Am I Called to be a missionary?
Several posts will come out discussing God's Call to the mission field that Robert Canfield and I are writing
Opinions abound about the call. Some believe you do not need a call but should see the command and go. Others feel that God must so put his hand on you so that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is calling you. We offer you first, one of my favorite quotes about getting into the work by William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army.
“’Not called’ did you say? ‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face—whose mercy you have professed to obey—and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.”[1]
If you are concerned about being sure you are called to be a missionary, you are right to be cautious. Charles Spurgeon, speaking of young men called to the ministry, said:
“You must be fitted to lead, prepared to endure, and able to persevere. In grace, you should be head and shoulders above the rest of the people, able to be their father and counselor.[2]”
[1] https://caringmagazine.org/the-best-18-quotes-from-william-booth/
[2] C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students: A Selection from Addresses Delivered to the Students of the Pastors’ College, Metropolitan Tabernacle., vol. 1 (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1875), 28.
