Why I Go on Mission Trips: A Biblical Warrant
Embarking on my first two mission trips in 2004 to Peru and Kenya, I didn’t really know a lot about world missions. I had a feeling I should be involved, and I knew missions were important, but I wasn’t exactly sure why.
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A book I had read made me want to go to Africa, and that was my real impetus…that, and a feeling that missions were important and that I should be involved. I didn’t know a whole lot other than those few things. However, I slowly began to understand that world missions had a biblical warrant, a reason behind them, and it was powerful, strong, and clearly on the pages of the Bible.
As I headed to Kenya, I was in the midst of reading Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper. It had been recommended for my Peru trip, and I was still trying to finish it. Through this book, I began to understand a little bit more about the biblical mandate for missions.
Way back in Genesis, God met with Abram (Abraham) and promised him a mighty nation as his family legacy. Through this legacy, God not only intended to bless Abraham, but all the nations (or peoples of the earth) through him:
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
–Gen 12:1-3
From the very beginning, God’s plan was not just for Abraham’s people (Israel), but for all people. God wanted to bless all the peoples of the earth through this one man and his family.
God called Abraham to leave his land, his home, and his heritage to set out for a foreign land, one he had never known. God asked Abraham to trust that he had a plan to use him. Abraham didn’t know how God would use him, but he followed. He went to where he was called.
Abraham didn’t know what God even meant when he said he would bless him and turn him into a great nation. And how could he know what God meant by saying all the peoples on the earth would be blessed by him? What a great calling, and yet, what great faith it required as well.
When we go on missions, we don’t know exactly what we will be doing or how it will turn out, but we trust and we move out in faith. We know that God will bless others through our work and that we too will be greatly blessed in the process. Maybe you haven’t yet experienced this. When you do, your time will leave you changed. God intends to work through us and in our lives when we step out in faith, when we follow where he calls us, when we go to lands we haven’t known before.
Ultimately, all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through Abraham, because Jesus Christ would be one of his descendants. Jesus would be an offspring of Abraham’s, and he would be the one who would give the ultimate blessing to the nations. God’s story moved through Abraham and his people culminating in Christ, who purchased freedom for his people through his death and resurrection. It’s what Christ endured and who he was that brought the blessing. Then, after Christ, God’s story continues through his followers as they share about Jesus and carry on that blessing to other peoples: all the peoples of the earth.
What has been your experience with world missions? How else has God called you to step out in faith in your life?
Read the next post in this series: Answering the Call
Read the previous post in this series: Traveling Out of My Comfort Zone
Read a similar post: A Vision of Beauty
GET YOUR FAMILY'S FAITH LIFE MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Want to get consistent sharing Jesus with your family and know it's making a difference? This 6 Faith Habits to Consistency checklist will give you quick ideas to steadily point your family to Jesus' amazing love.
GET YOUR FAMILY'S FAITH LIFE MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
So far the Lord has only put it on my heart to step out in faith to attend retreats. Much like missions, you often don’t know why you’re being called, what work the Lord will do unto you while you’re there, or how it will affect you and others long after you leave. What a beautiful thing! I so look forward to the day I receive that calling to go on a world mission!
I’m so glad you did go on that retreat! I know that anytime we follow God somewhere we haven’t been before, he uses it. The more we do step out in faith, the stronger our faith grows as a result. It’s definitely a process!
Thank you, Keeley, for your reflection on world missions. I think the “not knowing” is often the hardest obstacle when deciding to go on a mission trip. There are so many things we can’t control when we decide to go to a part of the world that is new to us. The “what ifs” often cause us to worry. Worry over the unknown turns into, “I wish I could go, but…” Anxiety over the unknown isn’t the only reason that keeps us from going on mission trips, but it is, I think, for many of us the main reason.
Instead of the unknown stopping us from taking a step of faith, it can actually empower us to live by faith. Just think of it this way, whether or not we ever go on a mission trip, our lives are filled with the unknown. If we think we’re somehow safer by staying where things are familiar to us, we’ve been fooled by a mirage. Life is constantly introducing us to the unknown. Whether or not we’re mere miles from home, or thousands of miles from home, our lives are always changing. That we think we have ultimate control over those changes is another way of saying that we believe things will remain just as they are–as we prefer them to be. That’s a mirage!
Deciding to go on a mission trip empowers us to live by faith. It compels us to put the unknown into the hands of God, trusting that, whether at home or far away, he knows best how to lead and guide us through the chances and changes of our lives.
David, what great points about “not knowing” and worrying about “what if.” How beautifully you’ve said everything! I really like how you make me stop and think, even now, about how safe I do feel at home and how “known” everything seems. I definitely think stepping out, like you said, empowers us to live more and more by faith in our day to day life, because we get to see God’s faithfulness in bringing us through an experience that is unknown and perhaps even scary.