Missions FAQ

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Missions Frequently Asked Questions

Most frequent questions and answers about historical mainstream Christian missionary work

     This page is written with the assumption that you believe the Bible. Without that starting point this page will not make sense. The Bible is God’s written word to all people. It is the main source of finding direction, purpose, reality, and wisdom.  It can generally be taken at face value. The Bible is a single story of God’s interaction with people. It is intended to clearly communicate to all people God’s identity, character, purpose, plan, and provision. God’s book and personal interaction reveal that He is personable, knowable, and desires that every person respond to His lavish goodness by believing Him. Missions is about reflecting the goodness we have received to those people who have not. 

I want to get a basic overview of missions. Where do I start?

What is the Bible Basis of Missions?

Career Missions: Why should I consider being a career missionary? 

  • Why ME? – stilluntold.org/why-me
  • What is God’s will for my life? A better question is: What is God’s will? Once you know what God is doing it is easier to know where to volunteer the strength, energy, passion and gifts He has given you to invest in things that matter to Him. 

What About the Money: If I were to become a missionary, how would I meet financial needs?

What Are We Doing: What is the goal of missionary work?

Doing Well: What should to be done well to hear "well done"?

Going Foreign: Do I have to learn a another language? 

  • “I don’t think I can learn another language.” The one you have might be enough.
  • Language, Culture, Communications, Translation and teaching everything. 
  • Learning another language may not be as impossible as you think. Diligence? Hard work? Perseverance? Yes, but it’s probably not at all like your High School or college language training. Language learning is a necessary part of “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Language is necessary for in-depth relationships that allow discipleship.
  • You may have to ask yourself, “Can the God who created my mouth, and every language on earth, enable me to learn a another one?” (Beside English, computerese, and the other languages you have learned already.) 
  • Many Ethnos360 missionaries become highly fluent in two or three more languages by the time they begin teaching in a remote people group. They usually learn the language of the country where they work, the trade language if it is different from the national language, and the language of the people with whom they would like to communicate the truth about Jesus, teaching the whole Bible. You will learn why it is important and how to conquer another language well.
  • Great training and guidance help a lot. The key is having good training on HOW to learn another language. Most people can learn another language in a timely manner with some hard work and self-discipline. Some languages are easier to learn than other languages.  For the relatively few people who find language-learning extremely difficult, there are many other opportunities to excel in serving each other toward our common goals. For those who eat languages like candy, there are many opportunities to use your skills to pass on the message of eternal life through faith in Christ.
  • Do you think teaching the whole Bible in your own language is difficult? Try doing it without learning the language of your audience!
  • Culture and Language Acquisition – 20 Lessons – AccessTruth

Where can I get good missionary training? 

How can I learn more about missions?

I’m not sure I want to be a career missionary.  Where can I get some interesting, intensive, introductory exposure to learn more about what is involved in church-planting among the least-reached people groups?

Short-Term: I can't commit long term right now. What other things can I do to help, or send others? 

Scary Stuff: I would like to be a missionary but I'm afraid of bugs, snakes, wild stuff, and other things. 

Isn't missionary work dangerous? 

  • Yes. 100% of all missionaries die. …Eventually. Many die of old age or cancer in their home country. Until the Rapture, that’s what you can expect.
  • No missionary’s life is one day longer or shorter than the number that God predetermined before He created the world in which we live. 
  • Yes. In more than 50 years of rubbing shoulders with missionaries I have known some who have been kidnapped by guerrillas, hijacked and forced to fly where they did not want to go. Some crashed into the side of a mountain in an aircraft. Some lost children to accidental overdoses of prescribed medicines. Some had children drown in jungle rivers. Some had children die in head-on collisions with drunk drivers on ice (in the USA). Some lost spouses, but most of the missionaries I have known are still kicking around and serving God where He has them at the moment.  
  • What about the bugs, snakes, crocodiles, and lions that people fear when they consider missionary work? Wow! Career missionaries have some exciting stories to tell and we do tell them!  That is so that you will listen long enough for us to tell you to trust God with your life. He made those scary creatures… and us. Almost all have some frightening encounters of one kind or another, but it’s pretty rare for anyone to die from such an encounter. There are real dangers in unknown situations, people, cultures, and places. We enjoy telling you how God delivered us. 
  • We all die. The question is – what will we accomplish that has value to God between now and then? Will we live as if we control life and death; or as if God does? Will we trust the God who created us with the timing of the end of our lives, and our safety between now and then? We should not live foolishly, but sometimes walking by faith means trusting God with what looks foolish to the world. 
    • Matthew 6:24-34
    • Matthew 16:24 – Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
    • Matthew 16:25 – For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
    • Luke 9:24 – For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
  • You May Die If You Stay/Go
  • Missionary Biographies, Etc. – https://send100.org/books/

What questions should I ask as I consider a mission organization to serve with?

What can I do right now to get involved?

I'm going! Where do I get started?

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