Whether I preached in the slums of India, taught pastors biblical
interpretation in Haiti, or planted churches in Alaska, my desire was to reach
people with the Good News of Jesus Christ, wherever God sent me. Did that
make me a real missionary?
What is a missionary? I mean, really?
Is it serving full-time in India?
Is it being a nurse to Mongolia?
Is it teaching children in the inner city?
It's hard to tell these days. I once heard someone make the statement that she wasn't a "real" missionary. She had been traveling on a short-term mission trip, sharing the message of Jesus Christ every single day. But she didn't consider herself a missionary. Not in the purest sense of the word. Why?
Because she wasn't like the missionaries of old she had heard about while growing up in church. Not like the nice people her family invited for supper on Sunday afternoons. Nor like the characters in the old mission books she read. Not a spiritual heroine (at least, not by her assessment).
I think she was wrong.
A missionary in the general sense of the word is defined as, "One who is sent on a mission." My definition of a Christian missionary is someone who joins God in His mission on earth. This is often referred to as the "Missio Dei" or "mission of God." A missionary is a minister in the sense that every Christian is called to minister—that is, to be a servant to others.
A missionary is anyone called by God, which is everyone who calls themselves a follower of Christ.
In other words, YOU are a missionary. As we enter a new year, I would encourage each of you to be the “missionary” God has called each of you to be, and to be a witness for the Gospel of Christ to everyone around you, wherever God has placed you.
Is it being a nurse to Mongolia?
Is it teaching children in the inner city?
It's hard to tell these days. I once heard someone make the statement that she wasn't a "real" missionary. She had been traveling on a short-term mission trip, sharing the message of Jesus Christ every single day. But she didn't consider herself a missionary. Not in the purest sense of the word. Why?
Because she wasn't like the missionaries of old she had heard about while growing up in church. Not like the nice people her family invited for supper on Sunday afternoons. Nor like the characters in the old mission books she read. Not a spiritual heroine (at least, not by her assessment).
I think she was wrong.
A missionary in the general sense of the word is defined as, "One who is sent on a mission." My definition of a Christian missionary is someone who joins God in His mission on earth. This is often referred to as the "Missio Dei" or "mission of God." A missionary is a minister in the sense that every Christian is called to minister—that is, to be a servant to others.
A missionary is anyone called by God, which is everyone who calls themselves a follower of Christ.
In other words, YOU are a missionary. As we enter a new year, I would encourage each of you to be the “missionary” God has called each of you to be, and to be a witness for the Gospel of Christ to everyone around you, wherever God has placed you.
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