As Christians, we often associate missions as the thing we do for two weeks over the summer or remote hot places of the world where people live in huts and don’t speak English. I feel that for many years this was how the mission field was looked at. Thankfully, I feel the pendulum has swung; and now the communities and work places we do life in our becoming just as much of a mission field as the remote villages on the other side of the world.
The thing about looking at our community as a mission field is really intimidating. When we have the mentality of getting on a plane and going somewhere else, we feel that people might listen to us because we are Americans and from far away. Here in our community it is different because sometimes we have no idea how to move in people’s hearts and offer them anything different.
The thing I like about the great commission is that it just didn’t call us to the nations- it called us here as well. We are all ministers of the Gospel and should reach out. It’s not just the responsibility of church leaders and missionaries to accomplish this. We are all missionaries; whether it’s in the work place, with friends, the club we are involved with, or even our sport’s team.
What is we shifted from looking at mission as something we do, and change that to who we are? You don’t need a church to send you out to minister to those people; you don’t need to raise support to reach these people. Christ sent you out with the great commission. I don’t want to rewrite the great commission but what if it was…
go therefore to the work places, clubs, sporting events, grocery stores and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And remember I am with you to the very end of the age.
Now, doing this is no easy task. Ministering to people we work with can be extremely difficult and frustrating to live a life of example. It has taken many missionaries working in remote areas for many years to see fruit from their labor. Sometimes it doesn’t even mean saying anything. When people see character and recognize things are different in them, they will ask questions. But it’s figuring out how to be bold in those situations that makes the difference. When we miss an opportunity, it is frustrating because we feel like God put us on deck and when we stepped up to bat, we struck out. Luckily, there are plenty more times to step up to the plate in one game, and be able to minister to people.
Where is God leading you to minster?
