This article was originally published in the October 1945 issue of The Fields magazine. Its intent is obviously to call workers overseas. We know the need is great everywhere, but in this issue of Uplook, we would like to particularly apply it to the mission field of North America. We reissue it with the same prayer with which the author concludes his article.
The great need now is for young men: teachers to relieve those who must soon lay down their burden, and evangelists and shepherds to carry the work further afield. Such being the case, what kind of men are needed?
1. Men who know God. By that one does not mean men who are saved merely, but men who, through deep soul-exercise before God and through study of His Word, have come to know Him and His ways in that fellowship to which they have been called in Christ. Only such can be of any real value in His service, and only such can endure the stress and strain of labor for Him.
2. Men sent by God. This is most important. Only the man whom God has sent to a definite field of service can be of help in that place. It is not an unknown thing for one to come to a section of the field who quite evidently was not sent there by God. The result is always dissatisfaction and discontent on the part of the would-be worker, and trouble in the work itself. Such a worker eventually returns home, drifts into secular employment in the country to which he goes, or may even become a permanent center of friction and irritation on the field.
3. Men who have the glory of Christ and the need of men at heart. Our service is primarily the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. The man who is always thinking of himself, always careful of his own “rights,” always with an eye to the appreciation of others, and offended if he does not receive what he thinks is his due—such a man should never be commended for the Lord’s work. This ought to be self-evident; but proper care in such matters is not always exercised. The servant of Christ must have a love for Christ and for others that delights in self-sacrifice.
4. Men who can face discouragement and not lose heart. Missionary work, whether at home or abroad, is not a picnic. It is often slow, plodding work; preaching at stone walls, with (seemingly) no response. Converts are rarely won in numbers; strong temptations sometimes cause them to slip back into sin. A man must be sure of his God, and, even though the outward circumstances of the service may be disheartening, he must be able to continue steadfastly in serving Him.
5. Men who are students of the Word. Pioneer work requires much real study and profound knowledge of God’s Word. That also is self-evident. The pioneer goes to a people who often know nothing about God, sin, righteousness, atonement, or any of the truths of the Word. The servant of God must know that Word, or how can he teach them?
And let not a man think that on the field he will cultivate habits of constant systematic study if he has not done so at home. The continual interruptions of such a life militate against the formation of study-habits; often the strongest resolution is necessary to keep up even regular devotional reading or study necessary to keep one fresh in his ministry. Only strong habits of study, formed at home in the face of the many counter-claims of everyday life, can prepare a man for the stress of the field.
6. Men able to teach others. Let it never be said, “So-and-so isn’t much help here, but he’ll do as a missionary.” He’ll do—what? The work of a missionary is to teach, and if he can’t do it at home, how will he do it elsewhere? The field does not need the kind of men that those at home can spare; it needs those who are considered indispensable at home. In Acts 13 the Spirit of God called prophets and teachers for the work abroad, and such are needed now. For the missionary goes to point men to Christ and to build up assemblies of believers well-instructed in the truth. That is no more the work of the incompetent abroad than it is at home.
7. Men willing to learn. The field does not need men who think they know everything, and who, as soon as they arrive, feel they must instruct older workers how they ought to carry on. There may be definite reasons why things are done as they are, reasons found in local customs or prejudices. The younger worker should be willing first to learn humbly how to do things; then later on, if his first impressions are confirmed, he may be able to help others to see the same way.
8. Men able to get on with others. Missionaries are often men of strong character, and are thrown into an association much closer than would be the case in their home assembly. If a brother is unable to get on with his brethren at home, he should never be commended for work away from home. To send out a man (as it was said of one man) “to get rid of him” is a terrible thing to do, an insult to God and to those asked to receive him.
9. Men of balanced judgment. The field requires sane men: men able to hold the Word in balance. The man with peculiar ideas and the one who is always “harping on one string” should both stay at home. Not only so, but the man who goes afield must be able to evaluate apparent results: to distinguish the false profession from the true, not counting every professor as “saved.” And he must be able to form a sound judgment on the many problems of procedure and discipline with which he will be faced.
10. Men of spotless character. The man who goes as the Lord’s representative must be one in whom there is no compromise with evil in any form: no compromise with the world; no careless or unseemly conduct toward the opposite sex; but rather a stainless purity and a daily experience of victory over sin through the Lord’s power. He must know that self-control which is part of the fruit of the Spirit. The harvest field is a place of fierce temptations, and only the one who abhors sin and knows the overcomer’s secret can be of any value there.
The work of God demands the best men available! Will you daily pray the Lord of the harvest to thrust out such laborers?
GIVE US MEN
by j. g. holland
God give us men! The time demands
Strong minds, great hearts,
True faith and willing hands;
Men whom the power of influence does not kill,
Men whom the spoils of this world cannot buy.
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And condemn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Big-hearted men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking.