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TH E K I NG . ’ S B U S I N E S S
SO YOU'RE GOING TO BE A MISSIONARY? B y Henry Owen K OU HAVE Just returned from a great missionary meeting where, when an appeal was made for young people to give their lives for missionary service, you responded. It was a great Step to take, but you really meant it, and you walked home filled with a new inspiration. But the next day, when your feelings were more normal, you said to yourself, ‘Tve given my life to God to be a missionary, but what do I do next?” Now you have done the right thing in yielding your self for whatever service God wants you to do, but a number of factors must be considered in attempting to find out whether or not that service is to be done on the mission field. Poor health may rule you out at once, and so may a nervous temperament. You must expect to be subjected to the heavy strain of acclimatization, hard language study, strenuous travel and a life of iso lation. A thorough medical examination will reveal the true state of your health, and the doctor may be able to suggest treatment. Personal Qualifications Exceptional personal qualities are demanded in a good missionary. You should have the ability to lead and inspire others. You must be free from racial pride. If you feel that the American way is the only way of looking at life or of doing things, you had better stay at home! You should be able to work with those of other nationalities or of decidedly different backgrounds and temperaments. Some missionaries find that their great est problem is getting along with their fellow mission aries! This demands a spirit of unselfishness, of con sideration for the feelings of others, and of adaptability. Strong perseverance will be needed for the mastery of a foreign language, and to enable you to hold on in a situation which is seemingly hopeless. A sense of humor and an optimistic outlook are distinct assets, but if you are given to fits of melancholy, and cannot throw off depression, missionary life will be most trying. Mission boards do not look for perfection, but they will expect to find evidences of these qualities in you, and the time for their development is now. An average spiritual life is not good enough for the mission field. It must be unusual. The missionary is a special target for the devil. He lives in an environ ment predominantly evil, perhaps with no opportunity of fellowship or spiritual help from other Christians. Those he is trying to help will pay more attention to his life than to his sermons. It is not too early, then, to develop a close communion with God through regular prayer and Bible study. This should result in a genuine
love for the souls of men, the importance of which cannot be overemphasized. Without it, all other qualities and attainments will mean nothing. As Bishop Houghton, General Director of the China Inland Mission, has put it, “The Chinese will forgive much that irritates them in us if there is evidence that we love them.” Spiritual Discipline There is also a need for a spiritual discipline: the ability to sacrifice your rights, to accept injustice meekly, to submit yourself to experienced missionaries even when you may not agree with them, to deny yourself. This is contrary to the spirit of the age, but the missionary candi date will remember that “even Christ pleased not him self” (Rom. 15:3). If you are in the armed services now, do not feel that you are wasting time, which might be otherwise spent in missionary preparation. Joyfully ,ac cept your circumstances as an opportunity for the develop ment of this spirit of discipline which is denied to the civilian. I would recommend to all who feel the mis sionary call the repeated reading of “Ambassadors for Christ,” by Misses Cable and French, two veteran mis sionaries, in which book all aspects of missionary life, but especially the spiritual, are discussed in a refresh-' ing and original fashion. It is not enough that you would like to do mission ary work. Many mission boards are asking, “What con tribution can you bring to the work in our field? Can you teach the Bible, do evangelistic work, work among children, or reduce unwritten languages to writing? What is your gift?” Such special gifts may not be discovered until after you have commenced your training, but every effort should be made to determine what they are. We do well, nevertheless, to give heed to the wise words of one who wrote, “There will never bo >.&y . ?.c i of oppor tunity for the worker who is really wise, to win and help
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