The Mission

I remember when I was young, listening to some missionary stories in sunday school that sounded very much like horror stories. I came back home upset multiple times when videos were shown of cannibal tribes still existent in Brazil, and them talking about how we were all missionaries: "You are a missionary too, even though you're a child. You don't have to go to somewhere like this, you can talk about Jesus in your school, with your friends, everywhere you go." It was upsetting and it made me scared - do I really want to be a missionary if that is what it ultimately ends with? Becoming someone's meal?
On the other hand, I loved listening to the stories grannie told me, of her and grandpa leaving Ireland to come to the back of beyond in Brazil, with no electricity, in all sorts of rural regions where christianity had not yet reached. Grandpa would leave on his horse with nothing but his toothbrush and Bible for weeks - and grannie would stay at home, waiting, with 4 kids, getting on with her work, and with the feeling of a hole in her stomach that was only filled when grandpa came back, as she herself describes it. They worked together, they cared for a home, for seminaries, they talked about Jesus' love. The funny thing is, I never heard even one sermon, and yet they have always been examples I have wanted to follow - because their lives spoke so much louder than any words could have.
It was with disbelief that I realised that they, like the videos I saw in sunday school, were missionaries. That their stories, were missionary stories. But... I enjoyed them. They were different. I wanted to listen to these. My definition and view of 'mission' begun, then, a process of divine reformulation.
Reading a book by Eugene Peterson on pastors, he highlights a strange and, to me at the time, revolutionary concept that no profession as a Christian is any easier, and each one has their own struggles. Being a loving, self-sacrificing, ethical, just, faithful and righteous person is just as difficult in the church as it is in an office, lab or mission field. There are different benefits or responsibilities. but none is easier.
Jesus' great commission is not something which can be chosen if we take it on - being his disciple, believing and trusting in Jesus as our Saviour, has this as a necessary implication. One cannot be a disciple and not do as he instructed:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
(Matt. 28.18-20)

Being a missionary is not a choice that a christian may take on or not, but it is a natural consequence of full comprehension of God's love throughout history and the meaning of his sacrifice. If a hungry beggar finds bread in an endless source of bread, and knows that there is no less food if more people come, it is natural that he would tell all people he sees hungry where to get bread. As it is put by Brennan Manning in "Ragamuffin Gospel", the sharing the gospel is no more than a beggar showing the other where there is bread. And if the people that are told 'love your neighbour as yourself' are unable to share such joy, there is something very wrong.
But sometimes I would still wonder: But what about these people that are 'called' to go to different countries, different cultures? Isn't it easier for God to just get people that already live there to talk about his love? Afteral, they understand the culture FAR better than anyone from another place, wouldn't they be able to dialogue better with locals?
I spent some time in thought and here are a few things I have concluded on why being a missionary overseas has it's importance for those working in the mission field:

(1) Depending on God - Leaving your home, country and family is a tough job, regardless of the reason. It is an experience in which during multiple moments one might question if they did the right thing, because it can be very lonely feeling; you don't really understand the culture and language surrounding you, and it takes a while to build meaningful friendships which will be able to strengthen you in your new country. However, this is an amazing opportunity to deepen the trust and relationship with God. It is a moment you realise how easily and quickly you can lose all the people, things, places, that you love most and just how very alone and meaningless (when considering mundane aspects) you are to this world, and how fragile the construct of 'happiness' and 'fulfilment' are when based upon what our culture establishes. You find your meaning is not here on earth, and you seek all you have: your Faith.

(2) Depending on generosity - Most missionaries receive their support from people who freely give money to them, to help their work. Part of mission is learning to depend on one another, and giving feedback on your work - it is also an important aspect of those who stay behind and support the missionary, be it financially, be it in prayer. In an age of 'independence' it is revolutionary to be entirely dependent of your brothers and sisters, and it is a revolution to be a faithful - and joyful - giver that does not expect a benefit for themselves from it.

(3) Greater empathy - Having gone through the great struggle of beginning mission work in a foreign culture, you are more empathetic and understanding with other people in transition phases; it is a chance to be more loving unto people leaving their homes, without a family, etc. You understand the importance of hospitality, and of that honest and loving conversation. Also, the deepening of dependence in God brings a further understanding of his love - which you really, really want to be able to show appreciation for by sharing it.

(4) Understanding diversity - Suddenly, the way you think, many things you were taught during your life, are tossed in the bin. The meaning of words, expressions and actions; what is normal, what is beautiful all have new meanings to the people you are in contact with. The feeling of "homelessness" when seeing such a relativisation taking over so many things makes you understand how diverse the world is, and allows you to see how Christianity stands in relation to other cultures. You learn to see other cultures under a different light, and to see the people beyond the culture.

(5) Understanding the meaning of Jesus leaving his 'home' - You miss lots of people and lots of things. Some days are worse than others, but as you come to think of it realise that this is just a faded image of what Christ did for us:

"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me" 

- John 6.38

"He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!" 

- Philippians 2.7-8

Leaving the side of the Father, taking on a very nature that was not his own, and dying. It is the origin and the very reason why we are called to mission, and many even to martyrdom. Teaching us to understand and value that which has already been done.


The truth is, I do not know what it is like to be a missionary in the full meaning of the term - all I speak is from observation of the many missionaries surrounding me, and from my own attempt to live mission in my daily life, but these were the things that helped me understand a bit better why it's so important and why so often it has this not particularly logical format that causes people to relocate their entire lives to other cities, countries or continents to share Christ.
Maybe, on the long run, when done correctly and fully all these things happen: when we realise that even our 'homes' are not home, and our 'cultures' are not ours in light of the Kingdom that is yet to come.