What comes to mind when you hear the words mission, missions, or missionary?
Personally, I didn’t grow up hearing these words very often. My parents took me to Sunday school and instilled spiritual rhythms like praying before bed and meals. However, I didn’t have much exposure to global missions. Before becoming a missionary, I honestly felt a certain distaste towards global missions because I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand how it could be sustainable. I didn’t understand what a missionary actually does day to day. I didn’t understand much, but now I know significantly more so let’s address five common misconceptions.
1. MYTH: All missionaries go overseas.
FACT: Missionaries serve where the Lord calls them. Sometimes that is in a cross-cultural context and sometimes it is not. Before signing with ReachGlobal, I acted as a missionary on my secular college campus and at a secular summer camp. For me, being a missionary means I’m being authentic to my faith and living my life for Jesus day in and day out. Many times my authenticity and openness about my relationship with Jesus has led to curiosity from people in my life because they want to know about what makes me, me. It’s such a joy when friends see my walk with God and it inspires a conversation about faith and the bigger things in life.
2. MYTH: Missionaries must live in a hut and pass out Bible tracks on the street corner.
FACT: Each missionary has a unique calling and natural talents so their ministries will all look different. Personally, I am gifted in leadership, discipleship, and individualization so I focus on building genuine relationships with people and creating spaces for folks to have honest, meaningful conversations about faith. I see my role as someone who A) loves people right where they are at, B) empowers young people to determine what they believe for themselves, and C) equips them to develop and grow a deeply personal relationship with Christ through opportunities like scripture study. My view of this role comes from Jesus’ ministry. Jesus modeled the importance of loving all people (especially the outcasts), asking thought-provoking questions instead of giving simple answers, and teaching people what it looks like to have a relationship with God.
3. MYTH: Missionaries are holier than thou.
FACT: I sincerely hope I never fit this stereotype. Hopefully I surround myself with enough Godly people that if I ever start thinking I’m better than others, they will knock some sense back into me. I pride myself on being authentic, and a big part of that means recognizing that I am far from perfect. I am human; I sin just as much as the next girl. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). But God is so much bigger than our sin! He forgives us because He loves us endlessly. I’m a missionary because I love Jesus and I want other people to feel the incredible love He has to offer us…simple as that! In reality, missionaries are frequently required to humble themselves before God and ministry partners.
4. MYTH: Missionaries are closer to God than “normal” people.
FACT: Definitely false! Thankfully Christianity doesn’t come with status levels or any type of hierarchy. God loves us all the same (endlessly) and we all have equal access to Him through the Holy Spirit and prayer (Ephesians 2:18). Isn’t that cool? We are all loved by a God who designed us to have equal access to Him. I find that refreshing in a world where nothing seems truly equal. It’s easy to see people reading scripture or being comfortable with prayer and thinking, “Wow, that person must be closer to God than me!” But that is a lie from the enemy, my friend. I read my Bible often because it is how I stay grounded in my faith, and I’ve grown comfortable with prayer because I do it often. None of that means I’m more worthy of an intimate relationship with Jesus. On the contrary, it shows that we all are capable of developing an intimate relationship with Jesus through spiritual rhythms like prayer and scripture study. James 4:8 tells us that God will come near to us when we go near to Him.
5. MYTH: Missionaries push Christianity onto others.
FACT: All missionaries are different, and historically some missionaries have caused a significant amount of harm. I don’t take that lightly. It’s also important to note that people make mistakes and one individual’s actions don’t represent the entirety of the group. I definitely don’t want to guilt or intimidate people into accepting Jesus. That isn’t loving or Christlike. God tells us to serve one another through love and to love our neighbor as ourself (Galatians 5:13b-14).
I primarily focus on relational ministry and discipleship because I believe there needs to be a certain level of friendship and mutual respect to most effectively engage in ministry. Being a missionary is more about creating spaces for people to experience God and have conversations about faith, rather than preaching at them and sharing information they don’t have ears to hear yet. Like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, people need to be given information appropriate to their spiritual maturity.
Since I’m working with college students and young adults, I want to provide a safe landing pad where young people can have crucial conversations about challenging topics like what really matters in life, what happens after we die, and how we define a good life…questions that lack a natural space to exist, but often spark curiosity in the minds of young adults regardless of their faith background. Offering a place for young people to be grounded in Biblical truth and the love of Jesus transforms lives! That is what being a missionary means to me…giving people the opportunity to experience God for themselves and grow in their understanding of Him.
I hope this has been a helpful start to debunking some stereotypes about missionaries. Up until a year ago, I never would have even considered being a missionary so I understand the many hesitations and questions that surround missionaries. If there’s something I didn’t address that you are curious about, please leave a comment or shoot me a message so we can continue the conversation!
God bless you!