When I think of a missionary, I think of sacrifice.
I think of eating raw grubs in the Amazon jungle. I think of sleeping on concrete floors in Morocco. I think of sacrificing the comforts of friends and family, and moving to a location far away. I think of trying to cross awkward cultural barriers. I think of social exclusion, persecution, and in some nations, death.
A missionary is someone who sacrifices “comforts” for the sake of the gospel. I’m not familiar with that kind of sacrifice. I like my showers hot, my coffee with cream, and my Sunday afternoon football.
But hang on a second. Aren’t all of us called to be missionaries? Isn’t that the point of the Great Commission? All of us are called to take the gospel to those who don’t Christ. For most of us, that means taking the gospel next door.
Maybe I need to import my radical, “missionary sacrifice” mentality into my neighborhood.
In their book Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis encourage people to take a missionary mindset into their local communities:
We sometimes ask people to imagine that they are part of a church-planting team in a cross-cultural situation in some other part of the world.
- What criteria would you use to decide where to live?
- How would you approach secular employment?
- What standard of living would you expect as pioneer missionaries?
- What would you spend your time doing?
- What opportunities would you be looking for?
- What would your prayers be like?
- What would you be trying to do with your new friends?
- What kind of team would want around you?
- How would you conduct your meetings?
Questions for Discussion and Commenting:
- Do you have a missionary mindset when it comes to your neighborhood? Work? Family?
- What would happen if we took these radical questions and applied them to our relationships with our neighbors, relatives, and coworkers?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
That is a great, great book. I'm on my second read through and I gave a copy to my pastor and he read it and bought copies for everyone on the church staff.
You're right Jeff, it is a good book. Although there would be a number of points I might disagree with, I think the authors make a number of excellent points as well. Certainly a book to learn from!
it is funny and providential that you posted this today becuase I literally just got done listening to the church planting breakout session from NEXT and that was one thing that really stuck out ot me from the conversation is that sgm wants the teens to see the church planters of today like we used to see the missionaries of yesteryear…and it is soo true!
there is still a quote in my head, but can't remember who said it:
"A missionary is not someone who crosses the sea but who sees the cross!"