How do you know if missions are for you?

[rodsorp]

Just wanted to know the answer from people who have done it. Ive been thinking about doing it for a couple years and I think Im ready to try. Also just tell me about your experiences and how you felt afterwards.

 

[upamountain]

Mission is for everyone in some shape or form. Going somewhere doesn't make you a missionary. You won't do any good somewhere else if you aren't serving where you are now.
My experience: I first came here for 4 weeks, came back for a year, everything went very wrong but I still knew this was where God wanted me to be, so I've been back here now in this (sensitive) part of the world for nearly 3 years. If it's right for you, you won't be able to do anything else.

 

[evelyn3]

We are all called to missions in some way or another. I felt called to the missions field and struggled with the decision to go for about five years. During that time I went on 3 short term trips, and that helped me a lot in making the decision. I served in Russia, and can say that God did a lot of work in me during my seven years there. He healed me of some old stuff, tested my faith in the fire, convicted me of sin.

The best advice I can give you is keep praying about this, and start taking action. You aren't committing yourself to going anywhere, but start contacting agencies, talking with missionaries. The most important thing to have clear is what kind of ministry would you do, and are you equipped to do it? If there is something similar you can do here, then do it. The experience will help wherever you end up.

I agree with the previous poster: if it is God's will for you, you won't be able to do anything else. Many blessings to you!

 

[colorblindlover]

Hello there!

Well, I knew I enjoyed missions (note: I have only been on short-term trips, but would like to do some longer term trips as well) only after going on a trip.

I had an interest in other cultures since my church is culturally and ethnically diverse, and so is the area around where I live. I had this game I played in my head, trying to guess people's countries of origin. I just love culture!

My first trip was to Costa Rica, and I loved it! Part of the excitement is learning a new language, seeing how different people live in other parts of the world, and the beautiful surroundings.

If you enjoy those types of things, then missions might be something to try.

My second trip was a bit different. I went to Haiti this year, and we actually developed some relationships with the kids we visited and even some other people from the States who worked at a school we stayed at. This brought another aspect of missions to mind: loving people.

A lot of the kids were orphaned because of the earthquake, but the pastors and caretakers were so in love with taking care of these kids, making sure that they grew in a relationship with Christ and had dreams of a successful future. One older teen boy was struggling to get a visa to go to college in the states, just so he could be a teacher back in Haiti.

Missions is not just something to do because you enjoy culture, but also because your heart goes out to people in need. Whether that's physical need or spiritual... missionaries often offer both. They might be a medical missionary, or a missionary and a counselor (which is what I want to do).

Like I said, though, the way to know if missions is for you is to go on a short-term trip (that preferably isn't a glorified vacation). That way you are learning to raise money (most long-term missionaries have to raise their own money), learning about other cultures, learning about yourself (whether you like all the hard work) but if you find out you don't like it, you're back home within a week or two.

 

[rodsorp]

What do you mean I wont be able to do anything else?

Mission is for everyone in some shape or form. Going somewhere doesn't make you a missionary. You won't do any good somewhere else if you aren't serving where you are now.
My experience: I first came here for 4 weeks, came back for a year, everything went very wrong but I still knew this was where God wanted me to be, so I've been back here now in this (sensitive) part of the world for nearly 3 years. If it's right for you, you won't be able to do anything else.

 

[colorblindlover]

What do you mean I wont be able to do anything else?

What I think they meant was that if God's desire is for you to be a missionary, He will orchestrate people and events in your life to give you the opportunity to be a missionary. Whereas someone who God wants to be a lawyer in their home country and give Him glory that way, would probably not have a lot of events and people put in his or her path to nudge them toward being a missionary.

You CAN do something else if you want to; He never infringes on your free will. But if your desire and His desire match up, which seems to be the case, then you have a greater potential for being a missionary. You will have to be determined to go and have faith in God to direct you in that path.

