Mimicking great missionaries is the best way to prepare for the mission field.

I know of no better example for such preparation than the Thessalonian Model in 1 Thessalonians 1. They followed a three-step process that every Christian can imitate today. After conversion, they became three kinds of people, each one in succession and in the proper order.

If prospective missionaries do not mirror this model, rarely will they reach the Arabs in Morocco, the Fulani in Niger, or the Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh. At the least, missionaries that shortcut the Thessalonian’s model will flame out fast, leaving the field soon after arriving.

The Emulator 

The first person a prospective missionary must become is an emulator. They locate a godly person they can follow and then emulate what they say and do. Paul said the Thessalonians “became imitators” (1Th. 1:6), a word meaning to mimic or mime. Yes, they copied “the Lord”, as this is primary for Christians. But the Lord is not the only person they imitated. By proxy, they followed “us”—meaning Paul and his companions. Paul not only allowed imitation, he commanded it, telling the Corinthians: “I urge you, then, be imitators of me” (1Cor. 4:16).

Charles Spurgeon found that many pastors in his day were stealing his sermons, including some of his students, preaching his words as though they were their own. This was wrong and he rebuked his pupils for such brazen plagiarism. But there was some virtue in their vice, a lesson from whom some pompous youth could learn. The thieves saw a good example and they copied it, in some ways less evil than Mr. Know-It-All who doesn’t even think of asking his pastor a question, let alone following his example.

I’ve found by experience that many of the outsiders that visit us on the mission field do not ask many questions. As we drive down the dusty village road, the passenger beside me—20 years my junior—has yet to ask about verb constructions in Tsonga, the meaning of the difficult verse he read that morning, or the best books to read on humility. Not even a question about the weather. In fact, he only fields questions from his superior, content to keep it that way. Conversely, Paul commended Timothy because he “followed [Paul’s] teaching” and “conduct” (2Tm. 3:10).

Asking questions is a great way to learn from others, but it’s not the only way. We can also learn from dead people in books, especially biographies. Here are twelve I would suggest.

The Example

Eventually, the emulator gives way to the second category, the example. The discipled becomes the discipler, the taught becomes the teacher, the athlete becomes the coach. As a result of emulation in v. 6, the Thessalonians become “an example” to all the believers in Macedonia in v. 7. The Greek word for “example” is typos, which means type or pattern, a model of behavior.

So, you want to be a missionary overseas? Here are a couple tests to see if you are ready. First, are you currently discipling a junior Christian? If not, focus on home discipleship before dreaming about overseas work. If you’re dormant at home, you’ll not suddenly succeed in Vietnamese culture, which is twice as difficult. The fuel that ignites discipleship over there is diligent discipleship at home. John Paton excelled as a missionary among the cannibals in the New Hebredes because he excelled as a mentor in his homeland of Scotland.

Second, are you branching out in your influence among different and uncomfortable settings, or do you only reach out to those that look and talk like you? If the latter, get active in places around your neighborhood where different cultures dominate.

The Evangelist

You can’t become a college kid until you first excel in elementary and high school. In the same way, you’ll never become a successful cross-cultural evangelist until you first pass as an emulator and example.

We find this progression among the Thessalonians. In verse 6, they imitated. In verse 7, they became the imitated. And in verse 8, the Word is now sounding near and far from their lips. Always follow this order. When we’re busy discipling our friends at home, the steps to evangelizing the Tsongas in Mozambique don’t appear so far away.

Few could draw a crowd like Spurgeon, famous for preaching to tens of thousands. But his evangelistic zeal didn’t start in the pulpit but in private. One night after preaching, Spurgeon was alighting the coach when the cabman pulled a New Testament from his pocket. He said: “It is about fifteen years since you gave me that, and spoke a word to me about my soul. I have never forgotten your words, and I have not let a day pass since without reading the Book you gave me.”

Spurgeon evangelized close to home before preaching far away. Athletes train privately before running in the Olympics. Great missionaries succeeded first at home and in the shadows before crossing the ocean

Conclusion

As we’ve seen from the Thessalonians, private discipleship precedes public preaching. In missions, private, homegrown discipleship and discipling must antedate foreign, public proclamation. When it does, we’ll arrive at our post prepared and better suited for success among the nations.