Serving the Sent: Uncovering the Missionary among you

Missionaries. Are they made, are they discovered, or is it a bit of both? Before you can serve your missionaries, you have to find them. Finding a missionary can be challenging. Here are some tips for finding that missionary sitting in the chair right beside you or maybe three rows up to your left.  

Cultivate the field: In your efforts of communication, it is good to avoid "they/them" distinctions and use the inclusive “we.” Instead of referring to the missionaries, “They did such and so,” use the “we." Such as, “In our ministry overseas, we….” We say, “Our missionaries sacrifice much to represent our church…." By showing the church’s participation in missions and the missionary’s participation in church, younger and older members will be open to serving the church in the same way. You want to foster the idea in people’s minds that it is possible to be a missionary, not the idea that missionaries are mysterious super-Christians operating at a level higher than we mere mortals can attain.

Go on well-designed mission trips: When your church goes on well-designed mission trips with real ministry impact and strong cultural engagement, you will find the missionaries among you. Cross-cultural work requires a certain kind of person who can do the work of learning another culture and dealing with all the stress and challenges that entails. Taking people on a well-designed trip will help show you whom God is preparing to send.

Have an open leadership style: When discussing any leadership development at your church, having a system that allows people to gain experience in teaching and leading ministry helps find the people with the kind of initiative a missionary needs. If most lay people end up assisting paid leaders or elders but never leading, it is hard to know whether someone has the potential to be a self-starter and leader on the mission field. A good assistant does not always make a good leader or missionary.

Give people a clear path to the Missio Dei: Your church must have a clear path for potential missionaries to follow if they are interested in missions. Whether that is having a clear role for your missions team or someone on staff who can function as a missions pastor. This encourages mission-minded people to remain in the church family and pursue missions with the help of their local church leadership. 

 

When a local church cannot give guidance to a potential missionary, they will go out of the church to find the help they need. It means a vital piece of a missionary’s discipleship will happen outside the local church context, which is not healthy for the church or the missionary.  

These steps and others will help your church find missionaries in your congregation. Additionally, it will allow your church to disciple younger or older missionaries and be part of the reaping of the harvest the missionaries will eventually have as they pursue God’s mission. This kind of effort makes this verse come alive:

           

If you want a genuine partnership with your missionaries, cultivate the ones God has already given you in your church.