KEEPERS OF THE VINEYARD

A brief instructional manual for readers who aspire to become Christian missionaries. 

According to debut author Singleton, a teacher and preacher at the Temple of Faith Apostolic Church in Killeen, Texas, the “missionary holds a high position in today’s church,” and is an essential agent in the spreading of God’s word and combating the forces of Satan. The ultimate purpose of a missionary, she says, is to “win souls for the Lord,” to “restore” those who are otherwise lost, and to deliver people from the “bondage of sin.” In this book, the author aims to provide a short introduction to the missionary life and its basic animating principles. She also explains relevant practical matters, such as the establishment of a missionary department and how fasting and prayer may be used as tools in missionary work. Singleton’s study deeply draws from Scripture, impressively scouring its contents for guidance, and she draws a profound connection between missionary aims and the ministry of Jesus Christ: “Missionaries are reflections of Jesus Christ….God has set missionaries in the church for the purpose of picking up the pieces of weak and shattered lives and putting them back together again (Acts 13:47).” She also discusses what she sees as Satan’s obstacles to salvation, including hidden, “presumptuous sins” and “secret faults.” Singleton’s account isn’t intended to be comprehensive but prefatory—a primer for people interested in a missionary life that they may not yet fully comprehend. She writes lucidly, and with a remarkably focused sense of gravity, never digressing too much from her biblical inspirations. However, she also writes in an impersonal style, without concrete personal or hypothetical examples to illustrate her points. As a consequence, her counsel can feel rather obscure. For example, what precisely does it mean that a missionary must be “blameless”? Even so, Singleton’s account is sure to be of interest to fellow Christians who feel called to missionary life, although it may only whet their appetite for further reading.

A thoughtful, theologically rigorous account of missionary life, but one that’s limited by its brevity and lack of examples.