My Thoughts on Deputation

Missionaries often hear a lot of talk about deputation.  Everyone seems to have a different opinion about how to do deputation (there are even schools that teach missionaries how to do deputation the 'right way').  After 26 months of deputation and visiting almost 200 churches...the big question always remained...WHY?

The cursory answer is, of course, to raise money.  But why does it take one missionary 14 months, another 26 months and still another 36 months to raise the same amount of money?   Is the 14 month guy just better at raising support than 36 month guy?  Although there is a lot to be said for being prepared, minding your manners and not shooting yourself in the foot while you are at churches I think the answer might lie somewhere else.

The Bible says in I Thessalonians 5:24, "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."  God IS faithful and if IF He has called a man to go to the mission field He will provide.  If that man needs support; God has it ready for him.  Because God called him he will get the support he needs.

However, in the Christian life, nothing is automatic.  It is a refining process, if we yield to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are constantly being conformed to the image of Christ.  I truly believe that God uses deputation as part of this refining process. 

When God calls a man to be a missionary that man may be very well prepared or he may still be wet behind the ears.  There are certain things that God needs a man (and his family) to learn before they get sent off.  I believe, how quickly that man (and his family) learn those lessons determines how quickly God gives them their support and how quickly they finish deputation.  Although the things one person may need to learn might vary from what another needs there are several lessons that are essential to learn of deputation.

The first of these is how to live by faith.  Christians give a lot of good talk to this subject we even sing the song "living by faith" but rare is the Christian who learns to do it.  Even if one does learn how to walk by faith...it is so easy to lapse back to reliance in the flesh and not in God.  A missionary (and especially his wife) need to learn to rely on nobody other than God Himself. 

It doesn't take long on deputation to realize that churches, pastors, friends and family are going to let you down.  In fact many of them want nothing to do with you.  In some cases one might even think that he had suddenly contracted the plague the way that they avoid him.  Despite how people may treat you a missionary needs to know that God will never desert him.  On deputation there were many times that we didn't have any food, but somehow we all gained weight.  There were many times that we didn't have enough gas or enough money for gas, but we never ran out. 

Legend has it that in 1519 upon landing in Vera Cruz, Mexico Hernán Cortés burned his ships.  This not only prevented a possible mutiny but motivated his troops to move forward and conquer because there was no room for retreat.  Although God does not call every missionary to sell all that he has those who hold onto lands, houses and possessions will always have that 'escape route' or 'something to fall back on' that could prevent them from not finishing deputation or leaving the field when times get rough.

When we started deputation we sold our house, my truck, our business and most of our possessions.  Everything we had left fit into a 5x5 storage unit.  I quit my job with the railroad and we got on the road in our car. 

Praise the Lord!  He very quickly provided a 1977 school bus for us to live and travel in.  I don't know how many times I heard, "are you sure your going to make it to your next meeting?" but we always did.  One time, after taking a look at our engine, a church bus mechanic asked me how we got there.  I told him we took I-40 most of the way.  He said, "No, I wasn't talking about what road you took...this bus shouldn't start...and if it did I can give you five reasons it shouldn't keep running.  God always kept it running and when it did break down He had more opportunities to show himself strong.

Our deputation verse was Deuteronomy 8:2-3, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”

We weren't on deputation for 40 years (although it felt like it at times) but it was a big wilderness to cross.  God used that time to humble us and make us realize that we couldn't rely on the flesh but only in Him.  When we lacked food or anything else He provided in miraculous ways.  He proved us and taught us that we had to live by faith in Him.

Praise God for all the lessons He taught us on deputation!  Our whole family had the privilege of seeing God's hand move every day to sustain us and get us where we needed to go.  Now everybody talks about deputation fondly and actually misses that special time that God gave to us.