Basic Concept

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In a time of an ever-expanding world population, and decreasing mission force, the need exists to involve as many of the Lord’s people as possible in reaching out to the lost.

With the mobility of the Christians in the military service, consider the potential effectiveness of these Christians given the proper evangelistic training and motivation, reaching out to the lost souls from many nations.

Christians in the military have some definite advantages to assist them in evangelizing the world:

1. The number of workers.

a. The Lord’s church has an estimated 400-600 missionaries in foreign fields.

b. It is estimated that there are about 12,000 Christians in the military service, many who are already in foreign lands. Even if the number is only half that, or 6,000 it is still about ten times the number of missionaries in foreign fields

2. The foreign culture.

a. The American missionary must learn a new language, live in the local environment and adjust to the culture it to  be totally effective. Some missionaries suffer severe culture shock and are forced to return home.

b. The military service member lives on or near the base, post or station in a familiar

environment, thus he experiences very limited culture shock and only very rarely

will the government send him home

3. The language needs.

a. The missionary must learn the local language of the people to be truly effective.

b. The service member has no new language to learn. In addition, the nationals

working on the military base must speak English and of course other services

members speak the same language.

Other areas of concern for mission work are things like; support, the team concept, making

contacts and the follow-up of new converts. While these are real concerns that a missionary

faces each day, the member of the Church serving in the military have these areas covered.

The greatest need AND a need we are trying to meet is additional training for greater service.