 

[talitha]

Just wanted to know the answer from people who have done it. Ive been thinking about doing it for a couple years and I think Im ready to try. Also just tell me about your experiences and how you felt afterwards.

rodsorp,
There is an "afterwards"?
I am a missionary, long term, living here in Honduras for just over two and a half years and counting. I just returned from a quick Christmas trip to the states (12 days), and, well, I am glad to be home! I love my family and friends in the States, but I know (even more after the visit) that my husband and I are supposed to be here. How do I know? Partly because I feel that this is my home, that I didn't go "home" for Christmas, but that I came home after visiting loved ones in another country for Christmas. Nathan and I came to Honduras to help another couple who had been here for a while, but soon after we came, they left, and we asked God - so, is our time up here? and we felt strongly that it wasn't. But we were sort of out of a job, so we spent some time seeking God for what to do. And Nathan ended up working with some kids in a poor area of the city, teaching them carpentry skills, and I ended up teaching in a fairly privileged bilingual school. One thing that I think is important is to find out what you have to offer, and if and where what you have to offer might be of use. My husband is a very hands-on type guy, and that type of missionary seems to be a rare bird anymore. If you can fix things, build things, or administer medicine, or if you can teach a marketable skill, that is something that is needed, especially in this part of the world. We both have done ministry in churches, but that is not necessarily what we are here for. I hope to move in the direction of ministering to missionaries -- it seems that I am beginning with my husband..........

I served in Russia, and can say that God did a lot of work in me during my seven years there. He healed me of some old stuff, tested my faith in the fire, convicted me of sin.

SIDE NOTE: When were you in Russia? I was there, but just for two three-month stints, and I fell in love with that nation and those people.....

The most important thing to have clear is what kind of ministry would you do, and are you equipped to do it? If there is something similar you can do here, then do it. The experience will help wherever you end up.

AMEN, SISTER!

blessings all around
tal

 

[Manofheart777]

It's not about if it feels good or if it's for you. It's the difference of are you really willing to give yourself to serve Jesus or not. Jesus didn't send out the 12 disciples into the world right away. First he told them to the towns and villages in Judea, but then later, he sent them out into the world. God will establish you as you faithfully live out your life of faith, focusing on what God wants you to do in your day to day life. And at the right time, this is how your life should eventually go. Hopefully first, you will marry someone who will also serve God absolutely like you. Then with this kind of faith, he can use your family to do something really great, or maybe just you, if your not already married. I hope this kind of talk helps. I am training to be a full-time missionary. Right now, I am doing campus ministry, then eventually, I will marry one of the shepherdesses and we will start a house church. Then from there, I will probably be sent to another country. Let the Gospel have power in your life and darkness will be removed, and you will begin to see why God created you..

 

[rodsorp]

Thank you everyone for their response. If any of you didn't choose to serve him like this do you think you would ever be happy doing anything else?

 

[Manofheart777]

Jesus said, to me, give me your yoke, take my yoke, it is light. The one thing I could not give up is not knowing why I am here, what to do, where I came from, or where I am going. Not knowing who I am is scary and I would never take that life back. It's hard because I had to give up a lot to see Gods grace clear enough to see what he wanted me to do. Luckily God helped me the whole way. But if I just did whatever I wanted, a heavier burden I would have to lift.

Also, my life has meaning. But in my old life, I did whatever I wanted, I got whatever I wanted, women, drugs, video games, but it was a meaningless life that was coming to nothing. I wanted something greater. I knew God created me for greatness, but I just poured out my energies and the meaningless things of the world, and I was wasted. So I can't imagine going back. Now that God has opened my eyes to these things, it's a scary thing to me to think that I might become like that again.

Also, having God in my life is really fun and exciting. Everything I do has new meaning in my life. Before, just doing my laundry was so burdensome to me that I would have to do drugs just to find any happiness in doing it. But now, just doing laundry has such great meaning in my life, because it's not for me anymore, but Jesus is glorified, and it is used for his mission purpose upon my life. That's the nature of this new life. I call this salvation.

 

[upamountain]

Thank you everyone for their response. If any of you didn't choose to serve him like this do you think you would ever be happy doing anything else?

