Torch, Spring 1980

6 Hiff ing f he missionary is often asked how he likes deputation. The question usually brings a quick smile and a list of the benefits: the blessing received from the unusual level of support pledged by a small, country church; the times of fellowship with both pastors and church members; the memories of some special meals. Certainly missionaries have much for which to be thankful. But often other things are left unsaid: the long trips between widely separated churches, the time away from home that has kept him from his wife and made him a stranger to his children, the money spent on travel that could have been used to get them to the field. Christians are becoming increasingly aware of these problems. More and more we are realizing that although a missionary may go to the· field with his support and the necessary equipment and passage funds, he goes physically, emotionally, and sometimes even spiritually drained because of the grueling grind of deputation as it is now being practiced. A few facts and figures will show us how deputation can be such a problem. No one can deny the fact that it costs a lot more money today to underwrite the missions program of the local church than it did in 1950. According to the Rev. David Marshall, General Director of Evangelical Baptist Missions, an average missionary family going to Niger for its first term of service thirty years ago would have needed only $130 a month for personal support, besides money for outfitting and passage. Rev. Marshall reports that the same missionary family going to Richard D. Durham Niger today would need approximately $1 ,500 each month for support alone, plus whatever outfitting and passage needs such a family might have. In order to raise these funds, this missionary appointee, following current deputation procedure, would average 27 months on the "deputation trail." During this time, he would have to travel eighty- to ninety-thousand miles by car, at an approximate cost of $15,000. Averaging 45 miles per hour, he would spend an average of nineteen hundred hours (about 47 work weeks, or almost one year) behind the wheel of his car-time which is largely unproductive. ''Time is money" in anyone's language and the new missionary is spending a lot of it just trying to raise funds so he can do what God has called him to do. In addition to the huge travel expenses today's missionary appointee faces, you must add the cost of living for these 27 months. Our hypothetical family would have to spend about $22,000 just to live during the time spent in deputation. When you add up the total cost, the figure reaches a staggering $38,000 plus almost nineteen hundred hours of unproductive travel time. There are also other factors which should be examined, some of which cannot be reckoned in terms of dollars and cents. Assuming that the missionary husband has usually traveled alone,what has happened to the couple's relationship? What unnecessary pressure has been put on the missionary and his family? How many missionary appointees have succumbed to discouragement and have dropped out of the missions picture largely because of current deputation procedure? Is there a solution? Some would suggest a denominational-type mission board with its centralized, unified budget. We who are committed to the biblical position of the autonomy of the local church reject such an idea. Nor could we accept our mission agencies being formed into one large super-mission board and operated as an arm of a "convention." Elimination of deputation is not the answer, for deputation is not just a necessary evil which must be endured by a missionary before going to the field . It is a refining time for the missionary and a further screening process for the new appointee. As one missionary put it, "Deputation is a post-graduate course in spiritual maturity." God is in control, and He uses this process to accomplish His purposes. It is also beneficial in keeping the missionary in contact with local churches and with God's people as he seeks to raise both prayer and financial support for his work. It is a blessed and rewarding experience in many ways. A number of missionaries and