What do you think of when you think of missionaries? Let me guess. A small mud hut in the middle of the jungle, brave heroic people fighting off mosquitos and snakes, struggling to communicate God’s Word to savage natives.Though this picture is sometimes true, we often limit the role of a missionary to this image. But is this always what it looks like?
One of the most important things that I have learned this past year at MTC is that God uses ordinary people as missionaries. They struggle with the same things everyone else does. Think about the people Christ chose to do His work…fishermen, tax collectors, tent makers, zealots…and God used all their different giftings and abilities to build His church. And guess what? He still does the same today!
What all and who all does it take to get that family to the village in the middle of the jungle teaching the Gospel to a particular group of tribal people? I will try to give you a small glimpse…
Before a family can go into an area, a survey group must make a trip to the area to figure out the best way to contact and work in that area. Before the family can leave for the field, they must have training in language and culture, living in remote conditions, and bible training. This requires teachers. When they get to the field, they have to have a pilot to fly them and all their supplies in and out. They need mechanics to keep the plane running. When they are learning the language, they need language helpers & language consultants. If there is no written language, they need linguists and people to teach literacy. If they get sick, they need medical personnel. If they have children and they send them to the mission school, they need teachers for every subject and age as well as dorm parents. At the mission center, they need supply buyers to purchase the supplies they need, accountants and secretaries to keep track of paperwork & finances, people to run the guest home when they come for a break, construction workers, plumbers, electricians to keep up buildings, and I think you get the idea. Each one of these people is a missionary because they are each uniquely involved with reaching people with the Gospel who have never heard. And behind every one of these people are another group of people who are supporting them with prayer, encouragement, and financially.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I guarantee that every one of you who reads this can see some way that you can be involved. I would like to challenge you to seek the Lord and see if there is some way you can be a missionary by expanding the reach of the Gospel with the gifts and abilities God has given you. Feel free to contact if you have questions. We are all oridnary people serving an extraordinary God!!!
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