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These days, there seems to be some confusion about the difference between being a missionary and being missional-minded. Many people think you need to get on an airplane, visit a foreign (to you) culture, eat strange foods, and try to tell the village people about Jesus. Traditionally, that was true. In fact, in the last couple of hundred years, people often left families behind for a lifetime of mission work in a foreign country. Today, however, you can do missionary work right where you are, never having to get on that airplane.
What Does A Missionary Do?
The literal meaning of the word missionary is simply “One who is sent on a mission”, or in a Christian context “a person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country.” To be missional means to be sent into the world; not to expect people to come to us. Being missional means we should engage the world the same way Jesus did, by going out rather than just reaching out.
A full-time missionary would be someone who is paid a salary or has some reimbursement for their work to spread the gospel. In a foreign country, this work may involve starting a church, teaching a Bible study, or simply meeting people wherever they are and sharing the Good News about Jesus with other people, whether in a foreign country or not.
A missionary could also be one who is called by God to share the gospel in a variety of ways, such as teaching English in China, or reaching out to new mothers, or involving college students in a youth basketball program.
We Should Be Missionaries And Here’s Why
God’s word tells us to “Go into all the world and preach, teach, baptize, and disciple others in the name of Jesus.” Matthew 28:19–20
I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
Paul : 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).
God often makes his appeal to the non-believer through our words, our actions, and our lives. How much better that we be intentional missional ambassadors for Jesus in how we live, speak, and act, wherever we are in this world?
Anyone Can Be a Missionary
Being a missionary isn’t impossible or out of our reach. You don’t have to go across the world to have an impact for Jesus. You don’t even have to be the perfect public speaker. It’s all about being relational. Even the full-time career missionary living in Papua New Guinea has to make relationships with the people who live there before having any impact with the gospel. You already live in your own community. You already have relationships with non-believers, who fortunately probably already speak your language. Start there.
8 Ways To Start Missionary Work Right Where You Are
1. Get involved in community events in order to get to know people and even more importantly to have people get to know you.
If you only go to your own church events, and never have friends or relationships outside of the church, you will definitely have less of a missional impact in your local community. True, you don’t just go hang out at the local bar to say you are a missionary, but you can go to football games, a neighborhood BBQ, and other community events where you say hi. Over time, get to know the people who live in your own community. They will soon appreciate that you care about them as people, and are not just “preaching” at them.
Get involved in the events of other organizations. Volunteer at a local blood drive, at the humane society, or in a soup kitchen. There is no reason that you have to reinvent the wheel if someone else is already meeting a great community need, but you and/or your church can enhance a work that you believe in. Maybe that means having snacks at your local fire hall, or making sure the local schools have support.
This is important because you might be the only Bible people ever read. You are a representative for Jesus, an ambassador, one who spreads good news about a country or kingdom, for the King of Kings. And that is what a missionary is.
2. Find out what the real needs are in your community
Ask questions. Go to your local Red Cross, library, high school or community center, or even your local city council, and find out what the real needs of your community are. Talk to other churches who may have a better insight into community needs. There is no use starting any kind of mission plan or program without knowing whether what you are planning will really meet any need.
Too many churches have “programs” that, often, are not well attended because they are simply upholding a tradition (“this is the way we have always done it”) instead of meeting a need. Find a need and fill it … Especially if it means you are sharing the love of Jesus while doing just that.
3. Visit a local assisted living community or a nursing home. Offer to read the Bible to people who live there, or even just do puzzles with them.
Speak to the people in charge of the community where people are housebound and offer to visit on a regular basis. You can offer to come in to pray with people, or read the Bible, or maybe even start with reading a novel to a resident. Then, you can ask if they would mind if you read your favorite Psalm. You can also offer to pray with them, but don’t be offended if they refuse, for a wide variety of reasons. You may even get to pray with people just before they die.
