Do you have what it takes to be
a missionary?

By Anthony Cong An Nguyen

he life as a missionary is very appealing to me. I have always thought about what it would be like to go to another country and work there in the service of God and our Catholic Church. As someone interested in a life of missionary work, I often think about the qualifications that I need in order to be an effective missionary in the future. There are many young people out there who have perhaps been curious about what it takes to be a missionary in a foreign country. In this article, I would like to discuss a few qualities that a good missionary need to have in order to be successful at his work.

A cross-cultural ministry is a very challenging task because it requires many important skills as well as the right attitude. What I mean here is a missionary should have ability in both preaching and hands-on work. Besides that he must also have a genuine respect and understanding of the culture that he is sent to serve. When a missionary goes to another culture, he encounters a totally different situation in which many things such as language, belief, food, custom, norm, and costume, etc will be strange to him. Because of that, a missionary has to be very sensitive to these differences of culture; otherwise he will not be successful in accomplishing his mission.

Communication skill is usually the first requirement a missionary must meet. As we all know, language is always the first challenge for most missionaries. Without a doubt, in order to proclaim the Gospel effectively, a missionary must have some skills in learning how to read and speak the language of the country where he is sent to serve. For instance, if I were sent to China for my ministry, I would have to learn Chinese in advance in order to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ efficiently and to form relationships with the people there. Otherwise, people would not understand what I am preaching about. Speaking the native language is also extremely helpful in forming trusting relationships with people there.

In addition, an attitude of acceptance of the native culture is very important for the missionary, because most of the time he will encounter people who have dissimilar beliefs, eat different food, and perhaps wear different style clothing. Thus, a missionary should not have in his mind a sense of ethnocentrism because each culture has its own values. In other words, a missionary should not presuppose that his culture is better than any other because each culture has its own ways of life that are neither right nor wrong. Thus, a missionary has to respect their ways of living, including their belief, ritual, norm, food, and clothes. Moreover, a missionary needs to socialize with people in order to preach, to listen to their problems, and to help them.

Besides the requirements for communication and a sense of acceptance, I strongly believe a missionary is also highly recommended to have an attitude of love and forgiveness. Without love and forgiveness, a missionary is likely to have an attitude towards discrimination, prejudice, racism, and sexism, etc. These are the invisible walls that block the missionary from entering the hearts of the people whom he is sent to serve. For instance, if I held many prejudices towards an African American, would I be able to tell him that I love him and I really want to be his best friend? Of course, I cannot. Otherwise, I would contradict myself as well as contradict Jesus' teaching that to love our neighbors as ourselves. Thus, love is the essential way that helps a missionary to break through all these invisible walls, so that he will spread the words of God freely and extensively. Moreover, through the manifestation of his love and care for the people he serves, they will come to know more the kingdom of God.

The final quality that a missionary is required to have is the ability to engage in practical works. Why are practical skills so important for a missionary in today's world? As we know, the church has already recognized that salvation in certain situations may be granted to everyone whether he is Jewish, Asian, European, African, American, Christian or non-Christian. Thus, the goal that aims to convert others to Christianity, though important, is no longer the only goal in the church today. However, the church does need missionary to help the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized, especially the people in third world countries where much injustice occur. The purpose of the missionary is not to civilize these people, as was often thought in the past, but to work with them and to help bring about a better life for them. Specifically, these people need help to reduce their hunger and disease. For instance, a missionary can gather children who cannot afford education and teach them; or a missionary can help the poor people in the area of agriculture. If a missionary has a good background in medical field, he can provide health care for those who are sick. Beside these, there are numerous other fields in which the missionary can engage.

Finally, one of the most important things that a missionary has to keep in mind is that he is called to put himself humbly and gladly at the service of the unfinished mission, which is to carry the Gospel to the whole world and to allow it to pervade through all realms of human life. This is where the joy of missionary life comes about. For that reason, a missionary ought to have some skills of communication; otherwise he will have a difficult time to proclaim the good news of Jesus. Besides that, he has to be sensitive to others' belief, food, custom, etc. It means he has to respect its culture because each culture has its own values and good. At the same time, he also needs to get rid of the discrimination, prejudice, racism and sexism that may exist in his heart and mind. Finally, he needs some knowledge and skills to serve the people in non-spiritual ways. When a missionary puts these requirements into practice because of Christ's sake, he has most of the qualities that a missionary needs for a cross-cultural ministry.