I could have gone back to a similar job back home, got a promotion, moved to a bigger house, carried on having foreign holidays and changing my car every few years. But I think God would have made it uncomfortable for me and kept prodding in different ways to get me out of my comfort zone and serving him somewhere else.
Ask yourself if you are honestly serving God in the best way possible where you are now. Maybe you are - and maybe that's what you're meant to be doing.
But if God places an area/people group on your heart then you will want to be there ministering to them. If I went back 'home' then I would want to find ways of reaching the same groups of people that I'm working among now. I "couldn't" go back to a normal day job and doing a bit of Sunday School teaching it would seem like I was running away from what God wanted and abandoning the people I have come to love so much.
BTW, talk to people who know you well about what you are thinking - and expect the process to take some time (unless you just want to do a month's mission trip which can be arranged at relatively short notice).
Praying that God will lead and guide you clearly.

 

[wgooden]

This has been a great thread. Full of wisdom and great insight. Thank you to all the career missionaries and short term missionaries. Your comments find a warm spot in my heart. I have been kicking around an idea for a couple of years to help indigenous people with a trade. I had tried to get in with some missionaries in Haiti, but found a lot of resistance and red tape ... yes, from the missionaries!! So, I wait and pray. Hoping that one day I can take this vision or idea to the place God would have me serve. I have been a career Pastor for 30 years and the last 5 years working on this plan for the next step of our lives. Thanks again.

 

[upamountain]

I had tried to get in with some missionaries in Haiti, but found a lot of resistance and red tape ... yes, from the missionaries!!

Well, I'm sorry you met so much resistance and red tape. It happens.

Sometimes this is done deliberately by organisations to 'test' someone's calling. The benefits of this are debatable... but at the same time sending someone out who lives an ungodly life (for example) can wreck the foundational work that has gone on patiently for many years. And sending someone who is unprepared or without a firm understanding of their own beliefs can be very damaging for them. (The former, I hope would not apply to you, the latter shouldn't with your experience...)

Sometimes it's because of restrictions and difficulties put there by the govt of the country you are intending to minister in.

If it really is the Lord's will for you to go somewhere, you'll get there if you keep pushing doors. Praying that the Lord will lead and guide you...

 

[talitha]

wgooden, you sound like just the kind of person that is really needed in the mission field. I find there are too many people who "feel" called and who are young and cute and maybe play the guitar, but not enough people who have experience in something and a real desire to work. haha, I am not sure completely I fit in either category, but my husband does!

 

[wgooden]

thanks to both of you for your kind words.

 

[oddchild]

Thank you everyone for their response. If any of you didn't choose to serve him like this do you think you would ever be happy doing anything else?

i don't think it would be so easy for me. I don't think there should be a "normal" we should be reaching out to people wherever we are.

More and more going to the States feels like going to the foreign country.

But as far as going on a short term trip... Be careful, lots of them are just touristic based and won't give you much of an experience. Go, and focus on taking the time to get discipled by a veteran.

 

[Manofheart777]

I have been kicking around an idea for a couple of years to help indigenous people with a trade. I had tried to get in with some missionaries in Haiti, but found a lot of resistance and red tape ... yes, from the missionaries!! So, I wait and pray. Hoping that one day I can take this vision or idea to the place God would have me serve. I have been a career Pastor for 30 years and the last 5 years working on this plan for the next step of our lives. Thanks again.

