Accountability – to Whom?
By William
MacDonald
Published
in Missions Magazine July 1998 and December 1990
Bill MacDonald was
commended to the full-time work of the Lord in 1947 by an assembly in Oakland,
Missionaries
serving with assemblies such as those associated with CMML have generally gone
forth as the Lord's free men and women with no mission or parachurch
organization exercising any control over them. Most other missionaries serve
under a mission board that may exercise control in such diverse areas as
finances, sphere of service, strategy, furloughs, retirement,
etc. In the first case there is an enviable freedom for the Lord's servant to
follow what he discerns as the Spirits leading in his life and service. I the
second, there are means for dealing promptly with problems on the field; for
instance, missionaries who need shepherding, counseling, correction, or, in
extreme cases, recall from the field.
It is a
wonderful privilege to be the Lord's free man, to serve unfettered by missions board regulations, to be constantly available to
the sovereign Spirit without human interference. But wherever you have this
freedom, you have some who will exploit it..
Missionaries themselves are the ones who complain most vigorously about abuses.
They point to people on the field who may mean well enough but who do not have
a clue as to what to do or how to do it. Others who know better do not discipline
themselves to put in a productive day of work for the Lord. Still others,
operating like loose cannons, busy themselves with projects that don't even
faintly resemble evangelism or assembly planting. Finally, there are those few
who become so abrasive and cantankerous that they are a positive hindrance to
the work.
Because of
these abuses, missionaries often ask. "Why did his elders ever commend
him? Why don't they call him home? If those who receive his glowing newsletters
only knew the true facts! Why doesn't someone do something?"
Of course,
there are abuses among home workers as well. But their performance is more
visible. They are not serving in remote areas where their elders don't know
what, if anything, is happening for God. The
unproductive missionary is relatively free from inspection. And even if one of
his elders does visit, a garden tour can easily convince him that everything is
gloria in excelsis.
Yes, there
are abuses. Whenever you have the liberty of the Spirit, abuses are almost inevitable.
But it is better to tolerate a few of these rather than abandon the position of
being the Lord's free servant. And there is always the hope that elders will
take a deeper, more intelligent interest in those they have commended to the
field.
Interestingly enough, the whole subject of 'accountability is being
raised today, not by elders or Christians in home assemblies or service
organizations like CMML, but by missionaries themselves. One writes from
Missionaries
should want to be accountable. When a prominent evangelical was asked how he
ever allowed himself to be involved in scandal, he answered, "I wasn't
accountable to anyone."
That brings
us to the question, "To whom are our missionaries
accountable?" In answering it, we are going to use the word accountable
for relations with the Lord, and the word responsible for all other areas.
True, the words are synonymous, and we may be accused of playing games with
words. But there is something unique about a person's answerability to the
Lord; therefore, why not use a different word?
Our primary
accountability is to the Lord. As bond slaves, we are accountable to our Owner;
"as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart"
(Ephesians 6:6). As household servants we are accountable to our Master. [to our own master we stand or fall (Romans 14:4)]. As
stewards, we are accountable to our Lord, "It is required in stewards that
one be found faithful (I Corinthians 4:2). As soldiers, we are accountable to
our Commander-in-Chief; that we may please Him who enlisted us as soldiers (2
Timothy 2:4). As members of the body, we are accountable to the Head; that
calls for obedience and submission.
We will all
stand before the Judgment seat of Christ. Our service will be reviewed at that
time. Faithfulness will be rewarded with His "Well done." Nothing
will make up if that is missed.
Faithfulness
involves hard work. It means putting in a full productive day of service for
the Lord.
Abraham's
servant said. "I will not eat until I have told my errand" (Genesis
24:33).
Paul said,
"So naturally, we proclaim Christ! We warn everyone we meet, and we teach
everyone we can, all that we know about Him, so that we may bring every man up
to his full maturity in Christ. That is what I am working at all the time, and
struggling at, with all the strength that God puts in me.” (Colossians 1:28,29).
Amy
Carmichael wrote. “The vows of God are on me. I may not stay to pay with
shadows or pluck earthly flowers till I my work have done and rendered up an
account.”
Was it
Spurgeon who said, “Kill yourself with work and pray yourself alive again?”
Certainly
we should work at least harder than we would for any secular employer.
Also we
should pursue excellence. God want the best. He deserves the best. “Cursed is
he who does the work of the Lord negligently” (Jeremiah 48:10).
Again we
should serve with a sense of urgency. The Savior said, “I must work the works
of Him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work”
(John 9:4).
"The
work that centuries
might
have done
Must crowd
the hours of setting sun"
(John R.
