“Every Christian is a missionary.” I’ve often heard people say this, and it is partially true. There is a sense in which every follower of Christ should be involved in ministering to others in his name. But there is a problem with that statement: paraphrasing another writer, if everyone is a missionary then we will have to come up with a new term for the people we call missionaries.
There are many varieties of missionaries, doing many kinds of tasks in Jesus’ name:teachers and preachers, doctors and nurses, farmers and cooks, pilots and computer operators, mechanics and well drillers, administrators and lawyers— yes, even lawyers—and many others. I once saw a presentation in which a missions recruiter challenged anyone in the audience to come up with a skill that couldn’t be used in missions. One person raised his hand, and said “I am a chimney sweep.” The recruiter had to admit that maybe there was no need for that skill.
Our family—us, our children and grandchildren—have been involved in missions. I list us here not because we are special—we are not. Many families would have much longer lists than ours. But our list provides a sampling of the numerous ministries and places that missionaries work:
•Jean and I were teachers in Liberia, Bangladesh, and China. Plus we started a church in Liberia.
•Christy, our daughter, and her husband Jerrik, worked for a couple of months alongside a couple doing agricultural development in Niger, Africa. Jerrik also used his skills as a mechanic to fix their vehicles.
•Cheri, our daughter, helped at a missions school in Senegal, Africa. Later she and her husband Jared became career missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators and lived in an aboriginal village in Australia teaching literacy.
•Heidi, our daughter, went on a short-term missions team from our Minnesota church doing VBS with a partner church in Mexico.
•Josiah, our grandson, just completed two months working as part of a team repairing houses and buildings badly damaged by the heavy flooding from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. He plans to do similar work in south Africa next year.
Here is an example of a creative way to be a missionary. Jean and I met an American couple living in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Because India does not allow foreigners to come as “missionaries,” they went there as businesspeople. She was an executive for an international banking firm, and her husband was the stay-athome spouse, caring for their kids and doing missionary work on the side.
I visited India twice. Once we went as tourists during a school break while we were teaching at a Christian seminary in neighboring Bangladesh. My second trip to India involved taking a team of college students from the States to learn about India and about the religion of Hinduism. On that trip we saw famous sights like the Taj Mahal and crowds bathing in the Ganges River, but our primary purpose was to visit several Christian ministries working in northern India. Some of the ministries we saw were doing amazing work! One was rescuing women trapped in the sex trades of Kolkata. This group trained these girls in occupations where they could make a living free of exploitation. There are actually other missions serving in India and elsewhere called Justice missions. They have lawyers going to court to defend the legal rights of the oppressed and exploited.
There are also missionaries with various skills teaching courses we usually find in tech schools. I heard of a school in a Muslim country teaching young men to make their own tools and how to use them to repair motorcycles—thus giving them a good career path. And every day the teachers told them the gospel through daily devotions. Many became believers.
Though every Christian is not a missionary, almost every Christian could become one, whether for a short-term (one week or one month) to long-term or career. Missionaries are usually sent by a church, a missions organization, or by a group of believers, maybe even their family. It is common to go on a mission as part of a team, though some go alone. Some missionaries are tentmakers, meaning that they have a job to support themselves as they travel (the Apostle Paul’s job was making tents) and they do missions on the side. There are many ways to serve as a missionary. Every Christian can and should serve others in Jesus’ name. Perhaps you could use your knowledge and skills to serve as a missionary, whether in the States or abroad. And while you are at it, you can share your testimony about what Jesus means to you. Serve God by serving others!
Greg Giles is a published author, who, along with his wife Jean, has embraced the call to serve and teach around the globe. Their life together has included missionary work in Liberia, Bangladesh, teaching in China, and raising a family in Bemidji, Minnesota. Between global travels and local commitments, including serving as superintendent of Corn Bible Academy and their current part-time roles at Corn Heritage Village, the Gileses have found “home” in many places; yet, they now happily reside in retirement in Cordell. Please visit his website at reflections-on-wisdom.com.