Guidelines for Selecting Missionaries, Part 2

In this part of the sermon: Martin reviews the first principle for missionary selection: men of proven character, gift, and ministry experience, critiquing the common practice of subjective calls and mission…

Martin describes a common scenario where individuals feel a subjective call to missions, attend Bible school, apply to a mission board, and are sent, contrasting it with biblical norms. He then provides a letter received that week as a real-life example of this 'straw dummy' scenario.

and character, and with a modicum of previous experience in the work of ministry. And then, in the light of the teaching of those verses, I said this raised some very crucial questions. And the first question was, what does it say about the standard scenario which has owned the field for many, many years, in which people have a subjective inclination, to missions, and then go off to Bible school, apply to a mission board, and are sent forth? Well, lest any of you think I was setting up a straw dummy, I received this week

6:23 - 7:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Examining Acts 18:27, Colossians 4:10, 2 Corinthians 3:1, and Acts 15:40, Martin argues that missionaries must be sent forth with the living, deep commendation of the local…

Martin recounts receiving requests to recommend individuals for ministry with whom he had not had sufficient contact in years, highlighting the superficiality of some commendations compared to the deep, living interaction required for biblical commendation.

You see, the people that commended Apollos were not old classmates who had occasionally shared a form letter over the last ten years since they graduated from college. You'd be amazed the people that put me down to recommend their character as Christian men and their provenness as Christian ministers when they're applying for a church. And I write back, have not had sufficient contact in the last ten years to make any commendation. Sorry, I did it in a letter and the secretary will verify this.

15:05 - 15:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Reject carnal, man-centered approaches to missions that lead to shallow assessment and inadequate training, as they result in ineffective ministry.

Martin notes that it was at least eight or nine years from Paul's conversion until Barnabas brought him to Antioch for teaching, illustrating that God is not in a hurry to prepare His servants for ministry, even those with great natural gifts.

that they can impart it to others also. And it's very, very interesting and I did my extra homework to make sure I was accurate in this. Do you know that it was at least eight or nine years from the time the Apostle Paul was converted until Barnabas sent for him at Tarsus and brought him back to Antioch to become involved in the teaching of that infant church? With all of his background, with all of his skill and training, God was in no hurry

23:39 - 24:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Reject carnal, man-centered approaches to missions that lead to shallow assessment and inadequate training, as they result in ineffective ministry.

Martin contrasts God's instantaneous creation of the universe with the 80 years He took to prepare Moses, emphasizing that God is never in a hurry to make a man of God, which underscores the need for thorough training for missionaries.

to prepare his man adequately for the tremendous task that was to be laid upon his shoulders. And one of the statements the men in the academy constantly hear from me is this, God was never in a hurry to make a man of God. When he decided to make a universe, he opens his mouth and speaks it into being in the space of six days. But when he's going to make a deliverer of his people, he takes 80 years.

24:23 - 24:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Now one man in our generation said the ministry is cursed with nice guys who can't preach. And if that's true of the ministry in our own country alas we must say the missionary enterprise is cursed with devout self-sacri…

Martin tells of a young man he initially thought was a great preacher but whose effectiveness waned after six sermons due to a lack of sustained substance, illustrating the need for proven preaching gift that can edify with sustained profit.

They must be men who have sufficient proven preaching gift to evangelize effectively and to edify God's people with sustained profit. And Barnabas were no six sermon wonders. I remember a young man and that's what I called him a six sermon wonder. First time I heard him preach I said maybe Spurgeon's back from the dead.

43:34 - 44:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Be willing and able to adapt to the ways of the culture you enter as a missionary, so as to give no unnecessary offense or raise unnecessary barriers to the reception of your person or your message.

Martin shares personal anecdotes from his trip to Pakistan, where he learned not to show the bottom of his foot or use his left hand for food, demonstrating the need for missionaries to be sensitive and adaptable to cultural norms.

in their mother's womb to their upbringing their training, their personality they don't lack the desire but they lack the ability to be sensitive they don't know they have tunnel vision with regard to adaptability for example when I got to Pakistan some years ago one of the first things the missionary told me as we sat on the train with a Muslim man next to us I started to cross my leg and he slapped it down and then whispered in my ear don't ever show the bottom of your foot in the presence of a Muslim alright, so I sit flat-footed terribly uncomfortable and being left-handed

54:23 - 55:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Be willing and able to adapt to the ways of the culture you enter as a missionary, so as to give no unnecessary offense or raise unnecessary barriers to the reception of your person or your message.

Martin recounts meeting a missionary in Pakistan who, after 15 years, had never embraced a Pakistani man in greeting, despite mastering the language, illustrating a lack of willingness or ability to adapt culturally, which hindered his relational effectiveness.

to make that adaptation for a period of a couple of weeks and then to slough it off when I left I can't take credit for that it's a combination of factors but now whether it was sin or just the way God put a certain man together I met a missionary in that same period of time who'd been there for fifteen years and who never once had embraced a Pakistani the proper greeting there in Pakistan is not just a handshake but you start with a handshake Pastor Barker will validate this then it's an embrace over one shoulder embrace over the other and then embrace back to the first and end up with the ha...

55:50 - 56:34 Read in full sermon