One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned about what it means to be a “missionary” happened during our second month of ministry in Serbia.
When my team arrived in Serbia, we found out that we would be partnering with the only evangelical church in that city. This was a small church of about 30 people. We would spend our month doing prayer walks daily through the city, investing in the youth of the church by having sleepovers with the girls or scavenger hunts throughout the city, leading the women’s Bible studies, sharing our testimonies in church, and most of all encouraging and building up the Christians.
These things felt pretty similiar to what I would be doing if I were back at home. There were several moments, especially towards the beginning of our month, when I imagined what people back home would say. “Why did you raise so much support to go to another country to do the same things you were doing back home? Isn’t that a waste of money?” I struggled with the legitimacy of raising so much support to do something overseas that I could do at home.
But what I realized is this:
It doesn’t matter whether you are in the middle of the bush in Africa holding a precious child of God who is dying from AIDS or up at 4am harvesting cactus for a ministry… (believe it or not, there was a team doing exactly that this month)…or spending a few days in what seems to be a random city in between ministry months. It doesn’t matter, because the truth is…
Wherever you are, that is your mission field.
What I learned in Serbia that month was the importance and legitimacy of ministry in every day life.
When I go home, I will not stop being a missionary—it is something that is not limited to a certain type of life style or even a ministry or job occupation. We can try our best to limit it with certain expectations, but the fact is that it is a way of life.
A way of life that as Christians we are called to live.
Being a follower of Christ means living in a way that is mindful that we are not our own, and being intentional in building relationships with others. With seeking out what God is already doing right now, where you are, and joining in. He’s not just 8,000 miles away in India, he’s in the room with you right now. He’s in your office cubicle, he’s in the line at the grocery story, he’s on the streets, he’s in your classroom, he’s in your home—he’s busy at work there. He’s passionate about his children there—not just his children who are orphaned or reeling from the effects of natural disasters or poverty.
Do you know that he cares just as much for you as he does for them? You are just as precious in his sight. Do you believe that?
As children of God, we are called to spread his light into other people’s lives. You can talk all you want about what you believe, but the best way of doing that without fail is to simply live it out.
I am almost envious of you and where you are now— being in one place and having the opportunity to build relationships with the people you come into contact with every day. There is so much weight in getting to see someone day after day after day. They watch you, and that time you spend with them carries more weight than you may know.
I know that whether we have known a person for a few moments or for or a week or for a month as has happened here in Serbia or for years— that God crossed our paths for a reason and that we have had the opportunity to plant seeds that will have eternal fruit. In Albania, we said goodbye to so many children, so many new friends, week after week, and that was heartbreaking. My heart longs for those relationships to continue face to face for longer. My heart aches at the thought of having to saying goodbye in just a few days to my sweet Serbian friends who we have been blessed to have been with for an entire month.
Wherever you are, God has placed you in a unique position and gifted you (whether or not you always feel like it, he has) to minister to the people around you in a way that no one else can. What a privilege…and what a great responsibility. We get to join our Maker in showing his creation the great love he has for them. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, so if God has been placing it on your heart to talk to someone or to build a relationship with them, do it today. And if he hasn’t been placing anyone on your heart, pray he will—that he will open doors and bring people into your life that you can share his love with. He has created you and given you an incredible story—your life story—that is unique to you and will touch others lives in a way that no one else’s can. Don’t miss out on any opportunity to share what God has done with you and in your life with others…you have no idea what eternal significance a simple decision to pour into someone will have.
God has placed you where you are, right now, for such a time as this. You have just as much space in God’s plans as Queen Esther did when she saved the Jewish people from complete destruction. All you have to do is what she did—be there, seek God out, listen to God, and follow him, no matter what.
Here’s a photo of our team with our youth group in front of the church we served at in Serbia.
