Category: What Missions Means

What Missions Means

Why Christians Need a Mission Field

IMG_0693There are a lot of challenges to sharing the Gospel of Christ today, but for many Christians the biggest one is they don’t have a mission field.

Of course the Bible is very clear that God wants everyone to be saved, so actually the whole world is our mission field [1]. However there is a need to be a bit more specific since we can’t witness to everyone.

When thinking about thier own mission field Christians focus on things like

  1. Family members
  2. Co-workers
  3. Friends
  4. And neighbors

These are definitely people groups in need of the Gospel. Yet I personally believe a mission field goes a little bit deeper than those we interact with regularly

The fact is God gives each one of us interests or gifts that equip us to reach a specific group of people for His glory.  For instance God has provided gifts that prepare me for ministry in Australia:

But believe it or not though Melbourne Australia is still too big of a mission field.  Trying to reach every individual in a city filled with immigrants from over 100 different cultures is just not possible for by myself

so I have to go deeper and find out what SPECIFIC PEOPLE GROUP in Melbourne God has called me too.

Editors Note: Of course this doesn’t mean I only share the Gospel with one group of people. Instead my energy is focused mostly on those individuals God has given me special gifts for

With the Lord’s help I’ve learned my mission field is young children [2]

  1. Because I have a genuine love for working with them
  2. The Lord has given me a gift for connecting with children
  3. My speaking and teaching style fits very well with them
  4. Working with children honestly comes very easy to me
  5. And they listen to or respect me when they won’t obey other adults

More than anything experience has taught me there is a special calling upon my life to reaching kids with the Gospel (I just know this is what God created me to do).

  • So I volunteer in elementary schools four days a week
  • teach Bible to twenty-four first and second graders
  • Work in Sparkies on Wendesday nights
  • Help with an after-school fitness program
  • And am looking to do more because all of these ministries give opportunities to share the Gospel

I’m aware that not everyone has as much time or energy to put into reaching their mission field. But it’s still important to have understand what that specific people group is, for only then can they become truly involved in God’s plan for their life.

  1. II Peter 3:9  ↩
  2. Kindergarten to second grade  ↩
What Missions Means

Why I Refuse to Call MInistry Missions

Over pepperoni pizza with a friend last night I expressed my desire to help others in a deeper way. More than once in the conversation I told him “man I just want to do missions!”

My frustration describes a common struggle for Christianity.

We are awesome at ministry
But we are terrible at missions

Now some people may view ministry and missions as the same thing, but trust me when I say there are HUGE differences

Ministry is about:

  1. Getting involved with a group that’s already doing a work in the community
  2. Ministering to physical or emotional needs [1]
  3. Developing relationships
  4. Spending a few hours a week with those in need

Missions is about:

  1. Starting something yourself in most cases
  2. Ministering to a persons spiritual needs [2]
  3. Explaining what’s going on in the world from a Christian worldview
  4. Developing a deeper relationship built on transparency [3]
  5. Spending quality time with individuals instead of a few hours each week

Let me just say that there is definitely a need for Christians like myself to be involved in ministry [4]. However we must stop doing ministry and calling it missions because there is a big difference.

So why do Christians struggle with missions while we are so awesome at ministry anyways?  There are many answers but the most basic one is this (at least for me).

Missions involves taking risks, and there is a high possibility of rejection.

There is almost no risk in ministry; they give training, fit into your schedule, will answer any questions, and if a problem arises the organization will do anything they can to help.

Missions is all about risk

For instance I feel the Lord leading me to start a free one on one tutoring program for children or teenagers in low income housing areas from a Christian worldview using the Gospel [5].

In this situation I would need to

  1. Create the lesson plans
  2. Find area where free tutoring is needed
  3. Find a place there to do tutoring
  4. Promote the tutoring program
  5. Earn the trust of families in their area [6]
  6. In many cases find a way to get children to the place where teaching is done, and back to their home
  7. As I get to know children create lesson plans specifically for them
  8. Create and promote lessons on subjects important to individuals in that area
  9. and so on

It’s pretty obvious going to a school for an hour every Thursday morning is a lot easier than missions

Again I’m not saying Christians shouldn’t be involved in ministry…there are definitely people out there in need.

The issue is when Christians do ministry and call it missions.

Because missions is messy
It takes an incredibly long time
It involves more than just an hour a week
It means facing your fears and risking rejection
And it’s not for the faint of heart

But it’s also the most incredible thing you could spend your life doing.

  1. poverty, lack of quality education, poor family background  ↩
  2. their need of a Savior for their sins  ↩
  3. These real relationships take a VERY long time to build  ↩
  4. In most cases it’s only after earning a persons trust that we can enter into a deeper relationship  ↩
  5. this will be done from a Christian perspective so the Gospel is part of my lesson plans  ↩
  6. understandably they won’t trust me right away  ↩