Education is a splendid thing and every prospective missionary should get as much as he possibly can before going to the field. Most Americans contemplating missionary service will want to have at least a college degree. Up to this point they are fairly safe; but for every year they remain in this country after that their chances of getting to the field are correspondingly diminished. What is the reason for this?

It usually requires two full years to get an M.A. degree. During that time many things may happen to the prospective missionary. He may become so absorbed in his studies that he loses sight of the mission field and ends up in a teaching position here at home. If he goes off to seminary it will take him three years to graduate. During his seminary years he will be exposed more to the opportunities of the pastorate than to the claims of the mission field. He may decide that the Lord has called him to be a pastor, not a missionary.

And if he stays around long enough to get a Ph.D. his chances of getting to the mission field are drastically reduced. By this time he will have become a scholar, more interested in the pursuit of knowledge than in the propagation of the gospel. It need not be that way; it should not be that way; but in fact it often turns out that way. Most evangelists are not scholars; most scholars are not evangelists. The ideal missionary is one who has the mind of a scholar and the heart of an evangelist. Alas, that combination is very rare.

The person with advanced degrees may easily assume that the mission field does not offer sufficient scope for his many talents. To make the best use of his education he should remain at home where he can teach in a prestigious university.

This does not mean that any of these persons is necessarily out of the will of God. The Lord may have called them to teach in a university or to pastor a church. If so, there can be no quarrel with them. The fact remains—they are lost to the mission field.

 J. Herbert Kane, Understanding Christian Missions