How will they hear?

I am sitting in my home office this morning reflecting on the state of missions in the Assemblies of God. It is the only church group that I have known my entire life. I am also wondering how many will read this blog. I want it to be read by as many as possible. Why? Because I am worried.

Let me explain. When I was growing up during the sixties, missionaries visited churches on a regular basis. The missions system in the A/G is based on churches supporting individual missionaries, who are required to raise their financial support from individual churches who decide to support them. They itinerate to any churches that will schedule them for a meeting. Churches and individuals then decide whether or not to get behind that missionary with regular financial support. It is a good system, providing both financial and spiritual support from churches and their individual members for the missionary.

There is a second, almost hidden benefit of this itinerating system. It is in part that churches and their members are exposed to the missionary and their call to serve the Kingdom of God in some sacrificial way. It does not stop there, however.

Missionaries are also exposing people to the call of God to serve in missions. This is probably the most powerful aspect of a system that relies on itinerating missionaries. The missionary movement of the Assemblies of God continues to be propagated through these missionary services.

Many churches and pastors have continued to invite missionaries to speak to their congregations. I have not traveled throughout the Assemblies of God Districts and churches to know how widespread itineration continues to be. I do know that the trend in many areas of the country is one of cutting back church services in every way.

Churches used to have Sunday morning, Sunday night, and weeknight services. Children grew up in Sunday School and went to youth meetings during the week. Many churches have abandoned Sunday School and Sunday night services are all but a thing of the past for those churches.

This has come to mean that the only opportunity for a missionary to secure a meeting is Sunday morning. Unfortunately, pastors also have only that one opportunity to preach and teach their congregation. Thus they are rather selective about allowing anyone to share their pulpit.

This has come to mean that many pastors give missionaries a narrow “window”, a few-minute time slot during the Sunday morning service during which the missionary must make their case for support and expose people to the cause of missions.

You can see where this is going. Romans 10:14,15 points out the dilemma.

“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?”

How can young people (or anyone for that matter) sitting in church hear the call of God to serve if there is little to no exposure to that call?

I am worried. The terms I am hearing more and more these days from those responsible for bringing new missionaries into the field, are “recruiting” and “enlisting”. People are no longer being called by God to serve as missionaries. They are being hired by people. They are being attracted by benefits. In the early days of Assemblies of God missionaries, those leaving for service packed a coffin with their goods, not knowing whether or not they would return to their homes. Those days are gone. And I am worried.