"The Essential Missionary Task: God has given us a mandate to accomplish. As we complete the mandate, it sets in motion all kinds of opportunities for God’s people to co-work with God in bringing healing and hope to the nations. The blessing of Abraham only begins with the message of salvation. Entire societies can be transformed by God’s work through the gospel, but only after a missiological breakthrough has occurred."
Therefore, all missionaries, each according to their own state, should be prepared and trained, lest they be found unequal to the demands of their future work. From the very beginning, their doctrinal training should be so planned that it takes in both the universality of the Church and the diversity of the world's nations. This holds for all of their studies by which they are prepared for the exercise of the ministry, as also for the other studies which it would be useful for them to learn, that they may have a general knowledge of the peoples, cultures, and religions; not only a knowledge that looks to the past, but one that considers the present time. For anyone who is going to encounter another people should have a great esteem for their patrimony and their language and their customs. It is very necessary for the future missionary to devote himself to missiological studies: that is, to know the teachings and norms of the Church concerning missionary activity, to know along what roads the heralds of the Gospel have run in the course of the centuries, and also what is the present condition of the missions, and what methods are considered more effective at the present time.
What is needed in every people group is for the gospel to begin moving throughout the group with such
compelling, life-giving power that the resulting churches can themselves finish spreading the gospel to every
person.
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