Should you be a Tentmaking Missionary?

Many people think they’d like to go to a Muslim, communist, or Buddhist country and plant a house church. “Many?” You may ask doubtfully. Well, there are an estimated 10,000 in the 10/40 window working at that task currently. Less than 1 in 70 of them will succeed at actually planting a church according to study of 500 of them in 2005. So yes, many.

Here are a few things to think about before you commit:
1. Do you have a living communion and conversation with God that goes beyond 15 minutes per day? Have you ever fasted for three days or more just because you had a deep desire to get closer to God? Ministering is tough. Ministering in a non-Christian culture is tougher. If you don’t walk with God you’ll quit.
2. Do you like people? Do you like lots of people? If you’re a one-on-one type you may want to reconsider.
3. Do you plan on staying longer than a term or two? Adoniram Judson wrote back to his sending agency: “Please don’t send us any more of those short-term wonders who come out here for seven years and then return only to live off their experiences.” Wow.

These all convict me. I need to work on them all with urgency.

I’ll put up another three tomorrow. Stay tuned.

This entry was posted in Ministry and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.