURAL POWER.
The original disciples and Apostles would have been nothing if it weren’t for Pentecost (Acts 2). Their impact would have been minimal without having first waited on God and receiving a heavenly, supernatural enablement for ministry. Christ has ascended on high in order to send the promised Holy Spirit upon the church, that the Gospel worker may be clothed with power from on high, enabled by the might of the Spirit to preach the Gospel in the unction and anointing of God to the lost world. We are called to be co-laborers together with Christ, and as such, our labors must be in unison with the ability and anointing which the Holy Spirit sovereignly gives according to the will of God. We are utterly, totally, and absolutely dependant upon God to confirm His Word with deep conviction in the hearts of men, convincing them of their sin, of His righteousness, and of the judgment to come, that they may cry out to the Savior to find peace for their souls. If men are to be cut to the heart and cry out, “What must we do to be saved”, then we need to walk in and preach in the power of God, since it is God alone who has the power to reach into a man’s heart and pierce it through with the sword of His Word.
On the mission field, there are many obstacles to the spread of the Gospel, there is a real enemy we are at war against, and there are real dangers and hindrances to the success of Christ’s messengers. Men themselves are fallen, depraved, and without any hope to change or save themselves by nature. If any are to be saved, it will be the result of God’s power in the Gospel of grace working miraculously in a way which no man has the power or ability to do. Therefore, we recognize our utter lack of any ability of our own, our complete necessity for God’s blessing, and our desperate need for His power and His Spirit to fill us and guide us and enable us to do the work of the ministry every step of the way.
► SOUND DOCTRINE MUST BE BELIEVED, EMBRACED, AND TAUGHT WITHOUT COMPROMISE.
While there is a tremendous thrust in our modern times of apostate religion prating itself abroad in the mask of Christianity, seeking to unite all denominations and all peoples in an attempt to exalt what they call “good works and peace” above holiness and truth, we recognize that true Christianity is a faith which is established upon the solid doctrines which Christ and His Apostles laid down as the foundation of the Church. These doctrines are taught clearly in the complete revelation of God’s will regarding salvation found in His holy Word, the Bible, and they must be believed and held to without compromising on any essential point which is related to salvation.
We are commanded to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, not to drop the most essential doctrines of that faith in order to unite with both apostate men and wicked devils who promote doctrines of demons. Truth is a glorious thing; it must not be watered down, tainted, distorted, or compromised in any way. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, and He bears witness to the truth of the Holy Scriptures. Doctrine is an extremely important thing –a great emphasis is placed on holding fast to sound doctrine, guarding it, and preaching it in the Bible, especially in the Pastoral Epistles. While there is room for great men of God to differ on certain theological details, and while there must be grace given to each other in the Body of Christ when we differ on “minor details” of God’s Word, there must be no room given for essential salvation-related doctrines to be compromised in any way, since a compromise in those doctrines will have eternal consequences. Furthermore, when it comes to working together in ministry with others, especially in the great task of making disciples, doctrinal accord is extremely important that the whole counsel of God may be taught and proclaimed without contradiction.
► TRUE MISSIONS IS INCARNATIONAL AND RELATES TO THE PEOPLE.
We believe that being an effective missionary does not merely consist of traveling to a foreign land and doing some sort of ministry activity for a very limited amount of time, nor does it consist of bringing one’s culture and manner of life to a foreign land in order to push it on the locals in the name of Christianity. We recognize that cultural influence and traditional manner of life are major factors in people’s worldviews, customs, beliefs, practices, and in nearly all things that characterizes them as a people group. Included in this is their language, their food, their cultural traditions, and much more. With this in mind, a true missionary will not come to them seeking to destroy their rich culture and enforce his own (often Westernized) culture upon them, but will empty himself and embrace their ways as a people, relating to them, and becoming all things to all men that he may by all means save some, when such things are not in contradiction to the principles and commands of God’s written Word.
Cultural differences are often a huge barrier between American missionaries and the people they are attempting to reach. In fact, many professing missionaries even seem to be nearly oblivious to the fact of how offensive they often are to the culture and traditions of the people they are in the midst of, causing offense and even disgust in many occasions. We believe that an effective missionary needs to come alongside the people he is trying to reach, and not only live amongst them, but to become one of them. This means that a missionary needs to learn the language of the people, eat the food of the people, try to dress like the people, and live like the people, in all things that are not contrary to God’s Word. We believe that there should be as little and few barriers between a missionary and his people as possible so that there is nothing that is hindering the Gospel message that the missionary is laboring to promote. The Gospel itself causes enough offense many times without having to go out of our way to be offensive by our own lack of prudence in practical matters. The Lord Jesus Himself often related to His people, emptying Himself and becoming a man, and embracing everything of the Jewish culture and manner of life when it wasn’t in contradiction to His Father’s commands, even adapting His manner of teaching to a way in which it would most effectively communicate gospel truth to His hearers. We inspire to imitate our Lord in His wisdom.
► BIBLICAL CONVERSION MUST BE UNDERSTOOD AND EMPHASIZED.
