Ask most Christians today whether missionaries should value professionalism, and they will squint back at you, confused. Why put such disconnected ideas together? “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem,” or professionalism with missions? But it’s not only rank-and-file Christians who would be confused by the question. Many missionary leaders and trainers also downplay the value of professionalism as they train young missionaries.
Our concerns are well-motivated. Many of us fondly remember John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. He reminded us that ministry has nothing to do with slick roads to success that depend on carefully calibrated programs to help us climb the ladder from youth pastor to associate pastor to senior pastor. We should all heed Piper’s warning.
But there’s another type of professionalism that is manifestly not what Piper intended to criticize—that is, professionalism as the day-to-day pursuit of excellence in ministry. Such pursuit is what compels Piper to exegete Scripture so carefully and inspired his church to found a seminary.
We easily recognize how necessary this type of professionalism is in other vocations. Write unprofessional on someone’s performance review, and they’ll know they need to shape up or be fired. Professionalism is important in other vocations because
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