The important questions for mobilizers to pose

When working to activate vision, the two most important questions are – Why and Will.

Why should you go to the nations?

Will you go to the nations?

There are other questions, but these come later.

Who (will you reach), Where (will you go), and What (will you do) flow out of your personality and giftings and each other. For some, Who you reach will be a function of Where you go–decide the one, and the other is obvious. For some, Where you go will be decided because of Who you desire to reach. If you want to reach Turks, for example, you have a limited number of “Where” options – and “What” you do will be determined in part by “Where” you go.

When and How are logistical questions that flow out of the other questions, and can easily be decided later.

Unfortunately many people who are trying to figure out whether they should go to the nations get stuck on the Who, Where, What and the When and How questions. These are challenging things to work through. Without motivation and vision, most won’t surmount the walls.

Who – there are too many people groups, I don’t feel a calling, I can’t decide where to go.

Where – there are too many places, I don’t know how to get into any of them, I can’t raise the money, I can’t decide to go.

What – I’m not a super-saint, I can’t be a missionary, I can’t plant a church, what would I do? I won’t go.

When – I’ve got a lot of things I’m in the middle of right now. When should I go? I can’t go now and I don’t know when I will be able to.

How – How will I get there? I don’t even have a passport. I don’t have the skills to be a missionary. I won’t go.

The obstacles are tremendous. The only way to get over them is to have enough motivation to start with, so that you shift into problem-solving mode.

The motivation comes from the why and the will questions.

Like the others, Why should I? and Will I? tend to feed off each other. Depending on an individual’s personality, one may be more important than the other. There are good answers to the “why” and bad answers to the “why” – answers that will stand the test of time, and others that will fall apart.

I theorize that probably a combination of story, encouragement, reminder, and a touch of theology is the best way to answer the “why” questions – and then a sincere posing of “Will you?” can follow.

Stories help activate a person’s imagination, and enable them to see themselves within a possible future (or as part of a long line of history).

Encouragements help reassure a person that it can be done, no matter one’s perception of their own gifting.

Reminders help a person understand there will be a support system for them – an agency to help them.

A touch of theology helps people understand God’s heart for the nations (and I think seeing God’s passion for the world is better than trying to use guilt to suggest you’re disobeying if you don’t go).

The “will” question, of course, is the critical one. People either answer the “will” question because of all the “why” questions, or else they answer all the “why” questions with reasons once they have answered the “will.”

But if the will say No, nothing will move, no matter how many other good questions you answer.

And sometimes, answering too many questions for a person deprives them of all the useful things they’ll learn from finding the answers for themselves.