So, You Want To Be A Missionary?
Now Playing: MISSIONARY READINESS TEST
Topic: Missionary Challenges


So, you have a mountain of faith -- little available cash -- and maybe a car. And you're asking God to help you to become a missionary or a street minister. Perhaps you even have a great desire to go to some place like New York City or one of the poorest foreign countries on this earth.

Then again, maybe you have a desire to do one or both of these types of ministry and are not certain whether or not you are ready for the challenges you will face.

"How can I be sure if I am ready?" you may ask yourself.

Well, we must make certain we are allowing our minds to continually be transformed according to the Word of God by the renewing of our minds. This is one of the ways we can prove what is the acceptable will of God.

Secondly, praying in the Spirit (the prayer language given to believers who are baptized in the Holy Ghost) is essential because God's Words states that we don't know how to pray as we ought to. We are "commanded" to pray much with the Spirit. According to Paul's writings, when we do this we are praying for the perfect will of God to come to pass in our lives.

Maintaining daily contact with God through praying with understanding (in one's own language) and with the Spirit, and through reading his Word are of the utmost importance. However, along with this we should take time to meditate in silence before the Lord every day (at least 15 to 30 minutes)and wait for him to speak to us. Remember: "God wants dialogue, not monologue.

Establishing intimacy with our Lord through praise, worship, and thanksgiving on a daily basis will foster the closeness we need to receive revelation from God on an ongoing basis. The first and most important way we worship God though, is through obedience. We must make sure we are "striving for perfection." Our lives need to in line with God's Word as much as possible to make sure we hear our Master's voice and not the voice of the enemy.

In concluding, there are some questions, we can ask ourselves before we start out in one of these fields of ministry. I have prepared a little "test" you can give yourself. This test is based on Paul's ideas. He stated he was willing to become all things to all men that he might be able to save some. This is the key to being effective in any kind of ministry.

MISSIONARY READINESS TEST:

1 - Are you ready to become all things to all men
so that you might be able to save some?

2 - Would you be willing to face the possibility that
you could be at risk of falling into some of the
same predicaments that some of the people you
will be ministering to are in?

3 - Would you be able to sit in the same urine
soaked seats that some of the homeless sit in?

4 - Are you prepared to sleep on a rock in a park
like those who have no home?

5 - Are you ready to enter a "homeless shelter from
hell," so to speak and live the same way as
others who live there?

6 - Would you be willing to be treated like a
prisoner?

7 - Are you ready to risk being abused by the
mentally ill, or others who have been abused
and who behave like wounded wild animals?

8 - Would you be prepared to be stripped of all
your earthly possessions and every thread of
dignity?

9 - Are you ready to walk on someone else's filthy
cement bed littered with trash -- human saliva,
and dog waste everyday -- the sidewalks of such
such cities as Manhattan, New York, through all
the foul odors mixed with the pleasant ones
throughout the urban area?


These are but a few of the questions to consider in preparation for the mission field, whether you plan to minister in the U.S. or in some foreign country.

Street ministers may or may come to experience the same lifestyle as those they minister to. However, in the bible, when Jesus sent the disciples forth as missionaries, they were instructed "not" to take anything with them to sustain themselves except one set of clothing. They were to be sustained by people who accepted them wherever they went. And they were to stay in "one" home in each city and not move around from house to house.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS For MINISTRY READINESS:

The basic rule though, is that we must take care of our other responsibilities before going out into the mission field. We are to pay our taxes, our other bills, and if child support or other money is owed it should be paid regularly. If enough money is not coming in to take care of these things, then a job or other outside income is needed. The bible states we are to owe no man anything, and to pay Caesar what belongs to him. This means paying what we are ordered to pay by our Federal, State, and Local governments. And this means not only taxes, but also child support.

I do not recommend that the head of the house quit his job and go into "living by faith" to do street ministry, be a missionary, or any other type of ministry, unless there has been sustainable income coming into the ministry for some time (a year or so). Any man who has quit his job or business to do ministry and does not have enough money coming in to support his family should consider what is causing this lack of finances. The root cause of a financial problem will probably lie in the area of financial practices. If the cause can not be found, one a man must remember he is responsible for the well-being of his family and should resume brining in outside income to sustain them until he can sustain them with ministry income. A man must take care of his family. God's Word states that a man who does not support his family is "worse than an infidel." If enough money is not coming into the ministry for him to support his family, he will need to bring in outside income, whether from a job or business or some other source.

This is not to say that some men are not called, like Abraham, to take their families and go wherever God calls them to do his work. However, one thing should be considered. If a man does this and his he is not able to sustain his family through ministry income -- either God did not call him to do it -- or there is some other area of disobedience in his life. This could be as simple as "lack of faith." Here again, if no solution is found, he can not abandon the responsibility of his families needs and needs to begin bringing in outside income once again.

Any person who is not paying debts owed, whether to the government or to someone else is not operating according to God's Word and our Lord can not bless their finances, ministry, or other areas of their life.

Also, please don't forget to give your tithes so that God can rebuke the devourer for your sake (Malachi 3). However, the tithe is only what we owe God. Offerings are given outside of the tithe.

These are some of the things that will help any minister or missionary. Go with God. Obey his Word. Stay in communications with him, and be blessed in Jesus' name!