If you’ve had the opportunity to be part of sending overseas missionaries from your church, you have undoubtedly seen some return early from their term. While this can be for healthy reasons, it is more often than not because of difficult circumstances. The missionary may have struggled to adjust to the field, experienced a traumatic event, struggled getting along with other team members, had a moral failure, or a change in their perceived calling. In whatever way it happened, someone coming off the mission field early is a difficult experience, one that a mobilizer will often feel as a “failure.”
I had the opportunity as a missions pastor to be part of the mobilization process of over 70 people that reached the field. About 10 of these people had to leave the field mid-term and came home earlier than expected. Each situation where this happened was pretty gut-wrenching and brought about a level of discouragement. While God often taught me something important about mobilization and these missionaries were able to connect to a new calling stateside, it felt pretty regularly like a “failure.” While God uses all circumstances for good, it is not wrong to look back at how something happened and think, “I should have done that better.”
If you’re walking through that discouragement from the past or present, I want to bring you the narrative of a biblical figure we hold in high regard who was unable to finish his "term" overseas: John Mark. His imperfect sending story gives perspective on our mobilization “failures.”
The Story of John Mark
The first time we see John Mark, according to Christian tradition, is him fleeing the Garden of Gethsemane naked in Mark 14:51-52. Not exactly something you’d want to see on a missionary application! The first explicit mention of John Mark is in Acts 12:12. After Peter was rescued from jail he went to John Mark’s mother’s house in Jerusalem. During this period of time, Barnabas and Paul were in Jerusalem bringing relief from the church of Antioch (Acts 11:27-30). Barnabas would have already known John Mark as he was his cousin (Colossians 4:10), and Paul certainly got to know him during this time among the early Jerusalem church members. They considered him important and useful enough to take them with him back to Antioch (Acts 12:25).
In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were set apart for their missionary journey and decided to take John Mark with them once again (Acts 13:5). Unfortunately, this time, after seeing a miracle in Cyprus, John Mark left them in Acts 13:13 and went back to Jerusalem. While this passage doesn’t give the circumstances of John Mark leaving, Acts 15:37-40 tells us that Paul was not happy with the way John Mark left them. While Barnabas wanted to give John Mark another chance, Paul was in disagreement. So much so, that Paul and Barnabas split ways.
Hope After "Failure"
While we would never hope for this type of disagreement in our churches and among believers, it is clear that God used this for good. Paul continued onto his important second missionary journey through Europe. And Christian tradition tells us that John Mark was a faithful servant to Barnabas on their future missionary endeavors.
After a decade or so, John Mark and Paul reconciled and found partnership once again with one another. Paul went on to say of John Mark that he is one who “brought comfort” (Colossians 4:10), was a “fellow worker” (Philemon 24) and “was very useful in serving me" (2 Timothy 4:11).
Take Heart
There are a couple of things I think we can learn from the life of John Mark and those around him. First of all, even the best of the early church sent people out who didn’t make it through their "term." While we should work hard to understand best practices in mobilization, we are likely going to make a "mistake" in sending. There’s comfort in knowing this was a challenge for some of our favorite biblical characters.
Secondly, we should not give up on those who come home early. God is writing a story in the life of every person. Even if it was a “mistake” to send them, God will use the experience to develop you as a mobilizer and develop the life of the believer. While it is sad to see someone come home from overseas, be in prayer for what’s next for that person. You never know how God might use their time overseas to help write his story in their lives.
Take heart. Don’t give up on sending because of a returning missionary. Learn what you need to. Be curious about what God is up to. Continue forth with courage, knowing the importance of sending in seeing the gospel go to the nations.
Mike Easton is the International Program Manager for Reliant Mission. Prior to that Mike was the Missions Pastor at Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa, for eight years, where he got to experience the ins and outs of being a sending church. He served on staff with Cornerstone 2006 to 2022 in varying roles–from college ministry to pastoral staff to being an overseas missionary sent from Cornerstone for two years. Mike is the Director of Content for the Upstream Collective. Mike, his wife, Emily, and their four kids continue to live in Ames, IA, and serve at Cornerstone.
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