Who Should Do Missionary Work?
There is always the main question in the heart of Christians and its: Who should do Missionary work? Well, on this website I want to demystify missionary works and all it entails.
When the Lord Jesus was about to leave the earth, He gave a mission to his disciples.
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” Mark 16:15.
Missionary Work for all believer
Therefore any believer who takes the great commission to heart packs a luggage and moves away temporarily
or permanently with the aim of bringing the gospel of Christ to a set of people in another community is a missionary.
I have discovered that in life you can have something right in front of you and still be blind to it. However, when someone comes to show you, it becomes obvious. On this note, I believe that missionaries play vital roles in helping others experience the love of christ.
Every Christian Doing Missionary Work
I personally think that every believer must carry out the missionary work, whether home or abroad. Why do I say so?
First, because our Lord Jesus says it as a job for each believer: Missionary work
And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Mark 16:15
Second, we all see things differently, there is something you have or an idea you have that makes it easy for you to express christ to either children or adults. And when you do, your audience easily accepts the love of christ. For example, if you do arts and crafts, that may grab the attention of children to you and that way their heart begin to wake up to the fact that this person doesn’t have to be there in their community and now. This alone may open them up to really trusting in the love of Christ.
In his book Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton M. Christensen, he teaches how every believer can work as a missionary at home and around.
Everyone should try to do missionary work at home or in their next street. You can join a group of women to go help do the laundry for that widow next door. You may join a group of teenagers to go teach the intercity kids to play basketball. Or join a group of men helps a single mom’s family move. As you do this with the intention of sharing the love of Christ, others will be open to receiving all of Christ. It’s ok to plan to share the gospel as you do this. Just be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Some Specially Called Into Missionary Work
All that being said, I believe that some people are specially called as missionaries. Not everyone is excited to pack their lives into a few suitcases and backpack and travel to the rural areas in Asia or Africa. Some even never thought of going to the ghettos of their city let alone far away.
For example, Maybe it was Missions Awareness Sunday at your church and so the Missions Team invited a Missionary to address the church that Sunday. She may be visiting from her Mission Field in Haiti and she speaks of the amazing progress that her ministry to the Haitians has seen in the past one year. She talks about the way she has been able to use that school supplies she brings with her to help the poorly maintained schools in the city of Port aux Tremb.
She talks about how she uses her knitting skills to educate and empower women in that community and shows the whole church a shawl one of the women made for you. She even brought some to sell after church in other to help bring more money and resource on her way back after summer. She shares with the congregation that challenges she has with malaria and mosquitoes. She explains she fell seriously ill with Malaria and how the Lord Jesus miraculously healed her. She ended up by explaining how everyone can be a part of her Mission Work in Haiti. As she shares her stories you find yourself tucked into the pages the books of her life.
So how do you know you are called?
Well, the first this is that you are thinking about it. You may call it an inspiration by the Holy Spirit. Yes, that’s it. You just find out that you are not able to ignore the thought of traveling to preach to others in the far place. You sense the leading of God to fully serve him in a major capacity.
After such an encounter, many will be moved to tears and many would make up their minds to make the life of the missionary easier by donating more supplies, clothes, and money. And many will feel good after doing all that. However, you may find that you just can’t take your mind off it. You think you God is calling you to something more than giving financially. You being to ask questions like how can I go somewhere to share God’s love like this. Questions like can I go temporarily. How long time can I take off school or work in order to go on a Missionary trip like this? You may even begin to wonder how many more years do I have to retire so that I can focus on doing missionary work.
What then Do you do when You sense God is leading you to Go on a Mission Trip?
Stay in-tune constantly with God – one of the biggest mistakes believers make is to do life on their own. When God calls He Missionary work also equips. He gives us both the desires and the grace to do his good plans. Therefore, you must stay in close communion with God, not just for this missions trip but
all through life. Jesus left us with the Holy Spirit, not just a God figure but as our Guide, helper, comforter and more. Depend on God by communing with Him every moment.
Talk to Your Spiritual Leader – Every belief is meant to be a part of a church family. Our Lord Jesus even surrounded himself with people that were close enough to ask him personal questions, people he was also free to question. They lived their lives together and grew together. He also communed with God daily. It’s important that you know that if Christ our Lord needed help so do you. especially if you will be doing His work you need his guidance. That’s why you should not go alone. Please note that if you have not been able to submit to a servant of God, going on a mission trip may not be the first place to start.
