The Day of Pioneer Missions Is Not Over

Before reaching Guangzhou in 1807, missionary Robert Morrison struggled between taking the gospel to China or Timbuktu and prayed “that God would station him in that part of the missionary field where the difficulties were greatest and to all human appearances, the most insurmountable” (Growth of the Missionary Concept, 21). This was a bold prayer, a lose-your-life-and-you-will-find-it prayer (Matthew 10:39).

Although the world has turned over many times since Morrison set sail, the day of pioneer missions is not over.

First-Wave Forces

Not all missionaries are pioneers — nor should they be. Pioneers are those who first enter the darkness, men and women who take the gospel to a group of people who have yet to hear it even once. They share Paul’s boundary-pushing drive: “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation” (Romans 15:20). Other missionaries follow with equal faith, courage, and sacrifice, and have an essential role in this kingdom-building work as churches and resources take root in native soil and multiply. In this article, however, I particularly focus on the need for and characteristics of the gospel’s first-wave forces.

“There are still vast territories and high-rise megacities where the gospel message has yet to reach.”

Pioneer missionaries are still needed today because there are vast territories and high-rise megacities where the gospel message has yet to reach. Our risen King promised the gospel would go “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8), a beautiful and boundless phrase that speaks of both his geographic reach and his sovereign rule. Plainly, Christ intends through his word and by his Spirit that his messengers are the answer to Paul’s question in Romans 10:14: “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”

Missionary pioneers fill a unique role in the gospel’s advance. John Piper describes them as those who undertake “back-breaking, culture-penetrating, darkness-shattering initial work.” They serve where there are no churches and few — or no — believers. I don’t mean there is no particular denomination or sending agency in the area. I mean there are no churches — no gathering of believers — because there are none to gather.

On our own, the demand of evangelizing unreached millions is simply impossible — but not with God. As Christ is calling people to himself from every nation, so also he is sending them out to every nation. This is a global work for the global church. Over the years, I’ve met Brazilians, Peruvians, Arabs, Koreans, Filipinos, Chinese, Ethiopians, Dutch — men and women sent out from their churches to the forefront of gospel advance. This doesn’t mean that American churches should outsource pioneer missions — there’s plenty of work to go around. What it does mean is that we respect and rejoice in God’s work through all his people across all nations.

Profile of a Pioneer

Over the past few months, I interviewed ten pioneer missionaries to better understand the issues impacting their going — and staying — in gospel-destitute places. Their years of service ranged from 5 to 34, and their educational preparation varied from bachelor’s degrees to medical doctorates, with majors as diverse as Bible, nursing, music, and mathematics. Although they don’t fit any one mold, yet they all clearly fit the mold that God crafted for them. I noticed five common threads in their stories.

1. ENDURANCE TO STAY

First, they all possessed a particular kind of endurance to stay and serve in places of great spiritual and social isolation. Their capacity for living with uncertainty recalls the words of the intrepid British explorer Freya Stark: “One must be strong to place oneself alone against the unknown world” (Fever and Thirst, 214).

2. WISE COUNSEL

Second, most cited the impact of their pastors’ practical counsel and encouragement to go, serve, and follow Jesus. One recalled that when he was 21 and armed only with a Bible degree, he expected his pastor to recommend seminary before going. Instead, his pastor encouraged him to go, immerse himself in the language, and evangelize — and then to take seminary courses by correspondence. Looking back over thirty years of ministry, this missionary has planted churches, taken the gospel to war zones, and earned a PhD along the way. All such pioneer work began with a pastor’s encouragement to go, serve, and follow Jesus.

3. THE WORD AT WORK

Another common theme during interviews was the life-shaping force of God’s word. One missionary told me her calling came on a summer missions trip during “a deep dive [into] the book of Romans.” With Paul’s words on her mind, she said, “My heart was captured by the utter spiritual darkness — everywhere.”

“On our own, the demand of evangelizing unreached millions is simply impossible — but not with God.”

Another veteran shared a similar story. As he pondered his future path one evening on a rooftop, the Muslim call to prayer sounded from minarets that spiked the cityscape. At the sound, Paul’s words came to mind: “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24 KJV). This verse sealed his calling to stay. As he remembered the story years later, he still teared up.

4. COMMITMENT TO LANGUAGE FLUENCY

All the pioneers I interviewed cited language fluency as a lifelong pursuit. Some are especially gifted in learning a new language, but all described it as a labor of love. As one missionary put it,

Language acquisition needs to be your number one goal. If you can’t speak fluently, you have to work at it with all your might. If we really believe in the word of God as the thing people need, then we’d better be able to communicate it. Your love for the people and your love for God’s word have to be the driving motivators for you to work on your language skills.

5. AMAZED BY GRACE

Finally, I noticed an unpretentiousness — a wonder-filled humility — among all these evangelists. As an example, one missionary I interviewed said the following:

I have thought long and hard about the question, “Was I more worthy than an uneducated Muslim fisherman on a Southeast Asian island to have had constant, immediate access to the gospel?” Of course not, but sometimes we live as if the gospel and grace we have received are somehow more deserved by us than by “them,” or that we were somehow not quite as much of an enemy of God as the people we are reaching.

Grace is still amazing to these quiet, courageous servants of the King!

Prayer for Pioneers

Although there is no job title or career path called “pioneer missionary,” there is a vital need for Christians who are passionate about spreading the good news of Jesus where he is unknown. Some of these pioneers are missionaries already on the field, pushing deeper into unreached areas. Others are praying, as Morrison did, that God would call them to a gospel-destitute place where the challenges are “to all human appearances, the most insurmountable.”

As with Christian on the way to the Celestial City, the pioneer’s path is filled with dangers, distractions, and detours. Let’s intercede for them — and pray for more to join them — as they follow Christ into the deep darkness, knowing he is with them always.