As a missionary, over the past 18 months, my family and I have visited numerous churches to acquaint people with our ministry and missions in general. During these visits, people often ask, “I feel that God may be calling me to the mission field, but I am not sure what it will look like. How can I prepare and discern what God is calling me to do?” Based on my own personal experience, there are 4 things that I have done over the years that have helped me hone my own calling.
Devotional Life
I know that this probably not what you wanted to hear. It sounds too simple, almost like a cliche. However, a strong devotional life is even more essential for the missionary than any other form of full time ministry. Consider how difficult is now, in your daily life, to maintain close connections with the Lord. Now, take those difficulties and multiply them by 10 or 100, for those serving cross-culturally. For the missionary serving in a different culture where the simple everyday tasks of getting food, clean water, learning a foreign language, or even just riding the bus are difficult, time with the Lord is at a premium. If you not have strongly ingrained habits of time with the Lord on daily basis, you will quickly become a casualty. The number one method the enemy has in preventing you from being fruitful and effective is busyness – busyness that saps you time, your strength, and most importantly your relationship with the Lord. So, your first task is get into the Word and spend in time in prayer everyday. Get close to the Lord and stay there. If you can do that, the door will be wide open for you to hear His voice and you will be miles ahead when you do reach the field. For the some helps in this area, check out the Discipleship Tools page on this web site.
World Events & Reading
After getting your spiritual life in order, the next thing you can do is start building your vision. One of the best ways to start building your vision is to familiarize yourself with what is going on in the world. While there are obviously many blessing to living in the US, one of the downsides is that we can become insulated from what is happening in the rest of the world. To combat this, you can look at non-US news sources, like the BBC (www.bbcnews.com). Web sites like foxnews.com and cnn.com may be first-class new organizations, but the coverage they give is mostly US focused, with a few snippets from outside the US. In contrast, sites like BBC, have a much broader range of regional coverage with little or no reference to the US or Europe. If you have some idea of a particular country that you are interested in, try to find a news source from there. For example, my family and I are going to Kenya. In Kenya, the leading new source is The Daily Nation (www.nation.co.ke) and I try to reference it from time to time for a Kenyan perspective on the news.
Another way to build your vision to read missionary biographies. There are numerous fine literary works about the men and women of faith that God has used in the past – William Carey (Missionary to India and Father of Modern Missions), Adoniram Judson (Missionary to Burma and First American Foreign Missionary), Jim Elliot (Missionary to Ecuador and Martyr). These are just a few of the possibilities. These are great tools to help build your faith, showing what God can do with people who are fully committed to Him and His Kingdom. Another possibility is the book From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions
by Ruth Tucker. Tucker takes a broad view of missionary activity from the First Century through the Present. This may sound intimidating, but in fact the book is very readable and exciting.
Take a Perspectives Class
One of the most significant steps in my personal journey was taking the Perpsectives on the World Christian Movement class offered through the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena, CA. This is an in depth class that looks at the biblical foundations of missions, the history of world missions, the current situation and the task remaining, and strategies for completing the task of reaching the furthest corners of the earth. This class is not just for the person going to the mission field, but for anyone who wants to get a vision for God’s plan for the world and wants to find their place in it. The class can audited for personal enrichment or taken for college credit. Classes are offered throughout the US and you can find a class near you at www.perspectives.org. It is possible that there are no classes meeting in your vicinity. For those in that situation, it is possible to take the class online via the internet – Click Here for further details regarding online opportunities.
Go See for Yourself
Finally, go see for yourself. There is no substitute for being there – seeing with your own eyes, touching with your own hands. One of the many blessings that modern air travel has made available is access to literally any place in the world. You can get on an airplane tomorrow and be any where in 24 hours. This has opened the door for all manner of Short Term Mission Trips. Anyone in reasonably good health can go from Asia or Africa or Latin America. The only limitation is your imagination and your budget. But do not let money stand your way. Most groups plan to go several months in advance and work through various fund raising activities. For a few possibilities check out the Church of God Global Missions web page – Eye on the World. Here you will find a lisitng of upcoming trips, with contact information, from churches across the US.
Conclusion
In closing, I want to encourage you stay on the path. For ideas regarding current cross-cultural opportunities with Church of God Global Missions check out this link: Current Opportunities.
We have a Big God who can handle Big Dreams – DREAM BIG. Remember William Carey’s motto:
“Expect Great Things from God. Attempt Great Things For God.”
May God Bless you on your journey with Him!!
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