Are You Called?

How do I know that I am called to be a missionary?

How do I know where I should serve on the mission field?

What should I do to become a missionary?

Which school should I attend to become a missionary?


These are all questions people have asked me at one time or another. And over the next three months we will answer these questions and more.
When we hear the word missionary, our mind instantly calls up images of Amy Carmichael in India or Gladys Alyward in China.

We think of those poor Westerners serving in native bush villages, living in grass huts and eating live bugs - or something similarly awful.

And while missionaries such as these have sacrificed much - and many today still do (we shall hear from such missionaries during this 3-month series!) - this is not what defines a missionary.  It is not required that you leave your native homeland and travel to foreign lands where culture and language are unfamiliar and strange.  Becoming a missionary does not require you to sell your home and leave your loved ones behind.  



What is a missionary?

Originally it meant a person who set out on a mission.  A person who was dispatched for a certain duty. 

In Matthew 10, Jesus sent out the twelve disciples to bring the gospel to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel".  And in Luke 10 he sent out seventy others to "every city and place where He Himself was to go".

These were local missionaries. 


In other words, the answer to the first question is: 

if your heart is beating, you are called to be a missionary

Jesus has given you a mission: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature". Your neighborhood is a part of the world.  Your work place is filled with "creatures". Everywhere you go, you are walking on a mission field.  

Everything you need, you already have. God's Word and your own testimony. 

God's Word is the gospel - irrefutable, undeniable, inerrant, living and active. 

Your testimony is the power you need to overcome the enemy and his arguments: "They overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony".  



If you feel a desire to go to a foreign land?  Start now.   Don't wait until you are there.  (Hint: Next Monday we will explore various ways you can "go" from your home.)  Because a missionary is far more than a title.  Wearing the title "missionary" does not instantly make you a missionary.  

Have you taken Jesus' commission to heart?

Do you have a burning desire to see the lost everywhere (including those on your own street and in your own family) saved?

Are you careful to watch for signs that indicate that the person you are speaking with is searching for answers?

Do you regularly share the gospel?

Have you led at least one person to Christ?

If you have answered yes to most or all of these questions, you are an active missionary! 

We are all called!

While the Word clearly teaches that some are called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, all are called to fulfill the mission Jesus set forth.  Some will carry out that mission in their own neighborhood, some will carry out that mission in another part of their own country, while others will make the sacrifice to leave everything familiar behind to carry His message to those in foreign lands.

Same call

Different path

You are called.  Now, answer the call and go!



Be sure to enter the giveaway for my dad's book Discovering True Identity!  Information on the giveaway here!


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