Advice to Missionary Candidates by Adoniram Judson

Today I ran across this letter by one of my heroes, the great Baptist missionary to Burma, Adoniram Judson, written to the Foreign Missionary Association of the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, N. Y. in 1832.

DEAR BRETHREN: Yours of November last, from the pen of your Corresponding Secretary, Mr. William Dean, is before me. It is one of the few letters that I feel called upon to answer, for you ask my advice on several important points. There is, also, in the sentiments you express, something so congenial to my own, that I feel my heart knit to the members of your association, and instead of commonplace reply, am desirous of setting down a few items which may be profitable to you in your future course. Brief items they must be, for want of time forbids my expatiating.

In commencing my remarks, I take you as you are. You are contemplating a missionary life.

First, then, let it be a missionary life; that is, come out for life, and not for a limited term. Do not fancy that you have a true missionary spirit, while you are intending all along to leave the heathen soon after acquiring their language. Leave them! for what? To spend the rest of your days in enjoying the ease and plenty of your native land?

Secondly. In choosing a companion for life, have particular regard to a good constitution, and not wantonly, or without good cause, bring a burden on yourselves and the mission.

Thirdly. Be not ravenous to do good on board ship. Missionaries have frequently done more hurt than good, by injudicious zeal, during their passage out.

Fourthly. Take care that the attention you receive at home, the unfavorable circumstances in which you will be placed on board ship, and the unmissionary examples you may possibly meet with at some missionary stations, do not transform you from living missionaries to mere skeletons before you reach the place of your destination. It may be profitable to bear in mind, that a large proportion of those who come out on a mission to the East die within five years after leaving their native land. Walk softly, therefore; death is narrowly watching your steps.

Fifthly. Beware of the reaction which will take place soon after reaching your field of labor. There you will perhaps find native Christians, of whose merits or demerits you can not judge correctly without some familiar acquaintance with their language. Some appearances will combine to disappoint and disgust you. You will meet with disappointments and discouragements, of which it is impossible to form a correct idea from written accounts, and which will lead you, at first, almost to regret that you have embarked in the cause. You will see men and women whom you have been accustomed to view through a telescope some thousands of miles long. Such an instrument is apt to magnify. Beware, therefore, of the reaction you will experience from a combination of all these causes, lest you become disheartened at commencing your work, or take up a prejudice against some persons and places, which will embitter all your future lives.

Sixthly. Beware of the greater reaction which will take place after you have acquired the language, and become fatigued and worn out with preaching the gospel to a disobedient and gainsaying people. You will sometimes long for a quiet retreat, where you can find a respite from the tug of toiling at native work -- the incessant, intolerable friction of the missionary grindstone. And Satan will sympathize with you in this matter; and he will present some chapel of ease, in which to officiate in your native tongue, some government situation, some professorship or editorship, some literary or scientific pursuit, some supernumerary translation, or, at least, some system of schools; anything, in a word, that will help you, without much surrender of character, to slip out of real missionary work. Such a temptation will form the crisis of your disease. If your spiritual constitution can sustain it, you recover; if not, you die.

Seventhly. Beware of pride; not the pride of proud men, but the pride of humble men -- that secret pride which is apt to grow out of the consciousness that we are esteemed by the great and good. This pride sometimes eats out the vitals of religion before its existence is suspected. In order to check its operations, it may be well to remember how we appear in the sight of God, and how we should appear in the sight of our fellow-men, if all were known. Endeavor to let all be known. Confess your faults freely, and as publicly as circumstances will require or admit. When you have done something of which you are ashamed, and by which, perhaps, some person has been injured (and what man is exempt?), be glad not only to make reparation, but improve the opportunity for subduing your pride.

Eighthly. Never lay up money for yourselves or your families. Trust in God from day to day, and verily you shall be fed.

Ninthly. Beware of that indolence which leads to a neglect of bodily exercise. The poor health and premature death of most Europeans in the East must be eminently ascribed to the most wanton neglect of bodily exercise.

Tenthly. Beware of genteel living. Maintain as little intercourse as possible with fashionable European society. The mode of living adopted by many missionaries in the East is quite inconsistent with that familiar intercourse with the natives which is essential to a missionary.

There are many points of self-denial that I should like to touch upon; but a consciousness of my own deficiency constrains me to be silent. I have also left untouched several topics of vital importance, it having been my aim to select such only as appear to me to have been not much noticed or enforced. I hope you will excuse the monitorial style that I have accidentally adopted. I assure you, I mean no harm.

In regard to your inquiries concerning studies, qualifications, etc., nothing occurs that I think would be particularly useful, except the simple remark, that I fear too much stress begins to be laid on what is termed a thorough classical education.

Praying that you may be guided in all your deliberations, and that I may yet have the pleasure of welcoming some of you to these heathen shores, I remain

Your affectionate brother,
A. JUDSON
Maulmain, June 25, 1832

(Letter copied from here.)

That's good advice for all of us. If you'd like to read more about the amazing life of Adoniram Judson, I highly recommend the biography To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson (which, by the way, is my favorite biography ever).

