The first question on the survey I sent out a couple of
weeks ago asked, “Is every Christian a missionary?” 60% of the respondents said “yes.”
To paraphrase Bishop Neil, (“If everything is missions,
nothing is missions”) If everybody is a
missionary, nobody is a missionary.
I often hear pastors say, usually at a conference of some
sort, “missionaries, at our church are our heroes.” Given the results of the survey every Christian is a hero.
I understand the confusion of the meaning of what is a missionary? It’s true, every Christian should be a
witness for Christ; that we are all called to do the work of an evangelist,
that the world is the field and all need to hear the Good News of Christ and
His salvation. But, because
definitions matter, what the survey revealed to me was that some people
(certainly not all as a good number of respondents gave clear definitions of
what a missionary is and what is mission work) really have no comprehensive understanding of the role of a missionary, what he/she
does and, in some ways, what the
Great Commission is all about.
Clearly, not every Christian is a pastor and most people
would agree that to be a pastor is a specific calling with unique gifts. Why then is it that all Christians are
missionaries? Are those who leave
their home country, family, profession, learn a different language and commit
their lives as an alien in a foreign country somehow the same as Christians who
remain a witness in their own culture?
Is the work of taking the Gospel to those who have never heard equal to
helping hurricane victims in Houston or teaching VBS for a week in the
Dominican Republic?
Why are definitions important? Because less than $.01 out of every $1.00 given to Christian ministries goes to the work of
reaching most unreached 2 billion people with the Gospel. If everybody is a missionary, fewer
people feel the need to serve as an alien cross-culturally to those who have
never heard His Name. If everybody
is a missionary, then missions is just about whatever people want it to be.
