ROSE WRITES: Being a Christian, I know that I’m called to be involved in the global spreading of God’s gospel (Matt. 28:19-20). But being a teenager, I know that I can’t go overseas long-term right now. I also know that at this point I’m not called to go overseas long-term anyways. But how can I get involved in world missions from here at home? I know I can pray and support my church, but what else?
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As a Christian you are called to spread the gospel and be faithful wherever you are. So don’t neglect the unbelievers you know now. And don’t neglect the church here, they need you to encourage them.
The other thing is that when you aren’t a “goer” you need to be a sender. So give, pray and encourage so that the goers be fruitful.
Hope this helps!
Keep up with your church’s missionaries and consider writing to them (e-mail etc.) and developing a relationship with them. Learn about their field (I write to a missionary in Ireland–that is an extremely difficult place). Be an advocate for missions in your church or youth group and get other people motivated to be involved.
I would highly recommend a book called A Mind for Missions by Paul Borthwick (you can find it on CBD, etc.). It is full of great suggestions for how to get involved right now from home. Some of the topics he covers are knowing the Scriptural basis for missions, keeping up with current events in light of missions, prayer, reading, giving, overcoming ethnocentricity, short-term missions trips, helping make your church more aware of and focused on missions, giving, developing relationships with missionaries, and lifestyle choices. Here’s one example from the book:
1. Choose one city as your focus. Pray for it and learn as much as you can about it. Start a file of information about it and articles you read about it. 2. Contact a Christian ministry working in that city and become more familiar with its work. 3. If there is no direct work in that city, find out which missions agencies broadcast Christian radio programs into that city. 4. Pray for and seek to meet someone, like an international student, from that city or country. 5. Find out the names of political leaders in that city and pray for them by name. 6. Seek to understand more about urbanization and why it is happening. 7. If you can contact a church or ministry in that city, find out about a few individuals you can specifically pray for. 8. Consider financial involvement in a ministry or church related to that city. 9. Encourage others in your church or small group/youth group to pray with you for that city. 10. Pray, plan, and save for a possible visit to that city in the future.
Hope this gives you some ideas! 🙂 ~Anna
That is a good suggestion to seek out meeting an international student. It may be more common for university students to come from a different country, but I know high schoolers do it too. I was at a conference recently, and they said that God has been answering our prayer for open doors to the Middle East in sending hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern students to schools in North America. By sharing the gospel with them, you could be indirectly influencing their family and friends back home, too!
I totally agree with what Anna and Okie said. Start planning and preparing. Take the time to figure out where you want to go and which people group you want to serve. Find your strengths and weaknesses, are you good at speaking? love children? maybe you’re good at physical labor. Start exploring the possibilities. What is God calling you to do exactly? This will take a lot of prayer and research, but God will help you through every step of the way if it’s in His will. 🙂 Good luck!
I appreciate your desire to do global mission work, yet I am concerned with your belief is that you have to go so where else to share Christ. What is more important: sharing Christ to your neighbor or traveling around the world to share Christ? Work the harvest in your own world where God has planted you. The people here in America are suffering a famine of truth. You are vitally needed where you are. If God so directs you to go global, let Him open up those paths for you. As for now, bloom where you are planted.
I pray the best for you and glad that you are concerned for the lost.
Blessings,
Mrs. Jean
Mrs. Jean, I don’t think Rose implied that she has to go somewhere to share Christ. Yes, America desperately needs spiritual awakening, and we should certainly do our part to help bring that about. However, Rose is right in saying that we are commanded to preach the gospel to all creation. There are other nations that need Jesus just as desperately as we do. I’ve been to a few of them–I’ve seen it firsthand. I don’t think we should view one part of our mission as more important than the other; we are called to make disciples everywhere, including America and other countries.
Remember, Americans have easy access to God’s Word and other Christian resources. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t share our faith with unbelievers–we should–but many people here have heard the gospel and chosen to ignore it or rejected it, and if they changed their minds, it would be fairly easy for them to find a Bible or a church. On the other hand, many countries and people groups don’t even have the Bible translated into their language. They’ve never even heard of Jesus and they don’t know who God is. Shouldn’t we reach out to these people as well as apathetic Americans? Just some food for thought.
