Answers to Objections to Going into Missions :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library


Did Piper answer these objections well? How would you answer these objections?

Also, what other objections are out there?

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

He forgot:

1: I am not called
2: I am not an ordained elder

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Tim Vaughan
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian, OPC,
Santa Maria
California

Number 1 is a valid objection...who can argue with that.

Also valid would be the objections, "I am not a Christian" or "I don't care."


A good follow-up question to your objection 1 would be "What are you called to do" or "How is the Lord calling you to support the work of the Great Commission."



Number 2 is not a valid objection.

Are you still at the point where you think women can be evangelists and teach men? Even where there are no Christian men and those women are the only ones who can teach Christianity?

We try to utilize women to teach women and children, in perfect accord with Scripture.

Gender-segregated Muslim women need more women to minister to them because men often cannot.

I am still at the point where I believe we need to be neither more lax than Scripture nor more restrictive than Scripture as we try to maximize the use of the gifts of the whole body of Christ and as we seek to glorify God by spreading His glory through the whole earth.

1. Not gifted to be a missionary

2. Health reasons prevent one from going.

3. First place for missions is in the home and community.

4. The Catholics can do it. J/K

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John
Member
Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Salt Lake City, Utah
www.christpres.net

I would agree with this. I spent 2 1/2 years on the mission field as a full time missionary, and I never once taught men, led a worship service, or did anything remotely close to the work of elders. However, I did not teach children either. I spent the bulk of my time working with teenage girls in the local youth ministry, working in a christian coffee house and helping the local church wherever they needed me. I attended the local Bible study groups and ministered to the women who attended. I had also a ministry to the elderly women in the town where I was living.

As far as objections. If God has called someone, there really should be no objections. When He calls someone, He equips them.

My favorite missionary account is one I heard firsthand years ago (from the preacher mentioned at the end). The man was a Canadian and an inventor by profession. One day while he was praying, he felt strongly that God wanted him to go to India and minister to a particular group of people there. Day after day as he prayed, he felt more and more compelled to go, until finally he went. The only scripture in the language of this group of people was the book of John from NT. He went there with this Gospel of John and took it to a group of people in a village. He wasn't there a month, before the government kicked him out. He went home dejected, upset and feeling like a total failure. He went back to his inventions.

Many years later when the man was quite old, he visited a church which was having a guest preacher from India. Upon listening to the man's testimony, he nearly fell off the church pew. The man told the story of how the Gospel came to his village. A stranger from another country came and brought them the Gospel of John. The chief of the village was converted and a church was started. This Indian preacher had gone out from that church and attended a seminary somewhere and was now carrying the Gospel all over the place.

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J Baldwin
Keowee Presbyterian Church, PCA
Pickens, SC
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Check Out My Blog: http://reflectjoy.blogspot.com/

From the Great Commission, Matt 28, "... teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you ...", could it be argued that every believer is called to make disciples of all nations?

Not that everyone needs to be a goer, per se, but everyone needs to put their hand to the plow in some aspect of world missions ...

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Dennis Oh
Toronto, Canada
"The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time" -- Carl F. H. Henry

Not every believer is a missionary (although every believer IS a witness), but every believer is part of the Church, which has been given the Commission and so this commission is the responsibility of all believers in going, sending, praying, supporting, etc.

In WWII only a fraction of the men went to fight, but all shared in the war effort.

There are mandates that are given to every believer, but I don't think this is what we have in Matthew 28.

When Jesus was giving this commission, he was speaking to the eleven disciples while on a mountain in Galilee. The other part of that passage includes the mandate to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Certainly this is not a job given to all believers.

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Tim Lindsay
member, Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, Halifax, NS, Canada
Living in Cape Town, South Africa
"under the Southern Cross, at the foot of Table Mountain, not far from the Cape of Good Hope"

Hi Pergs,

How about an unspoken desire for a life of dissipation in spite of God's call?

How would you answer temptation and disobedience?

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Ewen
1689 LBCF
Assemblies of God Bible College
Singapore

Hey Ewen,

What do you mean by a life of dissipation?

