If it is possible for mission trips to have a #season, then that time would be now. It seems like every other picture on my Instagram feed is another guy or girl making Jesus known in dark and hopeless places.
And that is so awesome. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way putting down the importance of missions because it is so necessary to reach “all nations” as commanded in the Great Commission by Jesus Himself. Followers of Christ are literally called to “go”, and to all of my friends and people tasked by God with the incredible opportunity to be a tangible example of Matthew 28, I am so ecstatically happy for you and am praying for The Lord to surely move in these places.
But for those of us spending the next summer months at home or in the classroom or in an office building, it can easily feel like we have little impact, influence, and purpose. Comparison in the church is all too common, leaving the ones of us who didn't go on the church mission trip this year or spend their summers at camps feeling like they are somehow not as good of a Christian.
Hear me on this, though: As Christians, our mission field is not just the nations. It’s also your next-door neighbor, the girl you sit by in class, the guy you always see at the grocery store. In Acts 1:8, just before Jesus is taken into heaven, He commands His disciples to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, otherwise known as the city, province, and country in which they resided.
It doesn’t just say to make Jesus known in the faraway lands, it also commands the disciples to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, which would’ve been the closest thing they had to a hometown.
1 Peter 4:10 says, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." He doesn’t say to serve one another, “only overseas,” or “only in the darkest and scariest corners of the earth.” We are called to use our God-given gifts for His glory regardless of location and position.
Matthew 28:19 says to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Not only the faraway nations. Not only third world or impoverished countries. The bible says all countries, and that includes your own. It does not matter if you are in China or in a town with ten first Baptist churches, all the Lord cares about is that there are broken and desperately lost people in those places and in every place in need of someone to point them to the light.
Going a step further, your current location is not by accident. Proverbs 16:4 says that “The Lord has made everything for its purpose.” You are where you are right now because it is where you are supposed to be in order to best make His name known.
As I said before, missions and mission trips are life-changing and incredible and I believe we are all called to make God known in every nation. But we cannot fail to neglect the mission field right in front of us either. We should live every day, no matter how mundane or ordinary, like it is a mission and charge from The Lord with salvation and eternal life on the line. Because it is.
Jesus' disciples and members of the early church did not sit and wonder if they were where they were supposed to be. They didn't wake up some days and think, "Well, today is just another day, no need to go share the good news of Jesus with people today." No, they were deliberate in sharing and spreading salvation no matter how many times they had been on that street corner or seen that person. They knew that they were there solely for the purpose of doing their very best to share Jesus with every person they came into contact with.
Your mission field is here and it is now and it is right in front of you. Jesus is saying to go. It doesn’t matter if your “go” is a ten-hour plane ride or a ten-minute walk down the street. Go, and make His name known.
