So I was unoriginal growing up. I wanted to be a doctor. My mother is a lawyer, so it made sense. Fast forward to one of my sixth grade classrooms, and you'd find me talking about wanting to be a missionary. Funny, I was the grown up talking about what I want to do when I grow up more. Inevitably one of the students wanted to know what a missionary does, and I was all too glad to talk about what I want to do. It's interesting how every year that vision becomes clearer and clearer, but it all began very simply.
I was at my church during a missions conference, and that's where I came to the realization that I would not be what I had thought. A very close friend has had a passion for Sudan for years. I don't remember the details, but before I knew it I was telling people that I wanted to live in Sudan for a few years and teach. Surely, a few years would be a noble stint... However, at the missions conference I realized that God was calling me to a lifetime, not a stint.
Now, there are two things I want to address: the term missionary and the idea of us all being ambassadors for Christ. I have never had a problem calling myself an aspiring missionary, until today. I'm not comfortable with many of the connotations associated with that term. Although there are many wonderful people who were missionaries, there were so many who used missions as a guise for exploitation and abuse. Like one of my favorite young adult ministry leaders says, I could park the car here, but I'm going to keep it moving. I think that emissary is the term I'm going to adopt to describe my calling. Here is a definition of the word. "an agent or messenger sent on a mission, esp one who represents a government or head of state" Some of you reading this already see it, but scripture makes it plain.
One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Luke 9:1-2
As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” John 20:20-21
But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized. Acts 8:12
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
2 Corinthians 5:19-20
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20 MSG
Emissary - "an agent or messenger sent on a mission, esp one who represents a government or head of state"
It's my desire to be sent on a mission to reconcile the lost to Christ and to disciple young believers, as a representative of the Kingdom of God.
I am already an emissary. You are an emissary, if you are a believer in Christ. We are all called to be Christ's ambassadors like 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 says. It's our duty to seek the Lord for our specific territory. Apartment buildings, office cubicles, crowded subways, and supermarkets are all mission fields. The calling comes with belief in Christ, because we have all been commissioned. We won't all move to foreign places to fulfill our calling of reconciling the lost to Christ, but some of us will.
The where for me wasn't clear at that missions conference, and even now I only know in part. Passions and interests burst on the scene seemingly out of nowhere. Then I take time to reflect, and I see how hints have been interwoven into the tapestry of my life. Sex trafficking, orphans, the Dalit, they all will play a role. Yet, somehow it doesn't seem like the where is the important part, only the heart behind the mission. And the heart is the most difficult part.
I was at my church during a missions conference, and that's where I came to the realization that I would not be what I had thought. A very close friend has had a passion for Sudan for years. I don't remember the details, but before I knew it I was telling people that I wanted to live in Sudan for a few years and teach. Surely, a few years would be a noble stint... However, at the missions conference I realized that God was calling me to a lifetime, not a stint.
Now, there are two things I want to address: the term missionary and the idea of us all being ambassadors for Christ. I have never had a problem calling myself an aspiring missionary, until today. I'm not comfortable with many of the connotations associated with that term. Although there are many wonderful people who were missionaries, there were so many who used missions as a guise for exploitation and abuse. Like one of my favorite young adult ministry leaders says, I could park the car here, but I'm going to keep it moving. I think that emissary is the term I'm going to adopt to describe my calling. Here is a definition of the word. "an agent or messenger sent on a mission, esp one who represents a government or head of state" Some of you reading this already see it, but scripture makes it plain.
One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Luke 9:1-2
As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” John 20:20-21
But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized. Acts 8:12
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
2 Corinthians 5:19-20
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20 MSG
Emissary - "an agent or messenger sent on a mission, esp one who represents a government or head of state"
It's my desire to be sent on a mission to reconcile the lost to Christ and to disciple young believers, as a representative of the Kingdom of God.
I am already an emissary. You are an emissary, if you are a believer in Christ. We are all called to be Christ's ambassadors like 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 says. It's our duty to seek the Lord for our specific territory. Apartment buildings, office cubicles, crowded subways, and supermarkets are all mission fields. The calling comes with belief in Christ, because we have all been commissioned. We won't all move to foreign places to fulfill our calling of reconciling the lost to Christ, but some of us will.
The where for me wasn't clear at that missions conference, and even now I only know in part. Passions and interests burst on the scene seemingly out of nowhere. Then I take time to reflect, and I see how hints have been interwoven into the tapestry of my life. Sex trafficking, orphans, the Dalit, they all will play a role. Yet, somehow it doesn't seem like the where is the important part, only the heart behind the mission. And the heart is the most difficult part.
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