July 1

Unless They Are Sent

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Romans 10:14-15

The apostle Paul’s list of four rhetorical questions in this passage has been a powerful basis for the world-wide missionary movement. Without faith in Christ, there is no hope of eternal life, and the only way to faith is to hear the gospel that is conveyed by a “sent one”—a missionary.

Helen Roseveare, a missionary medical doctor to Zaire with the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade, tells a story that powerfully illustrates this message. She briefly left her medical post to transport another missionary on emergency leave to Uganda. She made the three hundred mile drive in one day and was exhausted when she arrived late that night. Before daybreak the next morning she began the long trip home and was enjoying the flat, well-paved road, which was a luxury not known in Zaire. But as she sped along the empty highway, she began to nod and knew she must stop to stretch and drink some coffee.

There was no sign of life—no villages for miles around—as she pulled off the road near a bush. But then, out of nowhere, appeared an African man. From where he came she could not imagine, but he was the last person she wanted to see at that hour and at that place. She was savoring her moments alone and she was not in the mood for conversation. Besides, she knew she must be on her way.

She had medical work piling up for her back at the mission station. She could not ignore him, however, and she knew it was her duty to go through the usual African greetings. With that accomplished, he stood silently until she asked him what he wanted. “Are you a sent one?” he asked. She was taken aback. Of course she was, that is what a missionary is, but she asked him what he meant. “Are you a sent one by a great God to tell me about something called Jesus?”

Here she was, out in the middle of nowhere, and an illiterate herdsman had appeared from behind a bush and asked if she was a sent one? Though he spoke East African Swahili and she West African Swahili, she explained the gospel to him through simple terms, and he accepted it by faith.

Then he explained that some days earlier his brother, a teacher, had come home from school early because classes had been dismissed to let a man speak. The brother was not interested. All he knew was that this man claimed to be sent by a great God to tell about something called Jesus. He had gone out drinking rather than hear the message, but this herdsman could not forget what had been said. The words kept ringing over and over in his mind, and he knew he could not be at peace until he found a “sent one” to tell him about the great God and Jesus. ¹