1. For followers of Jesus, He has assigned us the job or task to proclaim the Gospel:
The Good News of His salvation to the ends of the earth. To really understand why we do missions we have to really understand the meaning of missions. The word mission means task, job, or assignment. In Mark 16:15 Jesus commands us to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel (good news) to all creation. Therefore, He is assigning us the task or job to share who He is and what He has done for us to all creation.
2. We are to be His witnesses
In Acts 1:8 Jesus says we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and we will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judaea, and Samaria. The word witness means to see something take place or profess that something is true. In the context of this verse Jesus was telling the disciples, they would proclaim what they had seen as eye-witnesses of Jesus’s life – not just in the places they were from but in faraway places as well. Some of us are called to stay in our hometown and work an everyday job while still sharing the love of Jesus and the Good News with the people around us. Meanwhile, others are called to leave their families and travel around the world to also share the love of Jesus. Either way, we are all called to live a life set apart from the world and proclaim to everyone around us who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
3. We are called to disciple all nations
In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commands us to “go into all nations and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” We are not just called to tell people about Jesus but we are called to teach the ways of Christ. Discipleship is a commitment. It means we are investing in a person or people and not just teaching them with our words; we are to be an example by the way we live
our lives. Personally, I have been a long-term missionary for 6 years. It’s not always easy and there are times it seems easier to get a “regular job”. I have learned that leaving my comfort zone and saying “yes” to the Lord is way better than anything I am sacrificing or giving up. I get to see someone hear about Jesus for the first time or encounter the Holy Spirit in a new way; to watch a new believer be transformed; to help a widow who has lost all of her loved ones receive a newly remodeled home. All of this is far more worth anything I have given up to be a long-term missionary/discipler.
I challenge you to take a moment and ask the Lord where He is calling you. For some, it might be to stay right where you are but to start sharing more with those around you. It could also look like starting a Bible study with your friends and mentoring one another. For some, it may look like giving 5 months of your life to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS) at Youth With A Mission (YWAM/JUCUM) where you get to know God on a deeper level and then make Him known in the nations. For others, it may look like moving to a foreign country where you fall in love with a new culture and people group. Whatever and wherever the Lord is calling you, I guarantee giving your yes and following the calling the Lord has for your life is so worth it!
The challenge
I challenge you to take a moment and ask the Lord where He is calling you. For some, it might be to stay right where you are but to start sharing more with those around you. It could also look like starting a Bible study with your friends and mentoring one another. For some, it may look like giving 5 months of your life to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS) at Youth With A Mission (YWAM/JUCUM) where you get to know God on a deeper level and then make Him known in the nations. For others, it may look like moving to a foreign country where you fall in love with a new culture and people group. Whatever and wherever the Lord is calling you, I guarantee giving your yes and following the calling the Lord has for your life is so worth it!
Some actions you can take: