The kind of person.

The following excerpt is taken from page 205 from "Living Stones" by Helen Roseveare.  In it she relates a talk given by a Pastor from Japan at a conference in 1978.

     "At a recent meeting in Japan", Pastor Ruichi Nakazawa spoke thoughtfully, yet with an infectious smile lighting up his face, "the missionaries spoke of the kind of gifts that new workers should have, whereas we Japanese spoke of the kind of person we need." 

      He was speaking on the subject of the needed qualifications of a modern-day missionary, at the Kilcgreggan Conference, and he carefully and quietly enumerated certain essential characteristics. 

     "We need missionaries who can show us what we must do, and then lead us to do that work.  We ourselves need to be more involved in God's work, not having it all done for us. 

     "When I look over the history of evangelism in Japan," he said, "I see that, more than the work of leading many people to Christ, the training of a few pastors, evangelists, church elders and laymen has been the more fruitful.  The groups who put their efforts into producing leaders were not very outstanding in the beginning, but now they are the ones who are growing and bearing fruit.

     "For this type of work, we need people with a deep spirituality and a life of prayer.  The ministry is work that brings to birth and gives life.  It is spiritual warfare.  It is therefore reasonable that the worker be a man who is moved by God through prayer, and not one who runs round in his own strength.

     "Then he needs a heart to nurture and train others.  It is important to have a parent heart rather than a teacher heart, a heart that loves God's children, that desires their growth and that counts it a joy to make whatever sacrifice is necessary for that growth.  The man who has the aptitude not only to manage and control his own gifts, but also to supervise, lead, discipline and train the gifts of the flock, is the man who will be greatly used.

   "A leader has to be someone who proves himself worthy of another's trust and confidence.  A talented speaker and special gifts draw an audience but unless a worker can win confidence in special relationships, there will be no disciples.  The ministry is not attracting spectators, but making disciples of Christ.

     "Then, it is essential that a worker be a good example.  Japanese are great copiers.  They borrow ideas from the West and in no time they produce something peculiarly Japanese for export on the world market.  

     "With regard to the spread of the gospel, this is how Japanese need to be touched.  Japanese business men are much more interested in being shown a sample than in receiving an instruction booklet or listening to a lecture.  Though it is good to distribute literature and have foreign speakers give good messages, it is much more profitable to have a missionary sent to us as a living example of a servant and a witness of God.  I don't mean to say that we are waiting for perfect saints to arrive.  If they'll invite us to be honest about them, to please God and not to be discouraged, to make the Cross of Christ their resting place, to be patient in hardship, to believe, to love, to serve - it is this attitude that has a tremendous power of influence.

     "Finally, may I remind you that Paul spoke of Timothy about his attitudes, not about his gifts, when he said: 'Set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."