This reminds me of a story I heard from my own shepherd/Missionary who has been raising me up in missions. He said that when he was being raised, he knew that he would eventually be sent to some other part of the world (he is from Korea) and so when the time came, when he matured and it was obvious that it was time, they asked him where he wanted to go and they gave him some options. The thing about it was, it was a very scary thing because anywhere he went, he would start his new family on the mission field, and he knew that it was too big a thing for him to choose. He tried to choose. First he choose China. He was Korean so it wasn't such a bad choice you can imagine for a Korean. But when he slept on it many nights, he realized that he had some hidden motives why he wanted to go. It was not completely pure, and because of this, he knew there was some worldliness and sense of self and so thereby Satan was involved, trying to pull his strings. Of coarse he trusted in God, but he was no fool and couldn't stand to think if something was to happen to them, not only he, but his wife and his family would have to suffer also. So he changed his mind. I asked him what the hidden motive was. He said, at first his didn't completely know it was there, it wasn't so clear. But then after he thought about it and thought about it, he realized that it had to do with his collage major, and he wanted to do more study in the area he was studying, and China would be the great opportunity. So he said, he wanted to follow God, not his own way. So he choose another place, Australia. But again he saw there was hidden motives. He said, it was close enough to Korea so it was easy for him to choose that. So he looked at some more places, but he said, every place he choose, some hidden motive would come up and he found that simply, it was too great of a thing for him to choose. Then he realized, the only way he could be completely free from the burden is if he doesn't choose at all. Simply he thought, if I just let others choose and trust in God, then whatever happens in that country, will not be on his hands, but simply he can take all things as coming from God and simply live a life of faith before God. So sure enough, he asked his organization to choose the place that needs him. Funny thing, they choose America, but they didn't know if he was needed in Minnesota or California. So eventually they came back to him and asked him. He said he never wanted to come to America. He said he didn't like the idea because it was so far and he said, it was like going to some desert were it was going to be different and he was just a country boy in Korea, so he had no desire to live busy American life, it was too different for him. But this is how he knew it was from God, it had nothing to do with him anymore. So when they asked him what state, he already decided that he would not choose, so he said first they sent him to Chicago. He didn't know any English and he was miserable. But he said, this is where training became experience. Then they ended up sending him to Downey California, in the LA basin Area. He stayed there for about 10 years in the 90's then he started a him Church in the South Bay area in LA. He has been raising me up since 2008 and eventually I'll become a missionary also. But one thing I learned from that story about making any decisions in God is never complaining about anything that happens in mission life, but simply except that I don't wrestle with man or situations, but I wrestle with God, so I can come to him and trust him in all matters, and allow him to lead me. At least I know, when it's him and not me, I can have the assurance that whatever may happen, God doesn't make mistakes, and he created me and he knows me, so there is no mistake, so I can come to him and allow him to do his work in my life. This is clear direction for me in every circumstance. So take heart, he has overcome the world, surly God has in mind what he wants you to do. He created you and he has put you where your at, and he knows what he wants you to do. The part he loves to see is when we struggle to come to him like children to be taught by him and to come to find who we are and who he created us to be. Jesus said, for the Father loves the Son and is well pleased to show him all he does. Don't ever stop trying to learn our fathers business. Jesus said Go, and make disciples. Go means, not to stay some place and settle in the world, no but GO! If you knew, that you will not die, but you would be raised to life and live forever, what would you do with your little life here? How would you live? Theirs only one direction.. GO!!

Much love..

 

[evelyn3]

What I meant about not being able to do anything else is that any other option I considered, such as trying to find another job in my profession or going back to school, didn't seem to be the right path. When I prayed over these options, they all seemed to be closed doors.

 

[evelyn3]

Tal, To answer your note:

SIDE NOTE: When were you in Russia? I was there, but just for two three-month stints, and I fell in love with that nation and those people.....


I served in Russia from 1994-2001. I saw so many changes and God did so many amazing things. One sad lesson was how so many missionaries did a good job alienating people from the gospel, as in standing on the street corners shouting that people were all going to hell. I'm not going to comment on the effectiveness of that kind of ministry except to say it showed a complete lack of understanding of the Russian culture, and how matters of the soul need to be discussed over time and in depth, not dealt with in a snap decision on a street corner. Much better to show people the love of Christ before trying to get them to confront their own sin.

 

[Manofheart777]

One sad lesson was how so many missionaries did a good job alienating people from the gospel, as in standing on the street corners shouting that people were all going to hell. I'm not going to comment on the effectiveness of that kind of ministry except to say it showed a complete lack of understanding of the Russian culture, and how matters of the soul need to be discussed over time and in depth, not dealt with in a snap decision on a street corner. Much better to show people the love of Christ before trying to get them to confront their own sin.

