Missionary Needs

Missionary Needs

Here are the ten most pressing needs of and for missionaries.

1.  Far more missionaries are needed.

The world's 800 million Protestants currently field about 140,000 missionaries, including the 60,000 fielded by the 130 million American Protestants. The 14.5 million Southern Baptists, the largest American Protestant denomination, field 3,600 missionaries, woefully few compared to the 71,000 "missionaries" fielded by the Mormons, who number a comparable 15.9 million (see International Mission Board and Mormon "missionaries").

2.  Far more missionaries need to serve on the frontlines.

Of the world’s 16,562 people groups, about 6,700 have yet to hear the Gospel. Only 10% of missionaries were reported to be working among the unreached people groups in 1999, while 90% work among the already reached people groups (source: Winter and Koch, Finishing the Task, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 1999, p. 543). Today, the percentage of missionaries who work among unreached people groups is even lower.

3.  Much more money needs to be given for foreign missions.

Ninety-six percent of the money collected by churches in USA is spent in USA. For every $1 it spends on missions, both domestic and foreign, one large Protestant denomination spends $5 to pay the interest on its church building mortgages. According to World Evangelization Research Center, annual church embezzlements by top custodians exceed the amount of money spent on foreign missions worldwide.

4.  Money given for foreign missions needs to reach the frontlines, particularly the indigenous missionaries who do most of the pioneer missions work.

Of the money that trickles abroad for foreign missions, 87% goes to work among people who are already Christian, 12% to work among the already-evangelized non-Christians, and only 1% to work among unevangelized and unreached people (source: Mark Baxter, The Coming Revolution: Because Status Quo Missions Won’t Finish the Job, Tate Publishing, Mustang, OK, 2007,  p. 12). Moreover, 90% of all foreign mission funds is being used by cross-cultural (Western) missionaries, who do 10% of the pioneer missions work, while only 10% of all foreign mission funds is used by indigenous missionaries, who do 90% of the pioneer missions work (source: Bob Finley, Reformation in Foreign Missions, Xulon Press, 2005, pp. 178 & 244).

5.  Best-trained Christian soldiers need to volunteer for frontline duty.

Armies send fit, young men into battle. Mormon "missionaries" are 18-24 year olds. By contrast, 97% of Christian college graduates choose secular careers, with only 3% ending up in full time ministry, invariably in USA. Most seminary graduates also stay in USA, while the few who go to the mission field typically return after a few years, just long enough to rounded out their resumes (see Master of Divinity).

6.  Unqualified missionaries need to stay home at least until they become qualified.

Many cross-cultural missionaries in the field today are spiritually, mentally or emotionally unprepared, and/or physically or culturally unable to adapt. Others are abroad not to serve God but to restart after a divorce or broken relationship, for international adventure, etc.; many are unsaved.

7.  Missionaries need to actually do missionary work.

The majority of cross-cultural (Western) missionaries in the developing world live in major cities with Western amenities. Some of them do nothing to serve God, while others minister to each other in expatriate churches teeming with other missionary families, hosting Bible studies for each other, counseling each other, teaching each others' children, etc. Only one-quarter of cross-cultural missionaries from North America are even assigned missionary work (e.g., preaching, teaching, church planting, Bible translation), while three-quarters are assigned humanitarian work (e.g., agricultural, community or literacy development, medical or relief efforts). The average Western missionary spends only 3% of his or her time actually sharing the Gospel (source: K.P. Yohannan, Come Let's Reach the World, 2004, pp. 35 & 63).

8.  Most missionaries need to stop doing more damage than good.

Most of those who do preach and teach, preach and teach the health & prosperity false gospel, charismania, the Four Spiritual Laws and other heresies that leave the hearers hell-bound and resistant to the true Gospel when they hear it later. Too many churches and even Bible schools founded by missionaries abroad are filled with unsaved "rice Christians" who attend for the free food, education, shelter or other material benefits, and fade away when the handouts diminish or cease.

9.  Missionaries need to rely on faith and prayer instead of fundraising.

Apostle Paul worked at times to provide for his own needs and even for the needs of others (see Acts 18:3); at other times, he received support (see Philippians 4:15-17). He raised funds for the Christians suffering through a famine in Judea (see 2 Corinthians 8:1-4) but never raised funds for himself, and neither did any of the other missionaries in the Bible. Instead of constantly begging people for money, today's missionaries need to make the choices that are Biblical and conducive to missionary life (see women missionaries and missionary men), do the work worthy of support, trust and pray to God to provide as He sees fit, stop constantly asking and begging people for money, which currently tends to flow to those who beg the loudest or have family and friends with money (see Biblical fundraising).

10.  Missionaries and missions organizations need to stop reporting lies.

The less a missionary works in the field, the more he or she exaggerates to raise / receive funds. They are often prodded by their mission agencies, which report inflated figures, obsolete details, and untrue profiles to raise funds. According to World Evangelization Research Center, some 250 of the 300 largest international Christian organizations regularly mislead the Christian public by publishing demonstrably incorrect or falsified progress statistics.