What Does a Missionary Smell Like?

In my last post, I talked about not feeling like I was a good enough Christian to become a missionary. And I eluded to God working on convicting me of that attitude. I want to tell you how I got from point A to point B.

FUNDIES ARE FUN! I never attended a Fundamentalist church, in the true sense of the word. But I did attend a very missions-minded church for over 15 years. This church was amazing in it's preaching and teaching ministry and loved to send missionaries out. I watched these missionaries prepare for the field and come back on furlough from the time I was in 7th grade until about 4 years ago. And it was from this watching that I knew I could never be one of them. One of the main things I saw in these women is that they were very pious. These are women who think before speaking. These are women who spend 18 hours a day in the Word. These are women who are married to Jesus and have 6-8 children (or want 6-8 children). These are women who've stub their toe and don't even think of swearing. These women were simply better Christian than I am. Also, they look good in long skirts. At 5' 2", I do not. Even when you Google the word "missionary" (which I wouldn't suggest doing - there are some mighty raunchy results!) you get pictures like the one to the right. And most of them are Mormon. Don't even get me started on Mormon underwear!

REALITY CHECK I know missionaries that don't fit this mold that I have in my head. I know that they're not perfect Christians and that they struggle with very similar things that I do. But wouldn't it be easier for me to keep that preconceived notion alive so that I wouldn't ever have to worry about being called into the mission field? It'd be better for everyone if I just kept my walls up in this area and stayed in comfortable, albeit cold, Burnsville, Minnesota.

PREACH IT, BROTHER These were some of the things I was struggling with in the first month or so of my journey. I remember asking, demanding, God to give me some help in this area. It was a Saturday night in my devotions in Philippians, the missionary-sending book, and I needed God to make Himself real to me. Now, I'm not a proponent of setting out fleece to see if it's dry over and over again, but I did need to hear from God. And he spoke, alright! The next day at church, my pastor preached a sermon titled "Called To, Send Out" on Mark 3:13-19. He admitted that he wasn't super excited to preach that section because all it really is, is the naming for the 12 apostles. But he was faithful to preach it and talk about those apostles in a way that challenged my thinking in so many ways. Here's the passage:

13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

About half way through the sermon he broke down the significance of each of these men and the fact that Jesus chose them to be his disciples. (You can listen to the sermon for yourself - the part I'm speaking of happens around 17:09 -http://audio.sovgracemn.org/2011/04/03/servant-savior-called-to-sent-out/). Pastor Rick went through each of the apostles and why they could have been disqualified due to their behavior and antics. Yet, God chose to build His church on these "blue collar blokes".

Here are a couple of the quotes from the sermon that really struck me -
"There's one word comes to my mind regarding these 12 apostles: Ordinary. What stands out most about these guys is that there's nothing that stands out about them!"
"God delights in using orindiary people... to accomplish extraordinary things! Our weaknesses become the stage on which God demonstrates his strength! Our usefulness as disciples is not determined by who we are, but by who has called us. And it's God Almighty who's called us."

OKAY, I GET IT After this service I was convinced - hook line and sinker convinced - that God was speaking directly to me. I don't know that I've ever sat in a sermon that felt more crafted specifically to me. How gracious and amazing and personal is our God that he answered my prayer, that I probably fell asleep while praying, just like the disciples did in Gethsemane, in such a real, tangible and immediate way? When He wants to get your attention, he will.

CHALLENGE So I want to challenge you in your ideas and ways of thinking about missionaries. Do you look down on them like I did? Do you find yourself unable to identify with people who go on the mission field? Do you think yourself too lowly a sinner or to important a person to entertain the idea of mission work? I'm not saying that we should all go down to Bolivia and start a Christian commune together (although, that does sound fun, doesn't it? Have I mentioned that it has never snows in Cochabamba??) But perhaps there's a chance for you to volunteer some of your time at a local ministry, like a crisis pregnancy center. Maybe you've been putting off getting involved at your church, but God will use your gifts mightily if you do. I'm just sayin...