What comes to mind when you first hear that someone is a missionary? The terms “Jesus freak” and “super Christian” are probably something that most people would come up with. That’s because most people often see missionaries as people who have their whole lives together, people who have most, if not all, of the Bible committed to memory, people who have 100% absolute faith in God and have no worries. Missionaries are seen as people who hear God’s calling and just up and move to the middle of nowhere to tell people about who Jesus is.

I know this because that is exactly what I used to think. But now, I’m going to tell you more about missionaries, what it means to be one, why you should be one, and how you can be a successful one.

1. Who?

Missionaries are not perfect people, they are not “super Christians” who have their whole lives together. The best definition I can give you is this: a person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity. The reason I believe that most people think that missionaries are the “Christian elite” is because they think of Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa was a one-in-a-Billion person who completely exceeds all of my expectations of humanity. She was not your average missionary, and not all missionaries should be compared to her.

Another extreme when people think of missionaries is the community at the Westboro Baptist Church. Unfortunately, they have been seen promoting Christianity in ways that have not had the most positive outcomes. For example, on June 12^th, 2016, Pulse Orlando, a gay nightclub, was the sight of a horrible mass shooting. On June 18^th, a few hundred people from the Orlando community and the surrounding area gathered together outside of the funeral for one of the victims. Their plans were to honor the victim and the other 48 dead, to hope for those injured, and to prevent anything that would disturb the family’s service.

Earlier that week, the Westboro Baptist Church had announced that they would be protesting the funeral in their usual manner, with signs saying things like “God H8s Fags.” Fortunately, in an act of selfless love, over a dozen people from the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre and community wore handmade angel wings and stood around the mourners to block the protests from the WBC.

The definition of a fanatic is: a person who is filled with excessive or single-minded zeal for an extreme religious cause. Due to their history of protests, I would call the Westboro Baptist Church community a group of fanatics, not missionaries. Fanatics often portray their cause in such a bold way that it ends up turning people away from the cause instead of attracting them, and that is what they have done.

Missionaries are people sent on a mission to promote Christianity. They’re people who share the gospel. They’re people who have problems. They’re people who have children. They’re people who laugh. They’re people who cry. They come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors.

These are two extremes that I find people think of when thinking of missionaries. Either you must be up for Sainthood like Mother Teresa, or you’re shouting hellfire and damnation on the sidewalk.

But here’s the thing: that’s not how this works.

2. What?

Being a missionary doesn’t mean being Mother Teresa. It doesn’t mean screaming at people on college campuses. It isn’t picketing the funerals of gay men with signs that say “God H8s Fags.” And it isn’t just going to a foreign country for a period to tell people who Jesus is and what he did for them.

Being a missionary is a lifestyle. It’s living on mission, it means sharing the gospel by words and actions.

Sharing the gospel by words means sharing Scripture with people. It’s sharing the accounts of Jesus’ life and his promises. It’s telling people the truth that we know, that Jesus is the only way to an eternity in heaven.

Sharing the gospel by actions means working on who you are as a person by being molded to be more like Christ so that you can physically show people who he is. My personal favorite attribute of God is love. Showing love is one of the greatest ways to share the gospel by actions. John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” While Jesus did lay his life down for us by dying for us, dying is not the only way, nor is it the usual way that God calls us to lay down our lives. Laying down your life means choosing to put others’ needs before your own and helping them.

There are so many types of missions, and it takes all different kinds of people, in all different stages of life to do them. For example, we have missionaries on our very own campus. A few of them are staff members for Campus Outreach, a campus ministry. The staff members are some of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life who have shown me what a missionary truly is.

The person who has impacted me the most is a woman named Stephanie Shadoan. She is many things: a staff member for CO, a Just Dance competitor, my small group leader, a wife, obsessed with Friends, my college “mom”, and a missionary. Every single day this woman shows me Christ-like love. She is not perfect, she has got her issues, but she sees the brokenness of the world and strives to share the gospel with the people God has called her to.

3. When?

Missionaries are people in all stages of life. As for the best time to be a missionary? Right now. You never know what life is going to bring and one day can make such a big difference in someone’s life. We have this amazing gift, this amazing freedom in Jesus. Why wouldn’t you want to share that with everyone you know?