By the way, what does tmselden mean? 🙂
Apparently you know Rose better than I do.
I don’t know Rose at all. I’m just saying that I don’t see those things implied in her question.
Hi Mrs. Jean! I completely agree that we need to be faithful while we’re in the states, but I tend to think more like Jim Elliott when he said, “I dare not stay at home while [the unreached] perish. What if the well-filled church in the homeland needs stirring? They have the scriptures, Moses, and the Prophets… Their condemnation is written in their bank books and in the dust of their Bible covers.”
Do you have time to explain why you put such emphasis on staying? (I really just want to understand. I’m not trying to argue.)
Dear Precious Okie Gal,
Thank you for your mature question. People often read things in posts that are not there. I am in no way opposed to overseas missions. But I do believe that if we are to make a long lasting impact, it has to be obviously directed by God and be a long term physical commitment of being there with the people such as Jim Elliott. I have had many experiences with short term missions trips and unfortunately have not seen much fruit produced for the money and time spent. I have seen young people decide to do full time missions as a result of going overseas. And that is only two out of hundreds who have gone there. I am pro long term mission trips. but I have seen too many teens ill-equipped to be going overseas. Most won’t share Christ in their schools or with the people they meet everyday? And most are not spiritually mature enough.
And that is why I really promote witnessing where you are as a young person. I think
Okay, that makes so much more sense. Thank you for explaining, this was really helpful and I totally agree.
A really good way to be involved in missions is to get to know missionaries. Missionaries often experience loneliness, especially if there is no pre-existing church body in their field. Even if there are fellow believers in the field, it’s a huge blessing to be able to speak fluently every now and then without being preoccupied with language and culture.
Get to know them-ask questions about the culture of their field, how they were called, how God has shaped them, high points and low points, etc. But also get to know them as people. Keep in mind that missionaries love to share how God is moving in their field, but they have personal lives too and may want to “be human” so to speak. Be a good listener.
You could also learn what they like to eat from home and send them care packages! While this may take a little investigating-most missionaries do have a weak spot for something from home:)
Another good way to be involved is to raise support for the field.
You might try hosting fundraisers in your home or church-luncheons (w national food?), auctions, movies, plays, etc
You could give a presentation to your children’s ministry about the missionary/field, and have them write letters/drawings to send (this is really good cause you don’t know who you may inspire!)
Clare, I really like your idea of doing a presentation to the children’s ministry. Last summer in my church, the kids learned about a different missionary/country each week. As an older teen, it would not be too hard to research a country/missionary/organization and present it in a creative way! And you’re right- you never know what God could do with that information in a little kid’s heart!
Thank you! That’s an awesome idea your church had to make missions into the lesson plan for summer since kids would have lots of free time to read missionary bios to go along with the lesson plan if they wanted. That’s so true-I know that missionary stories in children’s church had a huge impact on my life.
My church has a program called “Faith Promise Missions” and I participate in it. It’s where each church member promises a certain amount of money each week/month to missionaries. It’s pretty cool! 😉 So, maybe, if you know a missionary, you could give some money to support that missionary? Just a thought! 😀
My church has something similar. Each year around june/july we have special missions contribution. The money they collect goes to help fund mission trips around the world
Me and me sisters are involved in some global missions. They’re Sole Hope and
Children’s Hope Chest. Sole Hope is an organization that provides shoes, medical care, and the gospel to kids in need in Uganda, Africa. What you do is you collect old jeans, cut out shoe patterns, and send them to Uganda to be sewn together. Ugandan women get paid to sew the shoes together so they can provide for their families. Here’s the link to Sole Hope: http://www.solehope.org/
Children’s Hope Chest is an organization that provides food, water, school, school supplies, and the gospel to needy children all around the world. You sign up to sponsor a child, the child writes to you, you write the child, you send the child pictures, clothes and other things, and you go on mission trips to see your child.
