I’ve noticed an unfortunate trend lately for the misuse of the term “missionary”. I’ve noticed it a lot in some church circles and also in YWAM.
My kids have a Bible Bingo game that defines a missionary as:
A missionary is someone who often goes to another country to share the good news about Jesus with people who do not know about Him.
I’ve heard a lot of people using that term a lot more loosely than that. According to some people being a missionary is being Christ like where ever you are, be it at school, work, or in ministry.
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but being Christ like at school or work isn’t being a missionary, it’s called being a “Christian”!
Living out our Christian Faith means being a witness for Christ in all situations. We are all called to be witness for Christ, regardless of if we are teachers, electricians, or missionaries. You don’t need to be a missionary to show Christ to other people around you.
Another disturbing trend with this is that Christians are forgetting that Christians don’t need a special “call” to be a witness to the people around them. There is no need for a “special” call to be a witness, if you are born again in Christ, and have accepted Him as your Lord and Saviour, than you are to be a witness to the ends of the earth …
Hi there Bill………..a great article which I totally agree with.
Maybe the idea of being called a missionary just by being Christ like to the people around us has developed from the fact of the saying “we have a mission field right in our backyard / neighbourhood.”
The whole movement that everyone is a missionary had a good heart – to be more conscious of being Christ like in the everyday stuff. The fallout has been the decline in the value of traditional missionaries as well as less giving to missions.
Everyone is called to be a witness – not a missionary….
Thanks for the feedback.
I think that you both hit the nail on the head. The thought that we all need to be witnesses for Christ in all that we do is very important and something that all Christians, myself included, need to be constantly reminded of.
Being a “missionary” however I believe goes beyond that to a vocational calling.
In the old testament all of Israel were called to follow God and obey Him in all things. There was still a set group of people set aside so that their only duty was to serve God and His people as priests of the Lord. In that group of people they all had different roles (although I don’t think any of them built web-sites), but they all relied on God for their provision from the gifts of His people as they had no other job.
I think that there needs to be a re-eduction in some areas of the Church about the role of people in full-time ministry and how they need to be supported by the Church. People also need to be reminded that if we are Christians we should be Christ like in all areas of our lives, regardless of the vocation God has called us to.