Dear Soon-to-be Missionary,
Whether your desire to go has been slowly accumulating or your heart has recently been ignited to traverse across continents to tell others of the redemptive work of Christ … you’re going. You may or may not know where. You may not have more than a meager handful of answers for the millions of questions swirling in your mind about what to do next. But you’re on the brink of what feels like the beginning of your life.
There is a myriad of reasons that have lead you to taking up the role of a “go-er.”
You’ve seen the global needs of the lost and want them to know the love of Christ. You’re responding to the call to make disciples of all nations and have a longing to see God’s glory among tongues that have never spoken His Name. You have an indescribable love for the nations and a desire to do something remarkable for God’s Kingdom with your life. Or maybe you have a unique collage of all of the above, or like I said, a myriad of other reasons.
While all of these reasons are what got you to the field, they are not what will sustain you on the field. Week after week, month after month, year after year these reasons and drives will, like old building, be worn and torn by the elements of living in a foreign culture. Struggling with language daily, making cultural mistakes time and time again, being unable to hold down food, illness, discouragement, spiritual warfare, broken relationships, laziness, or homesickness will all try to persuade you to forget the zeal you once had, the needs of others, the reason why you went in the first place. They might even drive you to pack your bags.
It is only a deep love for Jesus that will sustain you when laboring overseas.
When you are utterly gripped by the greatness of a kind, intimate God that understands the toil of crossing cultures and does it alongside you, that is your eternal fuel. Cherishing the living God. The One who gives you the perseverance to study language, wisdom to be culturally sensitive, comfort in sickness, hope in spiritual darkness, power in His Name, radical love to reconcile, a fresh diligence to labor, and His Presence no matter where in the world you find yourself. The One who calls the lost from their brokenness into a radically new and abundantly forgiven life out of His inexpressible grace. The One who delights in “fishing for men” with His children. He is the only One who will sustain you across cultures and continents.
It is through an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ that you will be best filled to love those in your new cultural context. And Soon-to-be Missionary, that begins today. Before you step across foreign borders.
So, let’s jump off the ledge. Let’s daily dive into knowing, loving, and serving our powerful and gracious God that is for the salvation of the nations. He wants to use you as His messenger of good news … and He offers an intimate, 24/7 connection with Him that can start now.
And as you get ready to go, ask yourself, “Are you ready to be sustained on the field by Him?”