# Mission question asked by a friend



## Pergamum (Oct 15, 2007)

Mission question: 


Should a missionary be concerned about launching a "ministry" on the field that does not fit with his home church's understanding of mission work? 

Example: medical clinic or English speaking school for kids or orphanage. 

If a missionary is sent to preach and teach, establish and train, should he ignore the purpose for which he was sent and raise his own funds (however he can from other sources) to accomplish other "compassionate ministries" on the field? 

Basically, how much direction do you see the missionary seeking from his home church? 

What level of accountability should there be? 


I am seeing that the church needs to hold the missionary to his primary purpose, otherwises it seems that it would be very easy for the missionary to get distracted with all the MANY temporal needs surrounding him. 


Your thoughts?




My follow up questions: HOw much independance should missionaries have? They are thousands of miles away and must make some hard decisions. Folks back in the midwest of the US sometimes cannot fully grasp the particulars. What sort of home church guidence should there be, and how much guidence? What sort of decisions must be cleared and what sort of decisions should the missionary just make, assuming his home church supports him?


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## Timothy William (Oct 15, 2007)

A missionary is sent by a church, not by their own initiative or by a parachurch agency.* As such it is not for them to decide to change the purpose of their mission, or the broad methods they will use to achieve that purpose. Churches and individuals who support missionaries usually do so only once they know what the missionary will be doing. Unfortunately, in my limited experience, accountability for missionaries overseas is often low, with the result that missionaries receive little effective encouragement and counsel, and those back home have limited ability to know if a change in direction for the ministry would be a move forwards or a mistake.

* I am not ruling out involvement by such agencies, though I aware some take that view.


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## Pergamum (Oct 20, 2007)

What role do parachurch orgs play? After all, how many of you elders know how to arrange visa? 

MIssionaries are sent by a local church, often through a local asociation or parachurch. If there any problem with this distinction?


Also, how do we distinguish between mission and strategy. For instance, a church planting missionary may end up doing community development for a time to augment his work. He has not departed his main purpsoe.


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## Pergamum (Nov 11, 2007)

bump


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