Mott)
We must not
lot housekeeping, shopping, and errands consume us. Missionary work can easily
devolve into a struggle for existence if we let it. And on rare occasions it
can give too much emphasis to sport vacations, and furloughs. One worker spent
more time on the tennis court than in the courts of the Lord. Another milked
Mark
And we must
keep our priorities straight. Evangelism and assembly planting are central.
Paul had a twofold ministry: to preach among the unsearchable riches of Christ
(that's the Gospel); and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery
(that's the assembly) (Ephesians 3:8,9). Other service
such as medicine, education, office work, carpentry, garage mechanics, etc.
must never be primary. True missionary work involves the exercise of a
spiritual gift.
Certainly
we are responsible to keep our elders and all prayer partners informed
regularly, honestly, and realistically. To pray intelligently, they should know
our spiritual needs, our problems, and the progress of the work. Prayer
requests are very important.
As
representatives of our home assembly, we will presumably teach and practice
similarly to the doctrine of that assembly. We should ask ourselves regularly,
"Are we doing the work for which we were sent out?" It is hardly
ethical to go forth as an assembly-commended worker, then serve with some other
kind of church on the field, and have no contact with other assembly workers in
the area.
Paul
reported back to his commending assembly at the end of his missionary journeys
(Acts
Friends who
pray and give have a right to expect that we will:
Acknowledge
gifts promptly.
Tell them
what's happening for God.
Never
betray their trust by unworthy conduct.
Seek to
minister to them in our letters.
Pray for
them and thank the Lord for them.
We have a
responsibility to:
Share the
Word.
Pray
together.
Train
leadership.
Resist any
temptation to domineer.
Be an
example to the believers of obedience to the, elders, not rebellion and
defiance, this obedience being limited to the extent to which the elders follow
Christ ( Corinthians 11:1). (Elders in one country
wanted to control all missionary activity and receive all finances sent from
the
Turn the
work over to the nationals as soon as possible. Make ourselves expendable.
Endeavor to
keep the unity of the Spirit.
The
greatest thing we can do for our fellow-workers is to practice brokenness.
After all, inter-personal conflicts are the number one problem. But also we
can:
Keep lines
of consultation and fellowship open.
Avoid
centralized authority.
Avoid
undermining the work of others by overt criticism. (There are always other
fields needing help if any one can't get along.)
Senior
workers should set a good example to younger workers and teach them zeal,
integrity, love, etc.
Younger
workers should respect older missionaries, and not try to overthrow years of
work soon after arriving on the field.
All the
biblical instructions concerning marriage, raising children and home life in
general apply here. In one sense, a man's family is his number one mission
field. It would be a tragedy to keep other people's vineyards and neglect one’s
own. The education of missionary children poses a serious problem; some parents
(not all) have earned the resentment of their children by shipping them off to
boarding school at a time in life when they could not cope with what they
considered "desertion."
Responsibility
to service organizations
This
includes working cooperatively and congenially with them; faithfulness in
correspondence; sending fresh news for the magazine; feeling and expressing
sincere gratitude for their many services rendered so freely and cheerfully.
Responsibility
to home government
Our responsibility
to our government is covered in Romans 13:1-7 and I Peter 2:13-17. Living in a
foreign country does not always exempt a person from paying taxes in his own
country. A good conscience requires strict adherence to the law in this as in
all other areas.
Responsibility
to host government
Laws differ
from country to country. Obedience to them insures a good testimony. One, thing
that does not differ is that the missionary should not become entangles in
politics. His task, under God, is to call out from the nations a people for the
Lord's Name (Acts
Some feel
that they should burn out for God. That is their prerogative; don't condemn
them. Others feel that, they should pace themselves, seeking to prolong their
lives for usefulness. Certainly we are all obligated to follow reasonable rules
of health and safety. Beyond that we can be confident that we are immortal
until our work is done.
We should
all avoid the barrenness of a busy life. We must spend time in the Word and in
prayer if we are going to be fruitful and preserved from moral or doctrinal
disaster.
Sure, the
missionary is the Lord's free man or woman. It is a glorious calling, a transcendent
privilege. But that freedom is bounded by accountability and responsibility.
The supreme accountability is to the Lord. The responsibility is to a variety
of other lives that he touches. He is untrammeled by manmade, human
restrictions, but at the same time he is not lawless. He is to be an example of
personal discipline, of tireless service, and of patient endurance. His is a
life of love for the unlovely, of expenditure for the ungrateful, and of tears
for the perishing. There is no room wasted time, no excuse for wasted
opportunities. He has a Savior to proclaim, a salvation to offer, a heaven to
promise. He must not be diverted by the non-essential or distracted by the
ephemeral. His heart is held captive by the love of Christ and he is chained
with stronger bonds than law. God helping him, he will press on toward the mark
for the prize, concerned only to hear the Savior's "Well done."