Who Can be a Missionary?

A missionary is Gods man, doing Gods work,in God time, in Gods place.

I would suppose that a mission agy wants high standards for missionaries.
In fact, I think you would find that true of many different denominational mission boards.

Now, when I was in Germany, we had a pastor who was appointed by his board. He only had
a three year Bible Degree - a Graduate of Theology - and he was ordained.

Is there any reason, you need to go out only as a Presbyterian.?

 

Every servant of God should strive to be as knowledgeable of Holy Writ as possible. In my opinion the minimum academic achievements a servant of God ought to strive for is either a secular BS/BA followed by a Master's degree from a good Seminary, or at the very least a BA from a good bible college with a bible intensive major.

However, that is not always possible due to several common constraints including but not limited to monetary, family, time, health, etc. But it ought to be a goal of every servant of the Most High.

Add to that the importance of continuing study to keep our cognitive functions sharp. (I am 72 years old and retired but still take extension courses through Dallas Theological Seminary.)

However, again, in my opinion, the two most important aspects of selecting and sending a missionary to the field, either foreign or domestic, is first of all the Calling of God on that missionary's life, and second is the commissioning by the Local Church for that task.

 

A missionary [in the common vernacular as someone who is sent out by a church or mission organization] is someone who:
[1] Should have received a calling from God to do so - whether lifetime career or in bursts of short term trips.
[2] Should have a firm grasp on the Word of God and a continued growing in the Word of God.
[3] Should be equipped by God and possibly man-made and godly authority, i.e. Bible training, language training, culture training.
[4] Should have a burden for the lost in their own communities as well as the world.

 

NO, I am not against women missionaries. You may have been confused when I used the word "man"
several times. All that amounts to is that I am NOT PC.
Female missionaries can be very effective on the field.
Keep in mind that the wives of a missionary is also a missionary.

The minimum is what ever that mission board would require.

IMHO - it is best to go thur a mission board - as they have the experience - especially foreign
missionaries. There can be many pitfalls, there can be situations with foreign governments,
a mission board is able to assist you in churches who might support you. (of course, in the Southern Bap
you do not need to go on deputation - as yo are supported by the co-operative pgm;

Some churches contend that mission boards are unBiblical.

In theory - you could just get on a plane or boat - go to a foreign country - without any formal education
and start a mission. Of course you would need to figuer out how to have money to rent a house and money to
buy food.