March - May Ministry Update

Here's an update on what we've been up to the last few months.

New Co-workers

On March 8, I went up to Texas to help our friends and new co-workers, Jonathan and Wendy Latham (and their beautiful two-year-old daughter, Gloria) cross the border and come to Monterrey. We are very glad to have the Lathams here now. Jonathan and Wendy's coming to serve at UCLA is a huge answer to prayer. Jonathan began teaching his first class about two weeks after they arrived so we're already reaping the benefits of the Latham's ministry here. And as an added bonus, they're renting just a couple of houses away from ours, so that makes us neighbors. It's exciting to see how the Lord continues to bring more laborers to work in the ministry here.

Graduates' Ordination Service

One highlight of the semester for us was the opportunity that I had to participate in the ordination services of four of our graduates. Two of these men, Alejandro Pelayo and Juan Oscar Mares, serve as pastors of other mission churches near ours. The other two plan to go to South America as missionaries. Chuy Alanis, the former pastor of our mission church, will be going to Ecuador (in 2009, Lord willing) and Krim Lashinat, assistant pastor at the Iglesia Bautista Geneseret, will be moving to French Guiana later this month. It is exciting to see these graduates going out from UCLA to serve the Lord. Please pray for these men and their families.

Pictured (L to R): Chuy Alanís, Juan Oscar Mares, AJ Gibson, Alejandro Pelayo, Krim Lashinat

Tenth Anniversary Conference

The biggest event of our semester was the school's 10th anniversary conference, held at a convention center down-town Monterrey. The conference went very well and was a wonderful celebration of God's grace in the first decade of the university's existence. As we look back on the past, it is abundantly clear that God has done a miracle here. Here are some photos from the conference. The first is a picture of some of the pastors that attended and the second is from one of the preaching sessions. The final picture is of the school's orchestra and choir ministering in the conference.




Mission

Our ministry at the mission this semester has been fruitful. As you may remember, in January Chuy and Edith Alanís left the mission to go on full-time deputation. Since that time we have taken over the leadership responsibilities. God has been good and we've enjoyed serving in this new capacity. We continue to be challenged and stretched. Preaching several times a week on a regular basis has been a new and enjoyable challenge for me. Because we would like to formally organize the mission as a church within the next year, I've been preaching on the church from Ephesians 4. Our goal is to help our people come to a clear understanding of God's plan for the local church and of their responsibilities within the church. Please pray for continued growth and maturity in this little assembly.

In addition to two Sunday services and a mid-week (Thursday) prayer service, our mission also holds a Saturday morning kid's club for kids from the neighborhood. In addition we also hold a club in a neighboring colonia called Monte Cristal. Each Saturday a group of 8-10 students from the university go with us to the mission to help with these two ministries. Two weeks ago we held a special event in the two clubs to celebrate Mexico's Día de los Niños ("Children's Day") and had almost 200 kids between the two groups! One of the byproducts of our kid's club ministry in Monte Cristal is that 2 or 3 parents of children have been coming fairly regularly to our Sunday A.M. service.

Lord willing, beginning this week we will be constructing the walls for our new auditorium at the mission. Last summer a mission team constructed the roof, and so we are excited to finally be finishing up that project.

Pastor's Conference

This last weekend (May 8-10) my colleagues, Matthew Bixby and Russell Raymer, and I were privileged to host a three-day pastor's conference/class here in Monterrey like the one we did in Saltillo, Coahuila last October. Matt Bixby and I each taught for about 8 hours on the topics of homiletics and pastoral theology, respectively. The conference was held in Iglesia Bautista Getsemaní, pastored by one of our students, Abraham Alvarado. As always, it is a great privilege to serve pastors by helping to further equip them for their ministry. As we've mentioned in the past, our plan is to host a number of these conferences each year in different cities around Mexico. Lord willing, we will be doing another one of these in Tampico, Tamaulipas in September.

Modular Class

Our regular school year has now drawn to an end for our theology students. Our students are currently enjoying a two-week modular course on youth and camp ministry taught by missionary Jim Gardner.

Summer

Lord willing, we will be staying here in the Monterrey area this summer. We hope to spend much of our time working in the mission. Besides our work at the mission, we are looking forward to hosting two mission teams from the States, one from BJU and one from Cornerstone Baptist Church in Greenville. Both of these which will be helping us with special teen and children's outreaches in the mission.

Prayer Requests

1. For wisdom and strength as we minister in the mission this summer.
2. For the mission teams that visit us.
3. For our students as they return home to minister in churches, camps, etc. for the summer.
4. For the salvation of our boys, Jonathan and Christian.
5. For the salvation of the husbands of several of the ladies who attend the mission.
6. For the salvation of Julio and Asunción, two men who have attended the mission off and on for several months.
7. For Rosy, a faithful member of our assembly who has been undergoing a time of difficult trial.
8. For Obed, a young believer who has been growing very quickly in Christ.
   

A prayer for God to be our daily, all-satisfying fountain of joy and gladness

"Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days."
Psalm 90:14