Home Outreach Leaders Articles for Outreach & Missions Doing Missions When Living Is Gain

Doing Missions When Living Is Gain

In preparation for your future cross-cultural ministry in missions, look for ways now to put the interests of others ahead of your own. Embrace even the most mundane ways to serve—like putting away folding chairs or doing the dishes. Spend time with “the least of these,” and get familiar with the unpleasant particularities of poverty, disability, weakness (including old age) and social marginality. Pursue as many cross-cultural immersion experiences as possible—including nursing homes and hospitals. Open your heart to people not like you who will occasionally break your heart by their knuckle-headed decisions, but from whom you won’t want to be separated by death, either theirs or yours.

We Never Go Alone

Also, don’t imagine martyrdom or “life on the field” in individualistic terms. Missionaries are merely disciples like the rest of us. According to the Scriptures, killing sin, delighting in God and developing a winsome witness with unbelievers is a corporate pursuit. It is unbiblical for single persons or married couples to do pioneer church planting (or any kind of ministry) alone. Missionaries need all the means of grace and kinds of care that all Christians require and that we experience primarily by way of regular fellowship with other believers.

Missionaries often need counseling when discouraged or confused, and a rebuke for sin at times. They may need to be held accountable to do language-learning work or to be seeking out relationships with local people. Imagine missions in terms of both converts and teammates who will benefit from you being around.

Aim to Bless, Not Die

During the first few centuries of the church, it seems that most pastors and other theologians discouraged Christians from “volunteering” for martyrdom, perceiving it as something presumptuous. In fact, if you succeed in getting yourself killed without consideration of how to help others and without compassion for them, you will profit nothing by it (1 Corinthians 13:3). Instead, pursue holistic faithfulness to God in honoring parents, loving a spouse, providing for and instructing children, serving neighbors, and contributing as a fellow church member.

Ask yourself, Does my ambition include the goal of “living a quiet life” so that I may “win the respect” of unbelievers with whom I share some modicum of existence in a particular society (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12)?

Missions and Mixed Motives

Finally, if and when God convicts you of any mixed motives for doing missions generally, or for martyrdom in particular, remind yourself of these three truths:

  1. All believers struggle with a heart divided, especially, perhaps, those in full-time ministry.
  2. The subtle presence of immature or ulterior motives does not nullify the presence of good, biblical motives that are magnificently in your heart by the grace of God.
  3. You can rest your repentant soul in the good news that Christ died to pay for all your sin, was raised for your justification and reigns over his precious church to oh-so-gradually conform the citizens of his kingdom to his own righteous character—including purity, zeal, love, patience, kindness, wisdom and humility.

God will give us the joy and privilege of being his vehicle of blessing to the nations as a part of the Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:13–29) as we walk along the way of a holistically faithful life strategically placed on this Rock for his glory (Matt 7.24–27″ data-version=”esv” data-purpose=”bible-reference”>Matthew 7:24–27; Matthew 16.13–20″ data-version=”esv” data-purpose=”bible-reference”>16:13–20; Matthew 28.18–20″ data-version=”esv” data-purpose=”bible-reference”>28:18–20).