On a mission in the year 2023

What is missional living?  From a young age I prepared to go into missions work.  It was my goal to tell people about Jesus and help them form into churches to continue the work.  My undergraduate degree was in Missions and that education helped form my ideas on what a church is and how it should function within society.

I know what you are thinking, Missions is for the missionary.  Yes, that is true, but missions is a part of every person’s life and daily living.  What is missions should be our first question, the second is how do people live everyday life as missionaries?

Missions is the intentional work of effectively communicating who Jesus is, what He has done for you, and how He is in the business of reconciling humanity to God.  This work is one that can be done contextually or cross-culturally.  It is the work that God called all His followers to do in Matthew 28:

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

There are a few things in this passage that I would like to point out, Jesus was speaking to the elven disciples.  This fact is one that many people think gives them an opportunity to not share what God is doing in their lives, but they miss the last part of these verses, “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  It is the work of the follower of Jesus to make more disciples, this is the work of the missionary.

At times people think that they need to go to another part of the world to be a missionary, to leave home and go to another place, learn a new language, and eat interesting foods.  Being a missionary does require risk, but that risk may not be in travel; yes, we need people to travel the world to share Jesus’ work, but not all people can do that.

What I want you to understand is that as followers of Jesus we are in the business of being missionaries.  We are called to share who Jesus is to us, what He has done, and how He is reconciling humanity to God.  That is the work of a missionary, but in order to do that work, we must actually live it.

We live in a world where it is hard to go to work for 8+ hours a day, take care of our families and homes, have a little entertainment, and do the same thing the next day.  I would challenge you to think about doing things a little bit differently, do not consider work and life a chore, but an opportunity.  Live out the task of missions in every situation, call people to know Jesus and grow closer to Him.

Missional Living is the practical philosophy of going about our daily lives and looking for opportunities to point people to Jesus as Lord and Savior.  It takes intentionality to Live Missionally, we have to work at it and it is not an easy task.  I would encourage you to make the most of every opportunity, by taking the risk of sharing God’s work in your life.