WHAT IS A MISSIONARY?

All Christians are called to participate in missions, but this doesn’t make all Christians missionaries. Of the people in the Antioch Church in Acts 13, only Paul and Barnabas were sent as missionaries.

We can go abroad to find out if we are called to missions. We can travel, work, or even serve in other countries, but these things alone don’t make us missionaries.

A missionary is someone whose vocation takes him or her across cultures to make disciples. Christians who live and work cross-culturally but do not have a driving intent to make disciples are not missionaries. 

In contrast, professionals and business people, who look nothing like traditional missionaries but live cross-culturally to make disciples through their work, are missionaries. We call them bivocational missionaries or tentmakers after Paul, who used his day job stitching tents as a way to share the good news about God. 

Make no mistake: missionaries are ordinary people. The call to missions doesn’t mean God needs to burn a bush or tear open the heavens to call us. Any of us can be called to missions. But not all of us are. At the end of the day, the call must start with God and be followed up by our response.

Speaking of Paul, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 reminds us that God calls us–the weak, foolish, and humble nobodies of the world–to demonstrate His wisdom and power. This means the call to missions isn’t about us, whether we feel qualified or look the part. It is about the One who calls. 

From beginning to end, the story of the Bible points to the missionary heart of God. God’s own Son left His home in heaven and entered our world to rescue a broken, sinful people for Himself. So it is Christ, the missionary God, who inspires and summons us to join Him in His mission.

If you feel called to be a missionary or want to learn more about bivocational missions, contact us at info@goliveserve.org.