Connect with a Missions team or organization – Through your church and spiritual leader, you should connect with a missionary organization. Reasons being that you don’t want to get involved with fake organizations and not some doing strange religious activities that are not found in the scriptures. This is why we strongly recommend you only deal with people your church believes in. Or at least if you find a missionary organization, you should share the details with your spiritual leaders. There have been cases of people who tried to do things on their own only to suffer big after doing so. At this end times, many have lost their focus and may no longer be in close communion with the Lord though they are still busy doing missionary work in his name. so be careful.
Determine whether you should do a temp one of for a long haul – As you discuss with your pastor and many others about your desire to do mission work, its good to consider what will work for you. How will this affect your work or school? Will you go just for 2 weeks or for a whole year? Or are you planning to move there permanently? Answers to these questions and more will help guide your decisions. Always remember to bring everything to the Lord in prayer as you go along. Never forget to pray and study God’s words. It’s Vital. I love that old song and poem by Joseph M. Scriven, What a friend we have in Jesus.
Oh what peace we often forfeit
Oh what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry,
Everything to God in Prayer.
Determine whether you need some formal or informal training – Missionary work can be challenging. There is the change of environment, the culture shock, you may never find blue cheese there as you like it, the mosquitos may be the size of roaches, It can be difficult. That’s why it may be necessary to consider doing some Missionary training. You may need to do an online course on Missionary work or even do a certificate in theology or human relations. It will help prepare your heart for the work ahead. Read books like how do you become a Missionary.
Do a language assessment or start learning the language – You should definitely do a short or advanced language training. Your goal will be to be able to do basic communications in the language spoken where you are headed. It will also expose you to this rather different culture. The joy of learning the language is that when you arrive at your mission field, the people will accept you and your mission when they see that you are trying to speak their language. They may even offer to help you learn how to speak better which in turn gives you more access to them. You may even try out their food at one of the indigenous restaurants around you.
Start reading Mission books and biographies of missionaries – Someone that has gone ahead of you in life usually teaches you better. Read books or blogs by people that have been to the place you are going. Read books and articles by Missionaries everywhere. This may help you to live in it before you get there. You also see some mistakes that others have made by listening to them. That way you can avoid such errors. Biographies of Missionaries will inspire you to see how God can move greatly. How to become a missionary is a good theme to study. Many books are on Amazon on this topic, an example is
The Missionaries by Owen Stanley and Missionaries Are Real People: Surviving transitions, navigating relationships, overcoming burnout and depression, and finding joy in God by Ellen Rosenberger
Here is a video about the mission to the Auca Tribe. Jim Elliot was one of 5 Missionaries killed while trying to evangelize Ecuador’s Quechua Indians. And Elizabeth Elliot his wife later spent two years as a missionary to the tribe members who killed her husband.
Start making plans for your missions trip – These days portals like gofundme and other online crowdfunding sites help to prepare for great causes such as these. You uncle from Hawai and you old school mates in New York can support you financially and provide funds you need to go preach the gospel of Christ in the interior village in Africa. Make a plan of what you need to bring with you. Make a plan also of how to get funds transferred to you while you are there. Get your international passport done and get any visas if applicable. You will need to apply for a missionary visa in most countries you intend to visit. You may also see if there is a way to get the local currency used in the country you are going to. However it usually better to go with the US Dollar to most countries as that is a very strong currency in most developing countries. These are reasons you need to communicate with people that have visited the same mission field before. It will save you some stress. And if you are going for a long period and need to ship some of your property in advance, then start working on that as soon as possible. Allow for extra time before you go and make sure you are in contact with a reliable person that can help clear your goods if it arrives before you. In the case of long time mission trips, it’s important that you also have other arrangements for things you may need in case your shipped properties gets lost or delayed. You may also need to consider a travel health insurance if you don’t already have. It’s actually very important.
Go – After all is said and done, Go! Many have chickened out after counting the cost. And it’s better sometimes. However, if God is leading you and you must trust God to go with you and go. Matthew 28: 18-20 says:
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Seek support from Others– You will need a lot of support on the mission field. The challenges can be overwhelming at times. You think about it, you have challenges right now that you need people to support you through, you can imagine how much you will need people to lift you up in prayers when you are on the field. You will need people to make attempt to communicate with you because you may feel lonely once in a while. Also depending on how long you will be away, you may need more financial support.
The most important message to know is that a call to Christianity is a call to death. We died with him on the cross and so we remain dead.
A call to Missionary work is a call to die to self, to die to our flesh, to die to our own ambition, to die to this world but to be alive in Him.
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
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