What is it about the M word?!

What is it about the "missionary" word?

Well for me a picture of a missionary used to look something like this....

A little lady, with her white hair pulled back neatly in a bun. She loves children, is soft spoken and sleeps in a hut in some far away land, perhaps Africa.

Oh my goodness - how wrong was I?!!!

It turns our the M word basically means " an act of sending" or "to send"... So that means a missionary is someone who is sent to serve in a different country than their own right?
WRONG!

Jesus said " ...as the Father has sent Me, I also send you" (John 20:21)

and

" .. . the harvest is truly great,but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. Go your way, behold I send you out...." (Luke:2-3)

Wow -so if we know Jesus as our saviour we have already been sent!

The truth is every christian is called to be a missionary. Just because some are burdened to serve in a foreign country (for a time or forever) does not make them less or more important. We are told to "GO and make disciples of all nations" (disciple- follower of Jesus)

So if you faithfully GO into your little office and tell and show the good news, you are being obedient to this great commission right? 
RIGHT because the christian life is all about living on a mission. For some it means leaving everything. For some it means staying right where they are already.

Sometimes missionary jargon makes people a bit uncomfortable.. it's just something about the term. Honestly I used to cringe when people asked " so what do you do?"
"I'm a m-mm-miss...volunteer!"
 The reality is from the moment I came to know the Lord I was told to GO... from that instant I was SENT OUT...  and SO WERE YOU!

Just in case you were like me and missed the point for a while.....
Do you know Jesus? Are you a lover of God  and the people He created?  Can you share the good news?
Then YOU ARE A MISSIONARY :)

My sister reminded me of a song today called "people need the Lord" Do they need Him living on a poverty stricken rubbish dump? Do they need Him living in a mansion? Do they need Him working in a factory, school, office or ____________ (fill in the blank)??
YES! YES! YES!!

There are hurting people everywhere. There are people who need the hope of our God everywhere. There are people who think they have it altogether and have a gaping hole in their heart everywhere.

As for what the actual mission can look like..... I think that's a whole other blog :)