Nobody should be a missionary or a preacher or minister of the Gospel who doesn’t understand biblical conversion. A lack of understanding biblical conversion has resulted in utter devastation to the souls of men all around the world as American missionaries go forth and win converts to their religion rather than winning souls to Christ. We have to understand that conversion is a supernatural miracle of God, that salvation is of the Lord, that regeneration is absolutely essential to genuine conversion, and that a real convert will evidence his new life in Christ by a life of practical obedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ in the New Covenant in a growing holiness and love for the Lord. Nobody is converted who lives a lifestyle of continual immorality and ungodliness. Every one who is born of God will not continue in the practice of sin (1 John 3:3-9).
We further hold to the firm conviction that there is only one manner of biblical conversion; only one proper response to the Gospel, and that is through repentance and faith. While salvation is by grace alone apart from works, the fact remains that those who truly receive God’s grace will respond to it by turning from sin and devoting their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. We despise the modern day practice of using the “sinner’s prayer” or “confession of faith” in which a person repeats a little prayer after a preacher and upon saying the little prayer is pronounced born again and assured of his salvation. This practice is completely unbiblical and is completely absent from church history until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. And not only is this practice unbiblical, many times it is anti-biblical, because it assures those who haven’t exercised evangelical repentance and faith that they have been truly saved when they have not and are still dead in their sins, thus giving them a false assurance and hardening them to any suggestion to examine themselves to see if they’re really in the faith. Genuine saving faith cannot be produced by the means of a little prayer, it is a supernatural gift from a sovereign God, and is granted by His grace to select individuals as the Gospel is preached to all. We admit that there are some who are genuinely converted by the apparent means of the “sinner’s prayer”, but it is not because of such a method, it is in spite of it, it is because such individuals had true repentance and faith in Christ, and truly called on the Lord with a heart of faith in Him alone to save them.
► BIBLICAL EVANGELISM MUST BE PRACTICED AS THE PRIMARY MEANS OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL.
We have the models and patterns for Biblical evangelism laid down clearly for us in the New Testament. The pure, sound, anointed preaching of God’s holy Word and the Person and work of Christ amongst the lost is the primary work of evangelism. We cannot resort to worldly methods and compromised practices of “pragmatism” in order to draw pleasure seekers into the church to grow our numbers and reduce our reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no substitute for going out into the highways and hedges and compelling men to come into the Kingdom of God by believing the Gospel in order that the Lord’s house may be filled. We have to “go out into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature”, and in order to do this, we have to meet the lost where they are, on the streets, in the marketplaces, and in the public areas.
There are many evangelistic methodologies today that are completely unbiblical. While we do not judge the motives of those who engage in unbiblical methods so long as the real Gospel is being preached, we also recognize that the ends doesn’t always justify the means. We understand that means can be used that do not compromise the Gospel in any way or work against the Holy Spirit and on occasion have used such means ourselves (such as showing evangelistic films on large screens to remote villages), but even these things must be kept in their proper perspective and must be used as means to open doors to preach the real Gospel, and must not be used as substitutes for opening our mouths and proclaiming the Word. While engaging in using other means to draw people together, we hold to the firm conviction that such means must not take away from the message in any way or quench the Holy Spirit. Such means must be used with a pure conscience, with the glory of God in view, and with the intention of using it to clearly present the Gospel message in proclamation. The Gospel does not need worldly methods, gimmicks and tricks to promote itself, it just needs holy men with faith in their soul and a Bible in their hand, and such men, blessed by the Holy Spirit, can shake whatever community God puts them in.
► THE CALL TO MISSIONS IS A CALL TO SACRIFICE.
In our day many have a sort of romantic view of missions and desire to set out on the mission field with an adventurous heart seeking a thrill for personal gratification. Many American missionaries move to a foreign land with an amount of financial support that is entirely too much and they adjust their lifestyle to use the full of amount of this support in everyday living. The result is that they basically take their American way of life and prosperity and shift it to a foreign land and live the same manner of lifestyle as they would if they were still at home. And this creates untold barriers between them and their people, complacency in their home life, sluggishness in their mission, and is a loaded down burden on the finances of their supporters since in reality they could live on much less and still maintain the same standard of living as the people around them while living reasonably well and healthy. We recognize that real missions is not a matter of just moving from one place to another, and transferring all our material and traditional comforts with us, but it’s a call to sacrifice. True missions is costly, and is best fulfilled as we, in all wisdom, deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus by carrying His message as His ambassadors to people who desperately need Him.
Missionaries are called to be Christ’s heralds to the nations! It is a high and holy calling and is not for the spiritually weak or faint in heart. It is a call to sacrifice, a call to “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ” for the sake of His people (Colossians 1:24). It is a call to “endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10). True missions puts one on the frontlines of enemy territory and in danger of attack on all sides, including the real possibility of facing severe spiritual and mental tests of faith, and of facing life-threatening animosity from people and illnesses which are found in some lands. Yet all this, the real missionary will bear in a burden of love, seeking to glory His Lord by life or death.