What Is A Missionary?
Acts 13:1-3
The word
"missionary" is not used in the Word of God. But that fact does not
mean that it is either antibiblical, or unbiblical. The word
"trinity" is not used in the Bible either. But the doctrine of the
trinity is taught explicitly (I John 5:7). A missionary is one who is sent,
particularly one who is sent on a mission.And that is what Luke describes in
Acts 13:1-3. Paul and Barnabas were missionaries from the Church at
The precise, biblical
term for missionary is "evangelist." An evangelist is a herald of the
gospel, a preacher of good news. But he is not a pastor, or elder. And he
certainly is not a roving, free-lance preacher! An evangelist is a missionary.
Philip, the evangelist, was a missionary (Acts 21:8). All pastors are to do the
work of an evangelist (II Tim. 4:5). But our Lord has given some to his church
who are specifically called to be evangelists, or missionaries (Eph.
First, A MISSIONARY IS
A MAN. No woman can serve as a missionary, anymore than a woman can serve as a
pastor! God does not call women to preach the gospel, ever (I Cor. 14:35; I
Tim.2:11-12). And being a missionary's wife no more makes a woman a missionary
than being a pastor's wife makes a woman a pastor. God calls men to do his work
and directs their wives to follow.Second,A MISSIONARY
IS A MAN WITH GOD'S MESSAGE. Missionaries are preachers. If a man is not gifted
of God to preach the gospel, no matter how sincere he is, he cannot serve as a
missionary. And the message he preaches is, and must be, the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ, the sinner's Substitute. Third,
A MISSIONARY IS A MAN WITH GOD'S
Don Fortner