In November 2024 I visited Radius International to study missions and hear about the work they are doing to equip Christians to go to the unreached. Throughout that week my mind drifted to the 19th century, a high point for missionary effort in Presbyterian and Reformed history. Those were the days of John G. Paton, William Chalmers Burns, Thomas Chalmers, and the St. Andrews Seven. These prolific men were but a few of many who gave up everything to take the gospel to the nations. 

 This prompted a question: what happened to Presbyterian and Reformed missions? Despite our many strengths, why are we not still the Church’s leading force in this work? What prevents us from sending our very best to those who have never heard? I do not assert that the P&R world is doing nothing in missions. However, I believe with grief and personal regret that we are not doing all that we are amply equipped to do in this great effort. But why? The following is a list of six elements that I believe have been—and currently are—contributing factors to the decline of pioneering missions in the P&R Church. 

False Teaching

Bad doctrine assaults Christ’s Church in many ways, but we will consider only two. First, it causes casualties. In war, bullets not only kill but also wound. Likewise, not all who give way to heterodoxy ultimately apostatize, but all are affected somehow. Doctrine that fails to lift Christ on high and place man in the dust dampens Christians’ zeal, numbing them to the pressing need of reaching the unreached. Second, false doctrine often draws the fire (and rightly so) of the most earnest Christians. If the Church’s best men are fighting false doctrine, it may prove vital internally, but also detrimental externally. Sadly, the Church can feel pressure to decide between fighting for truth at home or pursuing missions abroad.¹

Worldliness 

Worldliness is the bane of missionary enterprise because it seduces the church to conform its thinking to a worldly mold. Whether through the ambition of celebrity church-culture, the siren call of material comfort, or the allurements of ease, this temptation is constant. I lament that, largely for these reasons, my greatest priority during seminary and early ministry was not the realized glory of Christ among the unreached! I thought so much like the world. Do not misunderstand me, some are called to minister like Titus (Titus 1:5), yet it was Paul's ardent desire to preach where the name of Christ had not been named (Rom. 15:20). Pioneering mission is not the only call a Christian may have, but it is a vital, world-denying call that every candidate for Christian ministry must consider. 

Fear 

Fear could be grouped with worldliness, but it deserves its own consideration, as it may be a serious contributing factor to the decline of pioneer missions in the P&R church. Here are three aspects of fear that I believe may be part of this equation. Fear of Suffering: To suffer and to die for the cause of Christ runs contrary to our very natural desires for peace and rest. Fear of Failure: Gospel initiative anywhere will generate resistance, much more among the unreached. It is also possible that the necessity of hard, grinding labor over years of little to no visible fruit is too imposing a prospect. Fear of Doing: Thomas Chalmers often sought “to release people from what he saw as an endemic fear of doing in the Christian life.”² The Lord Jesus calls believers to act on the basis of truth, and to allow all the power of that truth to animate their work. We must not fear as we pursue this work but go with the confidence that Christ’s promise ensures.

Ignorance 

It is easy to think only about what is immediately before us: sports, stock markets, elections— whatever is trending, and to neglect more important matters. Christians must know about the multitudes who are currently living in the darkness of idolatry and unbelief. Ignorance of the horror of spiritual blindness, superstition, and approaching damnation makes it an easy thing to overlook their plight (see Prov. 24:12). We must look up, for the fields are white for harvest (John. 4:35). 

A Sense of Helplessness 

What can I do? How can I help? What difference will my efforts make? If God sends me, how do I possibly go about learning one, two, or even three languages? Undoubtedly, the work is immense, but the Lord is able. God has promised to bless the mission of the Church. If believers are filled with the Holy Spirit, united to the ascended Christ, adopted by the omnipotent Heavenly Father, helplessness is the last thing that we should feel, even if it is one of the first that we experience. He is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20). 

 Apathy

Finally, the sad reality is that some in the Church simply do not care. It is disturbingly possible to look upon a world where Christ deserves honor, to know that billions are on the broad road to destruction, and to shrug or yawn. It is possible, but not good. John Leighton Wilson once wrote, “The man who feels no desire to do the will of Christ can have no well-founded hope of interest in his atoning blood.”³ If apathy is your response, conversion may be your need.  

This is the product of my own reflection and an expression of my own culpability. Nathan’s words ring in my ears, Thou art the man who has done so very little for this noble and glorious cause. Any fool can point out problems, but my hope is that in so doing, it may be a spark to kindle afresh a glorious missionary effort from the ranks of the Presbyterian and Reformed church. May God so awaken us from on high.