There was a ministry named John the Baptist ministries who would just pop up on the collage campus that our ministry had been working hard to pioneer about 6 or 7 times a semester. We where working hard to teach collage students the Bible on our campus, most of us about 10 students a week, some 20 and some only a few. Then this ministry would come on our campus with signs that said "HELL" with big red fiery letters, and it seemed like they where specifically aiming at certain groups of students. Because of this, many people would be blown away from Bible Studies. So I asked my Shepherd what was happening and he showed me some deep Spiritual insights on how Jesus operates his ministries. He said first he gathers the worst sinners to send to the sinful world, to do such an important task that actually, no one is worthy to do or even able to do. He said, this is called the work of God. He said, it is called the work of God because it is not the work of humans. Simply, humans cannot do it, but in his eyes, it is so cute to see little children try to praise him with the little that they have and that they struggle to do it for him. So he uses everything we do for him powerfully. They offer their lives and God does the work. Then he told me how this kind of ministry that carries the message of fire is actually doing a very important and powerful work. He said, it prepares the spiritual environment so that more hearts may be ready for the gospel of Gods love. He said, many winds blow, and students will be blown away from Bible Study. But God is looking for faith, and God is continuously working and so many different ways. All we can do is humbly do what God wants us to do, and co work with him in his great salvation work, and remain teachable all the time. This is how Jesus operates his ministry. People should really be like Tamar, who did not consider the blessing of the Lord as such a small matter, but even dressed herself up as a prostitute and slept with her father in law so that she might inherit the blessing of the Lord, and she was even added into the genealogy of Jesus the Christ and it was accredited to her as faith. These people are the people God is looking for. He said, all the Gospel workers are working the message of the gospel in many different ways, preparing the spiritual environment for the work of God to go on. So actually the wind might have blown a few away, but many more are being prepared for his massage. He said, everyone is different. Some people need to hear about Jesus love and grace and mercy. Those people, will know Gods love and mercy. Some people can only be gotten by the warning of Gods judgment and by fear and fire. So there are people who can only be gotten by that message. He also showed me how the message of death, hell and judgment is part of the good news of Jesus Christ. For some this is hard to believe. But yeah, some people have lived sacrificial lives there whole lives and watched many take advantage of them, but still they humbled themselves and gave and lived good lives. Or maybe they had a lot of family that they worry about. To them, this message of judgment is really good news. And some people never knew fear, and so they lived meaningless crazy lives living trashy lives. So when they heard the message of judgment, they experienced a sense of freedom, that they had a heavenly father who did love them and was willing to discipline them and cared for what they do. This is the way those people come to experience Gods love so that they may live right before their God, This brought reverence in their lives and they came to have a different quality about their life. So the message of judgment was very important and it needs to be proclaimed even at the cost of many being blown away. It prepare the environment for Gods salvation work. Sure enough our ministry is growing exponentially, and I can see how God has been using them, attacking these darker areas of our campus. Before I was confused about that message, but now I thank God for them. Nobody likes to hear that message of judgment. It's like a sharp sword dividing the heart. But when I think back on my Christian life, honestly, the message of judgment played one of the biggest roles in my salvation. It was really the beginning of wisdom for me. Some people get mad because sinners are the ones proclaiming this message. But I just think, if sinners cannot receive the message from others sinner, how then can they receive from a righteous person? Also the fear of the Lord can be a refuge for many who fear the world. Some people are so afraid of the world, their circumstances and their lives, the way they live, weather people like them, they fear their loved ones or what's going to happen to them. People are so afraid of so many things in this world, that they live in a cage inside of them. But, when they really come to fear God in day to day lives, then they can come out of their cage be free from the fear of this world, and they come to experience deep peace in their lives because the fear of God. So the fear of God can be a blessing to many people. So as a conclusion, the message of Hell is apart of the good news of Jesus Christ and can be salvation to many.

I also learn that a lot more is going on than what I can see. When people come in Jesus name, and they do many things in Jesus name, God uses those things. Actually God uses all things good and bad to bless those who love him in all circumstances. When we see something that doesn't make sense to us, we need to meditate on Jesus, and who he is to see what it is or why it is that these things happen. Then we can co work with him effectively, and continually grow up as sound effective Children of God even humble enough to learn from little children.