Can you rephrase your question?

"I know God is calling me to missions, but I rather live in a first world nation with first world comforts."

Somewhere temptations developed into direct disobedience? Or would you say that this could be a sign the person isn't called to missions in the first place?

If we define missions as anything the church does to expand, then there are "mission" opportunities everywhere, even in the US or First World.

I define missions in such a way that crossing a culture in order to deliberately target an unreached people-group as part of the definition.

Even with my more restrictive definition there can be "Home Missions" if one is deliberately targetting internationals, immigrants, indigenous folks not really reached, etc.


I agree with what you are saying, however, in that affluence distracts many. We have enough resources in our Jerusalems, we need a greater prioritization towards the uttermost parts of the earth.

Question. - "Why aren't you going into missions?"

Ans. - "I have no desire to do so, compulsion to do so, or formal recognition by the session and presbytery of my church that doing such is a suitable place and station for me."

Follow Up - "What are you called to do? or how is the Lord calling you to support the work of the Great Commission?"

Response - "I am called to attend the ordinary means of grace that God has given, support the work of the church, honor my elders, love my brethren, and be salt & light in my place, station, and calling (vocation)."

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Dad
Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCGA
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It is God that multiplies our sorrows.... God, as a righteous Judge, does it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are, we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God, as a tender Father, does it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from the world by all our sorrows; and the good we get by them, with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our sorrows, how greatly soever they are multiplied. - Matthew Henry

Certainly, you're not suggesting that world evangelization and baptism ended with the ministry of the eleven?

I would have to strongly disagree, if so.

Going back to Matt 28: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Maybe I can get an exegete to help me here, but it seems that what the disciples did, the church (as a whole) has also been given to do because we have been taught to obey what they were likewise commanded.

Another thought, this whole idea of a "call" ...
1. it's subjective
2. it implies that God speaks, outside of biblical revelation
3. it must be confirmed

in my interactions on other PB posts, it seems patently clear that the overwhelming consensus is that God doesn't speak outside of the bible and that subjectivism should be shunned. I'm confused, why then, when it comes to the 'call' is this subjective, God-speaking to the individual stuff, suddenly back in?

As far as a "missionary call" goes, right, it is far from mystical and is certainly not an audible voice or mystical sign.

If you desire to go into missions, then certainly Scripture seconds that as a good thing, and if the larger Body of Christ approves and confirms that you have the giftings fitting your desires, then this appears to be what most refer to as a missionary call.

Some I've either heard or entertained myself.

1. I don't relate well to people of other cultural backgrounds right here in my own community, so how am I going to relate to people of other cultures on the mission field?

2. I'm not comfortable doing fund-raising.

3. I'm not a college graduate so I doubt any mission agency would want me.

4. I have medical issues and I'm not sure I'd be able to get the care and/or medication I need outside of the U.S.

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Mark Hettler
PCA
Central NJ

God answers prayers in one of two ways: "Yes," or "I have something better."

I have met many many people who are uncomfortable with the "fund-raising" part. It does seem that this is a major hindrance to many who desire to serve.

-----Added 10/13/2009 at 10:50:55 EST-----

Regarding medical issues,

I just read about George Stott, the amputee who served in China for 23 years with the China Inland Missions. Also, Elinor Young had polio and served in the highlands of Irian Jaya despite barely being able to walk. Also, the book 'Weak Thing in Moni Land" tells the tale of Bill Cutts, who served among the Moni despite having a severe disabilities that made every trek very painful. Here is a link to the lasting testimony of Bill Cutts' work: [IMG]www.alliancelife.org/article.php?id=48[/IMG].I have heard stories from his son first hand of how hard it was for his father, and yet the Lord gave fruit to his ministry.

Nowadays, meds can be gotten without too much difficulty.

Also, most mission scenarios are not remote tribes, but missions is shifting to become more and more Urban and Asian. The US has 11 cities I think over one million souls, but China has over 150 cities with populations of over one million, and so the face of missions is changing and remoteness and inaccessibility are not givens of the missionary life.