First, anyone who shares the gospel is basically a missionary. I was raised in church, so I learned from an early age about Jesus. When I was six years old and we were visiting my grandparents, I went to my parents and told them that I needed to get saved. They explained what I knew about needing a Savior and led me to the Lord in my uncle's bedroom. Since they shared the Gospel with me, they were a type of missionary. Anyone who shares the Gospel with someone else whether it is across the street or around the world, like one song says, is a missionary.
When I was about seven or eight, my family became foreign missionaries. The difference between a missionary and a foreign missionary is, a missionary may stay go across the street or leave the comforts of home to spread the Gospel, while a foreign missionary leaves their home to go to a new country as a missionary. In the summer of 2006, my family became foreign missionaries. Our field - the french island of St. Barthelemy in the Carribean islands. I learned more about missions during those years than I had staying at home. I learned of the heartaches, the joy, the sacrifice, the love, the desire, the heartache, and the fulfillment of being a missionary. I called myself a missinaonary kid because when a father surrenders to take his family to a foreign land as a missionary, the rest of the family has to follow suit or there will be problems along the way. The Lord did not just call my dad; He called my mother, my brother, my sister, and me. I would not trade my life of deputation, language school, and mission field for anything.
While we were on deputation, my siblings and I learned about the importance of giving to missions. Not only did we realize that we needed support and prayer to go and survive as missionaries, we realized that other missionaries need the same. Many churches took us on support, even more prayed for us, and many gave. They did not just give to our parents. They also gave love gifts to my siblings and I. We knew that people loved us and were praying for us. Through our parents encouragement, each of us kids decided to start giving to missions. We wanted to be a blessing, but in turn it blessed us. I cannot remember how much we decided to give, maybe about 5-10 dollars a month. Dad knew God would provide, but he was surprised at our child-like faith. As we prayed, he got to praying something like this: "Lord, please provide their missions money. Help their faith to grow, or I'll have to give them the money to give to missions." You know? God is so good! While we were staying at one of the churches that Dad used to serve in, God provided our missions money. Josh, Brenna, and I were taking out the trash, when a gentleman walked out of the church and handed each of us money. We rushed to our motorhome and eagerly told Mom the news. When Dad got home we then excitedly told him that God had provided our missions money. We would continue to see God provide for us in the future. We started praying and picking out missionaries for each of us to support. We would write them a letter with money enclosed, and they would in turn send a letter or postcard to thank us. It was awesome. We were blessed. I do not know which of us got the better end of the deal. :)
When God took us off the mission field, we became home missionaries - United States church planters. God brought us to High Springs, Florida where we planted Victory Springs Independent Baptist Church. When we started, we took on four missionaries by faith. As Pastor Strange says - if you want to see God work, give to missions. We have seen that it is so true. God has greatly blessed our church.
Now we are no longer missionaries in a technical sense, but we are still involved in missions today. I still give faith promise, not just to one missionary, but to all the missionaries that our church has chosen to support with God's guidance. Now that I am older, God has allowed me to give more than the $5-10 I started with.
You do not have to have a lot of money, nor do you have to go around the world to be a missionary. You can be involved in missions by four ways:
Missions and You
1. First, you can pray for missionaries.
Missionaries, more than anything, need your prayers. They need prayers for safety, needs provided, souls saved, and spiritual growth. Do you pray faithfully for missionaries? Even as I write this, I am challenged to pray more for them. I do not pray for them enough, and that needs to change.
2. Yes, they need prayers, but they also need financial support.
They have needs just like you and I do. How can they go if they do not have provision? God uses churches back home to financially support missions. This is done through faith promise giving. I challenge you to give to missions above and beyond your tithe. While tithe is always ten percent, faith promise giving is what you are led by God to give in faith. It takes faith because you do not always know where that money will come from. But like I have said before, God always provides. And again, if you want to see God work, give to missions.
3. You can also be involved in missions by encouraging your missionaries.
Send them a letter every now and then. We used to love getting letters from friends back home when we were on deputation. Send them a birthday card. When you have missionaries come through your church, befriend them. Though the life of a missionary can be rewarding, it can sometimes be lonely. Be a friend to them when they drop in. Attend your church's mission conference, and just love on those missionaries.
4. Share the Gospel with others.
This may be one of the most important things you can do to be involved in missions. It does not necessarily mean that you have to leave the country. Be creative. Pass out tracts, tell your neighbours, but most importantly, obey the command to go and tell even if it is just across the street.
If you want to be involved in missions, then pray, support, and encourage missionaries while at the same time doing your part to share the Gospel.
I wanted to write this post because my church does our mission conference in the month of September. This year is a little different, though. This year we are calling it a Missions Revival and it will be Sunday through Wednesday, and we are so excited. We are having two of our missionaries in. One is Bro. Peacock with Rock of Ages Ministries. He will be with us Sunday. He is an awesome soul winner for the Lord. On Monday through Wednesday we are having Evangelist Scott Caudill who is also the president of Macdonia World Baptist Missions (our mission board when my family were missionaries). He is a really great preacher and singer. It will be an exciting week.
Of course, I will forewarn you. It happens every time. Whenever we have missions month, Satan fights tooth and nail. He does not like missions one bit, so he does everything he can to hinder your faith and stop you from going to the conference, being a witness, and giving by faith to missions. There will be physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, relational, financial, and other difficulties. We have seen families get sick, need a new car, and get a roof leak all because of missions month. Do not let this stop you from getting involved in missions. Determine that no matter what, you will be at your church's missions conference. Pray and seek the Lord's will on how much you will give by faith to missions. Then, when those missionaries come through, be a blessing and encouragment to them.
Even though their are difficulties along the way, I LOVE missions conference time.
After you read this, stop and pray for a missionary today...
In Christ,
Elisabeth Kristine
