Commitments for Mission Research from Nehemiah

Rev. Dr. S. D. Ponraj shares his observations about a researcher's personal commitment to Missions Research, based on the life and work of Nehemiah.

1. Dependence on to God as evidenced in Prayer. (Neh 1:4-11; 2:4; 4:9 etc.)

2. Commitment to his calling (2:10) his calling for a specific mission. We must be certain of and committed to our calling. What pushes me to the field? Why am I doing what I'm doing?

3. Commitment to personal involvement in the research. He went to Jerusalem himself to check things out. He did not merely hire someone to send out to do it. You cannot do research effectively by remote control. If I am committed to Missions research, then I must get involved in the process myself.

4. Commitment to accuracy. (2:14ff). You must check and recheck to verify the reality of the information. I must test and test and retest and investigate to make sure the data is accurate and reliable to base decisions on. To accomplish this, research must be focused with a singleness of purpose. By doing everything, sometimes we do nothing at all. Specializing is a good thing for developing strategy. This also helps avoid duplication and competition.

5. Commitment to share the information (2:17). Consultations are a good place to share information. I can then hold people accountable for the information. Books are useful to share the information. We are only the trustees of information, not the owners of information. We should be stewards of information not controllers of information.

6. Commitment to interpret the information (2:17). It is a prophetic voice. After all the collecting of information, we have to tell the people what the Lord is doing and what the Lord's people should be doing. A researcher must be a prophet. He must be will to tell the people what God is telling to his people.

7. Commitment to complete the job (2:20). Why are we doing research in the first place? It is so that everyone has an opportunity to hear the gospel. The research itself is not the end vision. The end is to complete the job. Research is to help our friends on the field complete the job. We must make the data and information very simple in order to help field people get the job done. It must be simple and focused because the commitment is to finish the job.

8. Commitment to keep God at the center of the research. (1:3). He stayed in Jerusalem for three days, waiting on God, waiting before him. Mission Research is a spiritual exercise, not just technical. When the wall was built, Nehemiah went to the people and said, "God has done it!"