My heart for missions of all sorts is huge.
I dream daily about being in Haiti or being back with the gorgeous brown-eyed children in Costa Rica.
This has been a really convicting topic for me lately though. Growing up I thought that missionaries were only the people who went overseas to spread the name of Jesus. I heard stories of my family giving up everything and moving. This was missions to me as I was left in awe of their calling to be selfless. I just wanted God to call me to that too and He has.
I think that going on a international mission trip has become a trend in a sense among Christians. It has become "the thing to do" that I think we have forgotten that missions isn't just international. We don't have to go to a new land, a fresh culture apart from our own to share the name of Jesus.
A quote that made me think a lot that was spoken by a friend of mine: "If you aren't passionate about the Gospel where you live, you won't be passionate about it overseas."
Just imagine a back and forth slap to the face because thats what it felt like after I read that. If I'm not discipling others here, if I'm not talking about Jesus in my own community, if I'm not getting excited about loving and serving others in my own church, then how can I get on a plane and try to bring that to somewhere else. It starts at home.
Home isn't as adventurous as Costa Rica and as poor as Haiti, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a mission. It also doesn't mean that home is the "easier" mission field. My church's motto is "be missionaries where you live, work, and play". There is always a place and a time to be passionate about the Gospel where you are now. A really good place to start is while you are in a restaurant look around and think about the people around you. Do they know this love and this grace? Do they know that Jesus wants their heart and that he is wild about them? It begins to make you think a lot more about how needed that the Gospel is where you are. I know that as I did this a few nights ago that I could feel myself becoming uncomfortable because my heart knew what was need here and it was a tough realization.
Mission work isn't confined to just home or overseas, either or. It isn't about where you are but, what you are sharing. It is GREAT to go overseas, please do it at some point in your life if you haven't already, but also don't forget that before you leave and when you come home you have a mission.
