The Wounded Missionary
In the previous blog, I asked, “Are You a Missionary?” If we are missionaries, we will be prepared for a fight and we will expect tough conditions as we take back territory from Satan.
Yet a battle often results in wounds and scars. I was reminded of that as I read a letter from a fellow Village Missionary couple who had been in the battle for a long time. They faithfully serve and give their lives for the cause of Jesus Christ in rural North America. I would consider them one of our best missionary couples. The letter was very positive, mentioning often the great joy of serving the Lord and doing what God has called them to do.
Yet, after years in the battle, the scars are present. The wife wrote me of sleeplessness, anxiety, and even depression on the part of her husband. The battle for men’s souls has taken its toll.
Now, I hesitate to mention the above for fear that some prospective Village Missionary might read this. It is hard enough to recruit men and women to do what we do and to go where we go without frightening them with the possibility of wounding. Yet only couples with an eternal perspective, only couples who are ready to take up their cross, only couples who are consumed with the love of Christ last anyway, so they might as well be forewarned. Ministry in today’s world, whether at home or abroad, will not be easy.
Yet, has anything really changed? In perhaps the most poignant verse of Scripture, Paul writes the Corinthians, “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved” (2 Cor 12:15). Something in Paul’s thinking motivated his willingness to give himself completely to the Corinthians even as they increasingly rejected him.
I think anyone experiencing or having experienced wounding or discouragement in the ministry should study 2 Corinthians. After I read this missionaries letter, I reread Paul’s most personal of letters. I don’t have space (or time) to make a lengthy exposition of 2 Corinthians, but I do want to identify four themes found in this letter that might help a wounded missionary.
First, leaders will experience stress and frustration in the ministry. If the Apostle Paul experienced stress and frustration, then none of us is exempt! Paul was quite open about identifying his feelings. Paul reminds them that he wrote them out of “much affliction and anguish of heart” (2 Cor 2:4). They were reserved in their love for Paul (2 Cor 6:12). Paul writes of being “troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears” (2 Cor 7:5). Paul enumerates the perils he has experienced in ministry in 2 Corinthians 11:25-29. These perils include what comes upon him daily: “my deep concern for all the churches.” He asks in 2 Corinthians 11:29, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?” Rather than embracing Paul they will “put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face” (2 Cor 11:20). Paul had battle scars, both physical and emotional, from his years in ministry and especially, it seems, from the church at Corinth.
In spite of the wounding at their hands, a second theme surfaces. Paul is unreserved in the love he has for people who are not deserving of his love. I already cited 2 Corinthians 12:15 above. His ministry was totally other centered—everything was for them (2 Cor 1:6). He repeats the same idea in 2 Corinthians 4:15, “For all things are for your sakes . . .” and in 2 Corinthians 5:13. Despite his disappointment at their spiritual failure, their embracing of false teachers, and their personal attacks against him, Paul still loved them. We tell our missionaries, “Preach the Word and love the people.” We must love even if that love is rejected.
A third theme is made necessary by those personal attacks. Paul must remind them of the integrity of his ministry. He writes in 2 Corinthians 1:12, “For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.” In 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 he tells them that he gives “no offense in anything” and “in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God.” Read the list of circumstances, attitudes, and ministry approaches that exemplify the ministry approach of a man of God.
Unfortunately, I’ve met just as many wounded parishioners as I have pastors. When pastors do not minister with integrity, the sheep will be hurt. Rural churches in general suffer from pastors who serve a rural church simply to gain experience. Sometimes a pastor in one way or another violates integrity resulting in many becoming disillusioned about following Christ. A pastor, in a time of testing, will show little faith and his people will wonder if what he has preached to them is true. Paul experienced opposition and the church made many poor choices but it was never due to personal failure on Paul’s part.
The fourth theme is the most important of all and in various ways permeates the letter. Paul handles the ministry, keeps on keeping on, loves in spite of being hurt only because of the sufficiency of God in and through him. But we’ll wait until the next blog to discuss this great theme.
