Forgetting to Keep Focused can lead you astray
Missionaries must never forget to keep focused. Because a missionary preaches from church to church like an evangelist, there is a temptation to preach like an evangelist. They may travel like an evangelist, call to arrange meetings like an evangelist or sit in meetings where they preach with an evangelist, but they are not evangelists. An evangelist may, (or may not), touch on different doctrines to help the church, but it is not the missionaries job to teach or correct the congregation on any doctrine. The missionary’s job is one thing–missions. It is the pastor’s job to grow his congregation. If a pastor calls in a missionary to preach or present his field, it is because he is moved to teach his congregation about missions and is soliciting the missionary for assistance in this one area.
The missionary who will keep focused, will only preach sermons related to one subject–missions. Not only will he tell why, how and when he was called, but he will preach missions in general. He will strive to inspire the listeners to get involved in missions, either by giving to missions or by going to the mission field themselves. Suffice it to say that single focus of the missionary is to be missions, and nothing else.
As a missionary, there are times when churches call in a missionary to preach because they have no pastor. In fact, there are even times when such a congregation might tell the missionary, after a meeting, “We feel that God is calling you to be our pastor.” These are critical times to remember to stay focused. The missionaries job does not begin once he sets foot on the foreign field. It begins the moment he answers the call.