Major Mistakes of a Missionary

  1. Going with a pastor mentality instead of a missionary or world evangelist mentality. That attitude means starting a church, pastoring the church, and developing it until we are proud of it.
  • Doing things that nationals cannot reproduce. Money that we invest, materials that we have
  • Not training nationals to do the job
  • Not trusting the nationals
  • Never developing a strategic plan to reach the city and country. (doing a piece meal work, no plan, no goals)
  • Turning our work over to a missionary instead of a national worker that we have trained
  • Getting a defeatist attitude (it won’t work here)

  1. We need to get Paul’s attitude about world missions
  • How did Paul take the Great Commission
  • Acts 1:8, Mark 16:15
  • Colossians 1:6, 23
  • Romans 10:18
  • I Corinthians 15:34
  • What time frame did Paul see
  • Who was the commission given to
  • What attitude should you take
  • Romans 15:20
  • II Corinthians 10:16
  1. What is a missionary?
  • Biblical term is either evangelist or apostle
  • He is a pioneer
  • He is a starter
  • The pastor is the maintainer or finisher
  • The missionary goes where no man has gone before Romans 15:20, II Corinthians 10:16
  • He prepares materials
  • He trains men
  • He trained those men to train others
  • He turns the work over to a national
  1. Develop a strategic plan for reaching your country
  • Sit down with a map, statistics, information, and like the general in an army make a plan to reach the entire country, how to impact it
  • Be careful to realize that the key to success will be how you involve your people in the work.
  • You will have to build a team of men and women who will help you
    • Pray in more American workers to help you
    • Realize that Americans will be few in number and often have bad attitudes
    • Train your coworkers from nationals you see saved and brought into your ministry
    • Help them be a success
  • Research your country
    • Where do the people live
    • Where are the churches
    • What kind of churches are they
    • Where are the folks receptive
    • Where would be a strategic place to reach the country
    • What is a method that would enable you to reach the country
  • Dream great dreams–see large visions, get a vision for reaching your whole country Proverbs 29:18
  • Get a broader vision–everybody wants to do a great work and reach their country but few take the time to plan, pray and really work at reaching the whole country
  1. Use the Biblical method Acts 14:21-23
  • Preaching and Teaching
  • Confirming the souls
  • Exhorting them to continue in the faith
  • Ordaining Elders
  • Commending them to the Lord
  1. Consider some of Paul’s methods
  • The Chief Cities – Acts 16:12
  • Open Doors Colossians 4:3-4. Paul went through many cities and did very little preaching and teaching because there were no open doors or the Holy Spirit would not allow him to go there.  Acts 16:6-10
  • His ministry was the preaching and teaching of the word. We need to be careful to not get involved in so many good ministries that get us off track of our real ministry–preaching, teaching, planting churches.  We need to live and work like we were living in the last days and that time is short to get something done for God.  II Thessalonians 3:1-2
  • He spent his time preparing men to do the work–consider also the greatest missionary who ever lived–3 years–few people–but a trained leadership that could do the work. II Timothy 2:2, Acts 19:8-10
  • Paul did not wait until everything was in order before leaving–Titus 1:5, He had to write letters back to straighten out problems, sent men, pray, and even return himself
  • Paul believed Philippians 1:6, Acts 20:32-38
  1. How to go about it
  • Pick a principal city–a strategic city
  • Start your first base church
  • Start in a place and among a people that will be able to reach others–not the rich nor the very poor
  • Immediately begin training those who are saved through personal discipleship
  • Teach them that it is their responsibility to reach their own people
  • Start a night time Bible institute
  • Develop outreach programs to build the church, train your folks in how to do the work and also start new churches
  • Start a Bible College with the purpose of training preachers and church planters
  • Plan to leave as soon as possible
  • Look your country over and realize that you can start a training program in every major area
  • Never do for them what they can do for themselves
  • Never do what they can do — in other words–work yourself out of a job–put them to doing it as soon as possible. It is our tendency to think that they can not do it as well as we can and so we never let them have it.  Also since we like doing it we keep doing it instead of turning it over to them
  • Remember people will never rise above what you expect of them
  • You start by playing all the positions in the ministry of the church. You then begin training them one by one to take the different positions until you can be the quarterback and they will take the other positions.  Then you work until you are the coach and not playing any positions.  From there you become the General manager and continue working yourself totally out of the picture
  • From day one you start turning as much as you can over to those who are capable and fit. Begin taking planned absences from the beginning
  • If you have in mind reaching your entire country it will not be hard to need to be in other places and doing other things so that the leadership will have to develop
  • Develop a sense of urgency in yourself and them. Time is short.  Souls are dying and going to hell.
  • Live knowing that soon you will return to the states on furlough and you will have to have someone trained to be the pastor and take charge of the ministry
  • Begin immediately giving leadership positions to others and having the people respect them. What you say, how you treat him, if they are paid a salary and other things will have a definite affect on what the people think of them
  • From day one teach them to give and tithe and expect as much from them as you would from an American church
  • Need will force them to take the position that is needed in the church. They will never walk if you carry them all the time
  • You get what you look for and what you honor
  1. Develop a strategic plan
  • We will never raise up enough American missionaries to get the job done
  • Sending money to nationals without supervision and proper training obviously isn’t the right answer
  • From day one you need to plan to start Bible Colleges and preacher training schools
  • Set realistic measurable goals
  • Not number of converts or baptisms–because even thousands of baptisms may not really affect the country
  • Number of churches per number of people and cities, towns, and villages
  • Decide on the definition of a church
  • How many leaders will you have to prepare to reach your goal

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