“When thinking about ministry abroad and at home, what can churches be doing to prepare their members?” This question was posed during the time we had with our missionary friend.
He answered as follows.
The key thing that churches must labor to do is to make sure people are students of the Word of God. We only know God reliably as He has been revealed in the Scriptures, and that is also the sole, authoritative source of our knowledge of His commands. When people know the Word of God deeply and broadly, then they are legitimately prepared to minister to others. If people are not students of the Word of God then the whole church is impoverished in its understanding of who God is—and how can such a church even preach the gospel to unbelievers?
There are other important things to do as well. Theological education is crucial because we learn from those who have gone before us. We can learn from both the successes and failures of previous generations, just like we learn from older believers. Biblical, historical, and systematic theology are all vitally important to Christian piety, since they are the records of what people have known of God. Even those who often rail against systematic theology have their own systematic theology, though it may not be written. Everyone who knows God systematizes that knowledge somehow, either formally or informally. Studying these things in the context of the local church is an immense benefit and should be foundational to how we minister. Who we understand God to be will shape the methods and types of ministry we pursue.
Churches can also participate in mission trips to foreign locales. This helps us see our own cultural dispositions in a new light, and helps us appreciate all the people whom God has made. There will be people from every tribe, every nation, and every people on the final day in heaven—what a glorious truth! When we do mission trips, it is a good idea to visit the missionaries whom we have sent out in order to encourage them, to get to know them, and to be better informed for the sake of prayer.
Studying biographies together is another way that Christians can foster deeper desires for missions while also growing in understanding about the nature of missions work. Christian friends can profitably study these together to mutually encourage one another.
It was also asked what women could do to prepare for the mission field.
The most important thing for women to do is also to be students of the Word. Men and women both need to have a solid understanding of who God is in order to profitably teach others. The Word of God is foundational in training missionaries.
Our missionary friend also shed some light on missionary procedure. In order to go to many countries, women must be married because of societal mores and restrictions. This will especially be the case in Muslim countries. However, women in those countries are able to minister in unique ways since unrelated men and women do not mix in some foreign societies. Women can minister to other women with greater openness and opportunity than men in some cases. The work of being a godly wife and mother is also sadly underrated in modern culture. It is a great blessing to serve the family in this way, even though our modern, ‘advanced’ society looks down on being a biblical wife and mother.
The common method for training men and women, then, will be training them in the Bible. Many other things are possible and profitable, but biblical preparation is foundational to all of the work of the church, both at home and abroad.
--Dean of Admissions
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