I would welcome comments and insights to this article.
So You're a Missionary?
I'm a full-time overseas missionary. We have just returned to the states for our third furlough and are anticipating speaking with many groups of people as we go about the country updating our supporters on the progress of our work. Undoubtedly as we travel about and share our stories, people will come to us and commend us on our work and tell us, “I'm a missionary too. It is just that I live in the US. There are lots of needs here too, you know.” Or another comment often heard is, “Why go to a foreign country to be a missionary when there are so many needs of our own people here in the US. Why don't you work with them?” Sometimes people sound defensive, as if perhaps they are uncertain as to whether they are fulfilling the great commission of taking the gospel to the whole world.
I must admit it is a question I've often pondered: What makes a person a missionary? Is it just a title for being a Christian in a non-Christian world? Can one be a missionary and continue to live one's own life as a Christian in their own environment and still consider themselves to be a missionary? Does it matter if we understand this term and its usage or not?
These questions and many more have been in my thought processes for some time. As I search for the answers to these real questions, it occurs to me that the definition of the term “missionary” needs clarifying first. Webster's calls a missionary: “One who is sent on a mission, especially one sent to do religious or charitable work in a territory or foreign country; one who attempts to persuade or convert others to a particular program, doctrine, or set of principles; a propagandist.” So a missionary is one who is a. sent b. doing religious or charitable work c. in a specific territory or foreign country
d. attempting to persuade or convert. Obviously we are talking about Christian missionaries, so the religious or charitable work would be to send someone to persuade or convert people of a particular territory or foreign country to the gospel of Jesus Christ as Ransomer and Savior. I find this definition very exciting, as I realize that 'missionary' means one has been 'sent', it is not a solo project, but the conjoined efforts of others believing in the need to do the work and the belief that they have a work to do, choosing and sending their emissary to a specific 'territory or foreign country' to do 'religious or charitable work'.
“Are we so insensible as a peculiar people, a holy nation, to the inexpressible love that God has manifested for us? Salvation is not to be baptized, not to have our names upon the church books, not to preach the truth. But it is a living union with Jesus Christ, to be renewed in heart, doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love, in patience, meekness, and hope. Every soul united to Christ will be a living missionary to all around him. He will labor for those near and those afar off. He will have no sectional feeling, no interest merely to build up one branch of the work over which he presides and here let his zeal end. All will work with interest to make every branch strong. There will be no self-love, no selfish interest. The cause is one, the truth a great whole....Those who are at ease in Zion need to be aroused. Great is their accountability who bear the truth and yet feel no weight or burden for souls. Oh, for men and women professing the truth to arouse, to take on the yoke of Christ, to lift His burdens. There are wanted those who will not have merely a nominal interest but a Christlike interest, unselfish--an intense ardor that will not flag under difficulties or cool because iniquity abounds.” 2 SM 382. (Italic emphasis my own.)
Webster's definition along with Ellen White's counsel highlights what I believe to be at the heart of missions, the heart of being a missionary. Obviously, to be a Christian and to claim salvation as one's own requires “a living union with Jesus Christ,...doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love,....Every soul united to Christ will be a living missionary to all around him. He will labor for those near and those afar off.” She goes on to say that a missionary must feel the weight and the burden for the souls they are working to convert; there must be “an intense ardor that will not flag under difficulties...”
I would like to say that being a true missionary, wherever that takes place must meet certain criteria in order to be a true mission, which according to Webster is “performing missionary duty; an organization for carrying on missionary work in a territory.” By its very nature true missions cannot be complacent! It is active and purposeful. If not actively pursuing the purpose for being in a territory or culture, there is no point in being there. The sole purpose in being there is for evangelism which is to convert to the gospel of Jesus Christ (including, but not limited to medical, educational and/or developmental work in order to meet real needs).
The true missionary can't settle down or settle in. One must always been on the alert for a move. Just as Jesus lived here, discipled some men to continue His work, secured our salvation through His death on the cross, so He too had to leave His place of mission. True missionaries must ever be ready to leave their place of mission at a moments notice, either because the work can be turned over to trained leaders, or because of being ousted from the territory because of politics. You don't live in that culture for the purpose of making that culture one's home, but for the purpose of evangelism. Self-sacrificial living is the key word here.
In this setting the focus of everything one does is for the purpose of evangelism, from the home you live in, to the food you eat, to the clothes you wear. The whole focus is to become one with the culture within which you are living and to become one with the people – incarnational ministry. This was Jesus' example – coming from His lofty position as Ruler of the Universe and becoming one with the lowliest of the lowly. He didn't come here to live as even a rich man, though that would still have been well beneath what He was used to in heaven. No! He took the position of carpenter's son. He lived in a poor home; they were poor in the things that would be considered necessary for decent living. Jesus identified with the poor and so must we. Just as Jesus came from heaven and became one with the lowest of humanity, so we from the incredibly blessed country of America should go to the neediest of mankind and identify with them in order show them Christ's true character. In other words, missions is a life-style of self-sacrifice. On must be willing to “take on the yoke of Christ, to lift His burdens.”
When one is sent to a territory or foreign country, one is instantly out of one's comfort zone. The climate is different, the food is different, the housing is different, the bed is different, the clothes are different, the music is different, the language is different, the social etiquette is different, to name a few differences. You are far removed from family and friends and from all that is familiar. You are definitely out of your comfort zone! Therefore, there are frequent, if not constant reminders that you are not “home”, you have a purpose for being at your mission post and when that mission ceases to be your purpose, you are no longer a missionary, but an immigrant or a citizen.
So, what do you think? Is it possible for a Christian to be a missionary at home? I'd say yes if,
a. they have a “living union with Jesus Christ” b. they've shown evidence of “doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love” c. they are “a living missionary to all around him” laboring “for those near and those afar off” d. they must feel a “weight or burden for souls” e. they are sent (someone agrees with the need and is supportive of their work) f. they have a specific territory that they are targeting g. their sole purpose in being there is for evangelism h. living sacrificially
“There are wanted those who will not have merely a nominal interest but a Christlike interest, unselfish—an intense ardor that will not flag under difficulties or cool because iniquity abounds.” 2SM 382
