The Calling of Missionary

THEOLOGICAL CENTRE FOR ASIA (MALAYSIA)

THE CALLING OF A MISSIONARY

A PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE TCA FACILATOR, DR. TERESA CHAI Ph.D. ,
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE MI 110 ON THE PRINCIPLES OF MISSION

BY STUDENT NO. KCH00001

MALAYSIA 08 DECEMBER 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Primary Call…………………………………………………………………………3

The Missionary Call……………………………………………………………………...4

Exhortations from the Bible……………………………………………………………...4

Old Testament and missions……………………………………………………………..5

New Testament and missions …………………………………………………………..8

The First Missionary…………………………………………………………………….9

The Command…………………………………………………………………………..10

The Story of Mary Slessor………………………………………………………………11

Practical Steps…………………………………………………………………….……. 11

When does God call people to long-term missionary service?.........................................13

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………14

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THE CALLING OF A MISSIONARY

What is a missionary call? How does one recognize that God is calling him or her into an international mission field or to local mission? Before we can answer the above questions, we must firstly define what is the meaning of the word “Missionary”. One person defines a missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. Here the great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. Another definition for a missionary is any Christian who crosses cultural boundaries to further the building of Christ’s church and the expansion of God’s kingdom. In a sense, Jesus Christ was our prime missionary example in that he crossed from the kingdom culture and lived his life for three and half years in a new culture known as earthly kingdom.

The Primary Call Every