I resonated with this video of David Platt from Verge Network today. You know why? Because I lead a team of missionaries at Within Reach Global in China, where the physical, emotional and spiritual climates are not ideal.
Make no mistake about it: cross cultural missionary work is not easy. Throwing in the towel is an inviting consideration.
Missionary attrition is a real thing. We don’t pack our belongings in coffins like our missionary heroes of the past. We pack our stuff in Samsonites. Modern technology has made it incredibly easy to return home after a few years on the mission field.
What will sustain us is God’s word and the presence of his promises.
I have been trying to encourage people for nearly 2 decades to go where God is moving, namely, the unreached people groups of Southeast Asia.
And I often feel that my stories, my encouragement, my council, my advice falls on deaf ears.
I realize now that that’s ok. The only thing that will truly call a person to sacrifice everything and sow their lives into the cause of reaching the remaining unreached people groups of the 10/40 Window is not me but the word of God.
Here’s how David Platt puts it:
“When I think about families who have sold their homes in suburbia and moved into low income, high crime areas of the city to spread the gospel—whose kids are sleeping at night with gun shots outside their homes, who are walking through real difficult times—what sustains them at that point is not some story or council or advice. The only thing that will sustain them at that point is the word of God.”
I am not the thing that drives people into missional living. The only thing that will drive them into mission is God’s word and God’s voice. That will sustain them in the calling they have received—not because I said it might be a good idea!
If we believe God is great,
if we believe man is lost,
if we believe Christ is necessary,
put it together, we are urgently going.
Check out this blog: 10 Reasons You Should Be A Missionary
Dr. David Platt is deeply devoted to Christ and His Word. David’s first love in ministry is disciple-making—the simple biblical model of teaching God’s Word, mentoring others and sharing faith. He has traveled extensively to teach the Bible and church leaders throughout the United States and around the world. David holds a deep and abiding passion for global disciple-making. “I believe that God has uniquely created every one of His people to impact the world. Some may count it as idealistic, but I believe it is thoroughly biblical, rooted in Psalm 67:1-2, yet covering Scripture from beginning to end. God is in the business of blessing His people so that His ways and His salvation might be made known among all people.”
