By David Faust
Why would anyone voluntarily leave their native culture and move to a different land? Why would anyone choose to give up the conveniences of home and adjust to unfamiliar languages, climates, customs, and foods—and raise their own financial support to pay for these inconveniences?
WHAT PAUL MIGHT HAVE SAID
The apostle Paul’s missionary work required sleepless nights and exhausting days. Along with the ordinary stresses of ministry, he often was hungry, thirsty, and cold. His adversaries hated him. They beat him with rods, pelted him with stones, and locked him in prison. It would be traumatic to go through even one shipwreck, but that happened to Paul not once but three times; and it must have been terrifying when he “spent a night and a day in the open sea” (2 Corinthians 11:25).
But if you asked Paul, “Why did you go on all those missionary journeys?” I imagine he might have said something like this: “I went because everyone everywhere needs to hear that Jesus the Messiah died for their sins and rose from the dead. Faith comes by hearing the Word. How can they hear if no one tells them? The Father’s grace saved me, Christ’s love compelled me, and the Holy Spirit sent me. After all the Lord has done for me, how could I do anything less than spread the gospel every chance I get?”
Paul’s letter to the Philippians, written from prison, is filled with joy and peace. His confident assertion, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation” (Philippians 4:12), shows he had no regrets.
We all can’t travel the world as Paul did, but making disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them is every Christian’s mission.
WHAT MISSIONARIES SAY
Several years ago, I asked some of my missionary friends what motivated them to serve the Lord cross-culturally.
A church planter in New Zealand said he was motivated by “the simple fact that God asked me to do it.” He added, “What gets me through the difficult times is an obligation of obedience to a Savior who once felt the same way.”
Missionaries living in Africa told me, “Christ’s passionate love for his lost sheep compels us to go and serve.”
A young couple in Europe explained what it’s like to minister amid “post-Enlightenment apathy, enormous influxes of non-Western religions, and a divided evangelical population of at best 3 percent.” Why did they go? “To bring faith in Christ to a place filled with despair where the bride of Christ has been wounded by cynicism and unbelief.”
Missionaries in India described their nation as “a complex mosaic of cultures, religions, and peoples” where “everyone seems to be looking for something—anything—to satisfy their deepest needs.” Their dream “is to see Indian Christians and churches look more like what we find in the pages of the New Testament—single-minded, sacrificial, and sold-out to Jesus and his agenda.”
The Bible speaks of faithful servants like these when it says, “Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth” (3 John 6-8). If we agree with “why they go,” we should help them keep going.
Personal Challenge: Send a care package to a missionary you know. Include a note of appreciation for their work, along with special foods or other treats they can enjoy.
Author: David Faust
David Faust serves as the Associate Minister at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.
