"Tell me who a missionary is"

When I was in elementary school, I went every week to Good News Club. We sang a song there, “tell me who a missionary is, tell me what a missionary does, tell me where a missionary goes, tell me, tell me. . . Some are doctors, some can fly a plane, some help farmers grow a crop of grain, some learn other languages to be preachers, teachers” I loved hearing missionary stories, and reading missionary biographies. But I never thought I would be a missionary.

Now, I’m going to another country to share God’s love with street children. I’ll be one of those who “learn other languages to be . . . teachers”. I’m raising support and my prayer cards are on the refrigerators of many people.

And yet, I don’t think of myself as a missionary. In my mind, I’m not qualified to be a missionary. I feel like missionaries should be “super Christians”, Christians who are selfless, always have their priorities straight, and have powerful prayer lives. In my mind, missionaries are bold evangelists, eagerly sharing the good news of Jesus verbally. They spend their lives on the mission field. But me? I’m just a girl who loves Jesus, yes, but I have a long way to go in my walk with him. Unless someone asks me about my faith, I’m unlikely to broach the subject. And I’m just planning on spending 2 years in Colombia.

Of course, on one level, I know my assumptions about missionaries are wrong. There are no perfect people, and God uses us all, His works in progress, for His glory. But being a missionary seems like such a big responsibility, and it’s not a title I feel like I live up to.

I have a friend, (who incidentally is a missionary in Canada now, preparing to go to Indonesia) who was a Christian Ministries major, with a math minor when I met him in college. At the time he said we should all be Christian ministry majors first, followed by a minor in whatever. He didn’t literally mean we should all switch majors, and what he said stuck with me. As Christ-followers, whatever we are called to do should be done for Jesus (“and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men,. . . for you serve the Lord Christ” Colossians 3:23&24) God can, and will, get the glory for any act we do.

So, ultimately, when I’m in Colombia whether I call myself a missionary, or a volunteer, or simply a teacher at Luz y Vida school, doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I work with my whole heart, serving the Lord with dependence and humility, for His glory. And that will hold true for my whole life, no matter where I am and no matter what job I am doing. No matter what job title I have, I have the responsibility to be faithful with what God has given me, and my desire when I see Him is for Him to say, “well done, my good and faithful servant”.