What would you say to a budding missionary candidate?

I would say this to not only people going into missions, but considering membership at large portions of evangelical and fundamental churches where the issues of doctrine are avoided—and then they wonder why the auditorium is full of heretics. Well, duh.

I don’t mix and mash with missionaries a lot like he does, so I am not current on all the trends, but sounds very right. Sadly, the world doesn’t want Biblical justice or transformation, so if we go with visions of such glory, we’ll probably be terribly disappointed and lost.

It has helped me to realize that my homeland Christians have the same general trials and struggles I do, like with finances. They do it in their own culture, but I shouldn’t expect to be exempt from these things just because I’m in a different calling.

Also the verse, “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life” has helped me, too. I think my American dream-big, the-good-guys-always-win cultural messages helped me get to the field, but it hasn’t really kept me here. So switching my ambition to leading a quiet life as a missionary has helped me be stable. Plus my husband has done that, too, as he didn’t grow up in American culture but in a suffering, depressed culture, and he served God in that context just the same.

What I would say to a budding Independent Fundamental Baptist missionary candidate is to find a better way to fund their missionary journey than the typical deputation process. Deputation in IFB-dom involves too much politics, too much garbage, and too much groveling for $20 / month support. On top of that, if you post a picture on facebook that someone in one of your supporting churches doesn’t like (e.g. your wife wearing pants), be prepared to have them yank your $20/month support and tell the other churches in their network to do the same.

That being said, a better alternative to foreign missions is urban missions here in the US. You can be a bi-vocational church planter and not have to worry about raising support.