People might argue that they cannot be a missionary by saying “I can’t take a year off” or “I just don’t have time to add another thing into my schedule.” Trust me, as a girl who just finished up a semester taking 16 hours (and tried to make good grades), holding an Executive Position in my sorority, and trying to balance my spiritual life and my friendships and everything else, I understand busy. BUT, I am still a missionary.

You don’t have to participate in the World Race, move to East Asia, or be a CO staff member! You don’t even have to add extra things to your schedule. You are where you are for a reason, and unless God is telling you to get up and go, you can do so much right where you are.

Here are some things you can do now!

• Get involved in your local church! Many churches go on weekend trips to places in the surrounding area to share the gospel.
• Eat! Most people eat 2-3 meals a day, some more. I try to make sure that I eat at least 2 meals with others. Getting food is something enjoyed by most, and it’s such a great entry way into getting closer to people to share the gospel with them. If you’re feeling adventurous, you might even try buying their food one week! I recommend food for when you’re just meeting someone, or you don’t know where they stand with God. But if you know them already and where they are then…
• Get coffee! The reason I don’t include this with eating is because I drink more coffee than water and I spend way more time at the Daily Grind (aka the best coffee shop in Statesboro) than I do eating. Getting coffee is good for two things: coffee and talking. It’s more of a conversational environment than eating because you’re not really stuffing food in your mouth.

Let God use you where you are, don’t go trying to change everything about your life when He’s put you there for a reason.

4. Where?

This is where people can sometimes get confused. You don’t have to go to a foreign country to be a missionary. Yes, that’s what most people think of when they think of mission trips, but I myself have gone on mission trips in the US!

There are so many options to go outside of the US and serve, but that’s not the only option. So if you’re saying “I can’t be a missionary because I want to stay in my hometown for the rest of my life,” rest assured. You can be a missionary anywhere. You can share the gospel anywhere, anytime, with anyone. This means you can be a missionary in that country that you’ve always wanted to go to, or you can be a missionary in your own home.

For example, this summer I am joining around 100 other college students in Daytona, Florida for Summer Leadership Project. SLP is an eight-week leadership conference where I will be working a full-time job while simultaneously going to nightly seminars where I will be growing in my personal walk with God, learning how to evangelize, and growing closer to the community that is there with me. We’ll also be practicing what we’re learning by going out onto the beaches and sharing the gospel with the people that we meet.

And while SLP is going to be awesome, you also don’t have to go there to be a missionary either. The best place to share the gospel is the place that you are in.

5. Why?

People who can help, should. This is pretty basic, right? I’m sure that most sane people would agree with this statement. If you are in the position to help someone, you should. It’s just simply being a good human. However, I’m not talking about the simple “keep the door open for the person behind you” help. I’m talking “get your hands dirty to dig others out of the dirt” help.

If you aren’t feeling called to be a missionary, I urge you to read the entire book of Revelation. It will literally change your world. But for time’s sake, let’s look at Revelation 20:15; it says, “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Now for me, that’s a pretty scary thought, being thrown into the lake of fire, but when I read that, it doesn’t make me fearful, it makes me sad. I’m sad for all the souls that won’t ever experience God’s love. I’m sad for all the people who won’t join their families in heaven. I’m sad for everyone that is going to spend eternity in fire. I don’t want that for anyone.

I’m so sad for these people because God is so good. I want them to experience His love like I have. I want their lives to be overflowing with the joy that He brings. I want them to find their true purpose, true satisfaction, true fulfillment. I don’t mean to make you fearful when I bring up Revelation 20:15, I mean to show you the reality of the lost souls and urge you to feel compassion for them. Pastor Steven Lee says it perfectly, “Sometimes we need hard and harsh words to wake us up… Sometimes the situation is too dire for gentle words.”

Just think about this for a second:

What if all you had to do to save someone from an eternity of fire was tell them about Jesus? (Now obviously, we can’t save anyone, only Jesus can do that, and I could go on forever about what I’ve learned about that, but I won’t… in this article.) So why wouldn’t you want to do everything you could to help save someone’s soul?

6. How?

If you’ve stuck with me thus far, you’re probably thinking “okay, yeah, that’s all good and wonderful. Now, how the heck do I do that?” Part 2 will be up soon, so read on in that :)