Spending one-on-one time with people in nursing care or assisted living gives them a friend, especially if you are a weekly visitor. It allows you to talk to someone in person to gently find out where they are spiritually, and share your own faith. You might be surprised at the conversations you can have.
4. Partner with another church for greater impact
For greater impact, you could partner with other Christian churches or organizations in your community to start a possible ministry to young mothers, for instance, and have child care for them while giving them a chance to do something creative like a painting class, or a parenting skills class, or even a bookkeeping class.
Is there someone in your church who has special skills that they would want to share? Start a monthly “How To ….” night to share those skills, or start a men’s monthly breakfast where men have a safe place to come and learn how to be better fathers, husbands, and even employees.
If your church is small, but you know there is a need in a certain area in your community, perhaps you can only meet that need if you share that ministry with another local church. What better way for a community of believers to all be involved in meeting the needs of your community?
5. Consider the youth of your community. What do they need?
Start to volunteer at the local school. If you are the parent of teens, make your house the go-to house for gatherings. Talk to the teens of your community to find out if they are lonely, bored, or scared. Provide a place in your church for a supervised hang-out, and provide not only snacks and talks, but opportunities for them to read to that senior at the nursing home. One woman at our small church is the local Scouts leader, and involves the kids in a yearly church service as well as sharing the gospel through weekly events.
The youth of today often have little guidance for their spiritual future. They are often looking for adults to be the parents that guide and direct them. You can have a positive impact on some teen’s life.
6. Are your kids in sports or dance? Let others see Jesus in you when you come to practice and games.
Act in a way that pleases God at every practice and every game or competition. Show the other parents the love of Jesus in how you act when your child wins and when they lose or really mess up. Go above and beyond in your care for the other children on your child’s team, always treating everyone with respect.
Would you want to go to a church where you know there are parents who don’t like your child? Who bad-mouth or even boos your child? Of course not. So, as ambassadors and missionaries for the gospel and the kingdom of God, we, once again, need to show Jesus to everyone we want to reach with the gospel. And sometimes that means not saying anything, just acting like Jesus would.
7. Volunteer at a community event where you will get to know people
Volunteer at the registration table for a community event, and get to know people in your community. Or volunteer in a group where you work with other people in a way that you get to know each other, and you can be Light and Salt in that situation.
Often people think that Christians are either goody-two-shoes or too sanctimonious to be fun. Show non-believers that you are a human being who cares for others by the way you treat them, even in stressful situations. Invite questions about your faith or even why you do things the way you do. Or simply be the most calm, fun, happy person in a room full of stressed people.
8. Join or start a book club, writing group, art class, pickleball group, motorcycle club, etc.
What are your interests? Do you have a skill or knowledge in a certain area? Find another believer to start a group with you, as well as invite others who are interested in the class. Ensure that you invite people in your community who do not attend church.
Having only church people attend is important, as we need to support each other, and help our relationship with God to grow. However, if your group is for mission purposes then you want people there who need to experience the gospel in person. And sharing your God-given talents in a loving caring way is what being a missionary is all about.
What Should Our Goal Be?
As local missional missionaries in our own community, we have the unique opportunity to spend time with people who need the gospel, the love and forgiveness of Jesus. When we see them in the grocery store, at the pharmacy, at a school board meeting, or on the soccer field, we know who they are and they know who we are. Real people who are living in the same community.
This is why we should shift our focus away from simply talking about the gospel to also living out the gospel in a missional way. Many of the people in our community are scared to enter a church building. However, if we spend time building relationships with people, caring about them, and wanting to share the love of God with them, they are more likely to listen to the God who wants a personal relationship with them.
You don’t have to fly over the ocean to be a missionary. You don’t have to be a “full-time career” missionary. You do have to live an intentional life in your own community which gives you the opportunity to show the love of Jesus in both organized and spontaneous ways. You can do missionary work right where you are! No tickets needed.
Read More:
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Thank you for your advice.