10 Roadblocks to the Great Commission

I love missions. There’s no getting around it, so I’m always drawn to books about missionary experiences and struggles, missionary biographies, mission styles, and missionary sending. This book falls in the latter category, but from a new, intriguing perspective.

Author Paul Seger was a long-time missionary to Nigeria and South Africa before serving as Director of a missions organization, Biblical Ministries Worldwide. From both this book and his previous book, Chief, you really get a sense that he doesn’t just love missions, he lives it. It’s his lifeblood, so the heart that he puts into this small book about a failure in missions is palpable.

The failure is that American churches aren’t sending enough missionaries. The number of new recruits is shrinking, while the average age of career missionaries continues to rise. So what’s the deal? To find out, his agency conducted a series of what he calls “THINK TANKS” among small groups of pastors to discuss the roadblocks that prevent churches from raising up the laborers that the Lord promised to send into His harvest.

The ten roadblocks are the ten chapters of his book. I’ll list them here (edited for style) to whet your appetite:

• Reason #1: Congregational expectations
• Reason #2: Inexperience at mentoring
• Reason #3: No men
• Reason #4: No Vision
• Reason #5: Ignorance
• Reason #6: Insecurity
• Reason #7: Time
• Reason #8: Cost
• Reason #9: Perfectionism
• Reason #10: Self-focus

I read this book on a road trip, but the one thing I remember most from it was that I kept thinking: “I need to share this with my pastor!” But better yet, I think my pastor should share this with his whole pastoral network!

While some of these 10 roadblocks are intuitive and make total sense (i.e. a church doesn’t send off missionaries, because it doesn’t have the vision to do so), other roadblocks would totally broadside pastors. The issues of insecurity, for example, or inexperience at mentoring are very real, and yet too few pastors realize it. They don’t send missionaries because they’re not training people to become missionaries! That’s inexperience. And if they do train someone for the ministry, then that person will eventually leave the church, leaving the pastor with what? That’s insecurity.

There were many passages I highlighted from the book, but I’ll only share a few so as not to steal Seger’s thunder.

The expectation is that the pastor is there for everyone, and each member deserves equal attention. Pastors should not succumb to this criticism and simply follow in the footsteps of Jesus where he picked 12 and did not give equal time to everyone. The principle is that the mentor chooses the protégé, not the other way around. Jesus did not accept volunteers. He picked the men he was going to disciple after a night of prayer. When volunteers came his way, he put up obstacles to send them away. (Detours, Paul Seger, 9)

The assumption is that there is a difference between discipleship and leadership training. Matthew 28:19-20 defines discipleship as training people to observe the commands of Christ. It is helping new believers to grow in Christ and become high-functioning followers of Jesus. In contrast, 2Timothy 2:2 seems to be aimed at developing leaders. This passage is referring to those who will be able to develop others. There’s a difference between new-believer discipleship and leadership training. Every newborn babe in Christ gets to be discipled, but not everyone should be trained as a leader. Every new Christian needs a spiritual parent, but not all Christians warrant the time and attention of a pastor to develop them as leaders. (Detours, Paul Seger, 26)

Leadership is a function long before it is a position. (Detours, Paul Seger, 27)

If you don’t have leaders, and you have been in your present ministry role for a year, that is understandable; But if you have been in your present ministry for 10 years and there are not enough leaders, that is your fault. Your job is to train leaders. (Detours, Paul Seger, 59-60)

The issues raised in this book promise to spark lively discussions among church leaders or within pastoral reading groups, and I highly recommend that such folks short-list this book for their next reading fare. It’s quick, insightful, and convicting, and I hope it sparks a mini-reformation in our local churches to recognize the need and spark some change.

©2023 E.T.