“We stand and fall on our definitions.” I believe this is true and critical to our understanding of the issues of faith. Our society has become a master of hijacking words, changing their meanings, and making something grey from that which was clearly black and white. However, other instances of distorting the meanings of words occur within the church. One such word is that of missionary.
As a preface, I want to affirm that the tens of thousands of missionaries who serve on foreign soil and difficult conditions minister in tremendous ways. They are certainly ambassadors for the body of Christ. There work is crucial and necessary. They are obedient to God and we praise God for their faithfulness.
The word missionary means “One sent to propagate religion. Christians are called missionaries of the cross” (from the 1828 Webster Dictionary). We would like to think that this is a great Bible word. It was actually invented by the French (my definition: one sent to get more fries, bread, or vanilla) and is not used in any verse of the Bible. Does this mean that missionaries are unbiblical? Certainly not! There are considerations to be remembered. Of the offices of the church established in the New Testament (apostle, evangelist, prophet, pastor/teacher, deacon, elder), missionary is not mentioned. May I argue that there is no office of missionary because ALL believers are missionaries?
The mission of Christ was “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). We are called to join Him in the Great Commission. Every Christian is gifted by the Holy Spirit to carry out the mission. While those who are called out by God to serve in far away places are following our Lord, let us not limit our definition of a missionary to “someone over yonder doing something we can’t.” Every person who confesses Jesus is Lord is a missionary to the place, circumstance, and influence in which God has currently placed you, from the local Chinese take-out restaurant to the underground church behind the Great Wall. We are all called by God and sent out for His mission.
I agree with Alan Hirsch who continually states, “Your conversion is your commission; your baptism is your ordination.” Obedient outreach begins by understand what God has called you to do and that any success you have is the result of the Holy Spirit working through you.
Previous Posts in this Series:
(intro) Spirit-Led Outreach
Is Outreach Optional for a Christian?
Check out other series for Equipping Believers at BiG IDEaS!
Shepherding Well 