As a Missionary Evangelist to the Spanish Speaking People, I'm adamant about showing the difference between a missionary going to a PLACE and going to a PEOPLE. For in the Bible, a Missionary is not called to preach to a certain place but to a specific People.
Sadly, modern tradition does not follow the Bible in its mission thrust, rather desiring only to send missionaries to places, claiming they are only allowed to stay in those places and preach. But is this Biblical?
Let us look at the Apostle Paul as our example, which most everyone does, and let's ask the question: "What Field was he called to?"
That's hard to answer. For Paul didn't just go to just one country. He went ALL OVER with the Gospel, staying several years in one place, several years in another, then he moved on for six years in another place, then three in another, etc.
The fact is he wasn't called only to a certain field. He went to many different places with the Gospel and not just one place for life (as many modern missionaries are instructed to do).
So the question should be asked, "If Paul were alive today, would his method of spreading the Gospel be accepted, when so many believe in using a completely different method for missions?"
Probably not.
In our day and age of apostasy, the way modern Christianity does things is so far away from the way that the apostles did it that they seldom resemble each other. I mean just think about it. If the apostle Paul was alive today, and under the rules of today, he would not have been able to make it as a Missionary. Number one he was single, which most people don't like for a missionary to be. Number two, he had no "Mission Board" which most missionaries are expected to have. And three, he didn't state what field he was going to, he just went and took the Gospel with him where ever he went.
As a Missionary to Spanish Speaking People, I hear it all the time, "Well, we can't support you financially as we only can support missionaries to a foreign field."
But where's that in the Bible? What if we were to ask the Apostle Paul what "foreign field" he went to, how would he respond? I'm sure he'd just state the truth, "I didn't go to any FOREIGN field. I just went to the ROMAN EMPIRE!"
For you see, even though some of the places Paul visited are today different countries and nations, in Paul's time that was not the case. Everywhere Paul journeyed in his four "missionary journeys" was a part of the Roman Imperial Government. That is one government ruled the entire area in his time, and he traveled within the confines of that government.
In other words, the Apostle Paul wasn't a missionary to any foreign nation. He was a domestic missionary to his own country governed by the Romans. And he not only took the Gospel to the Gentiles, but to the Jews as well. (He was a missionary to PEOPLE, not just a PLACE!)
How different this is from today, in which many claim to only want to support missionaries to foreign countries! They are now big on the 10-40 window and claim that supporting missions means only supporting missionaries to those certain foreign countries, especially to those in which the Gospel has not entered heavily.
Now before going farther, let me say, there is nothing wrong with going as a missionary to a "foreign field," to use their vocabulary. That's great that someone would surrender their life to go to a people in a different country of a different culture to try to win them to Jesus. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL THERE IS TO MISSIONS! Jesus told the early apostles to go to four places: Jerusalem, Judea, Sumaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
Most pastors and churches want to focus only on the last one today, but all the other ones still need evangelizing as well!
This modern teaching being propogated by traditionalism that teaches a missionary is only sent to a foreign field is not only un-biblical, but also unlogical. For God wants all men everywhere to be saved, not just those in the 10-40 window.
I call myself a "Missionary Evangelist to Spanish Speaking People in the Americas." I do so because I'm trying to reach Hispanics in the Americas, and I know the Americas are being united under a new global world system. (For those that don't know, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. are all now one area called Zone 1, while Central America is now united and called Zone 4).
God didn't call me to one country to stay for life and only reach the few people there under my influence. God called me to the Americas to travel and preach and reach as many people as I can as I preach all over (Just as the Apostle Paul traveled).
To say a Missionary is only to one field is to limit God. For the Apostle Paul preached everywhere he went and as we read in Acts, he helped to "turn the world upside down!" Shouldn't we want to follow Paul and do the same? And how can we do that unless we follow his example?
To say a missionary is only called to one foreign field for life (as most modern pastors and churches teach) not only limits God, but greatly hinders a missionary's ministry. For what happens if he's kicked out of that country? Usually, he's told he can no longer be a missionary because God called him to that country and he can't be there, and he loses all his support. Oftentimes he's ousted out of the ministry entirely, and not even allowed to be a missionary anywhere else by his mission board or sending church. For changing fields makes him out of God's will in the eyes of others.
But this teaching that a Missionary can only go to the foreign field will soon have to be rethought out. For the world will soon be joined together as a New World Order in which there is one government over the entire globe. What will become of the modern mission teaching that a missionary is only someone sent to a foreign field then, when nothing will be foreign as the entire world will be domestic? Will missionaries be sent to the Moon, as that's the last true foreign field?
What will happen if all the world becomes a one world state? Will we finally then go back to supporting missionaries who do like Paul did, travel and preach the Gospel where ever they are going?
This modern teaching that you should only support missionaries to "foreign fields" is silly. Sure we should support those who do go to "foreign fields" but we should also support missionaries who are working domestically to win our friends and neighbors.
We also should realize that all Christians are really "Missionaries" for they all are to preach the Gospel to the lost.
Did Paul only go to a foreign field? Nope. He was a true Missionary because he didn't wait to preach the Gospel until he got someplace (as most Missionaries do), rather he preached the Gospel where ever he went and did so faithfully. God blessed it and countless thousands came to Jesus Christ for salvation.
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