Here’s the link to Children’s Hope Chest: http://www.hopechest.org/
Hope this is helpful! God Bless!
That’s great thank you so much!
♥ 🙂
Your welcome! 🙂
I feel that I’ve been called to be a missionary also. I’m thinkin’ Mexico ( at least to start) but I’m not sure how to get there. I guess I should just trust Him while I’m waitin’ and until I can actually do something. For now I’ll be “training” I guess.;)
If you’re seriously looking for a training program, Google To Every Tribe and The Center For Pioneer Church Planting.
Will do. Thx!
Hey McKaylee, You can check out Bethany Global University. You can get a double major while doing missions overseas! It’s been a great experience for me personally working at this university that trains and sends out missionaries. https://bethanygu.edu/
Great thank you! Do you have to go to that college or can u just get the missionary training there?
The most obvious one is to get a job/raise money and donate to any of numerous missions, though I know this isn’t possible in all situations. (Open Doors – https://www.opendoors.org/ and MAF – https://www.maf.org/home both do excellent ministry in many countries and desperately need funds.)
Beyond financial support, many ministries/individual ministries place a huge value on prayer, and prayer is something anyone can give.
Writing letters/emails and sending parcels from home with favourite goodies is also an excellent idea and very encouraging. (Do think twice before writing to adult missionaries, because they already have a lot to do, but MKs would probably appreciate correspondence.)
The other thing you can do is actually recruit support by telling others and raising awareness about ministries.
And I think you already know this, but it’s important for all of us to evangelize wherever we are! 😉 I hope those thoughts give you some ideas, Rose!
I would like to send some letters. Do you know a missionary that apreciate?
Hi Jonathan,
There is a girl on here (@disqus_Sh6PyJ3MsP:disqus ) who says her brother would love to get letters. I’m not sure how to give you his address… If you want to, you could join Revive (revivingtheredeemed.org) and we could give you the address on there. Revive is like Christian social media for teens. Let me know if you’d rather not join Revive and we can try to work out something else. 😉
-Heather
Hi, Heather. I’m so happy about join the Revive! I signed up there and I can’t wait for it. 🙂 I live far far away from you hehe 🙂 I live in Brazil and it’s so amazing does the better for God. Thank you.
Hey Rose! Seeing as how you already named my first answer (prayer), I thought of a second. You could write a letter of encouragement to a missionary (or to several missionaries if you want to ensure that you get at least one answer). True missionaries are ordinary people just living out their calling from God in unordinary places. And the failure rate is extremely high. They get lonely. They get sick. They get discouraged. They may even get depressed! So a letter of encouragement (and prayer!) may mean more to them than you know. =^D Believe me, I know.
My Dad used to be a missionary, just a couple of years ago, so if you want to know more about what it’s like, just let me know.
Donate to causes. Go on a student trip. Host a fundraising event.
Hey Rose! My family actually started a mission organization called Hope Missions International in the country of Uganda, Africa. We began leading in mission teams to Uganda every summer beginning in 2013, and two years from when we first started working there, we built the first unit of our orphanage which currently houses 13 children and 2 widows as their caretakers. It is incredible being a part of the work God is doing there, but before I went on mission trips with my family, I sponsored a little boy through Compassion (still do actually). I write letters to him and support him financially on a monthly basis, but I didn’t realize how much of an impact the encouragement I gave him through my letters really has until we started an orphanage and set up our own sponsorship program for the kids there. I am actually in charge of coordinating communication between sponsors and their children for our ministry, and the letters the sponsors send, they mean the world to those kids. Because sponsors encourage and invest in those children, they grow up to be great men and women of faith with a heart for serving Christ, even among their own people. Sponsoring a child is a great way to get involved in mission work, even in a small way. If that’s something you’re interested in, Compassion International is a great program to do that through, or if you happened to be interested in sponsoring a child in our orphanage I could send you some information. 😉
Hey Rose,
I think many people here have given great answers. You can start doing missions by: reaching your friends & Neighbors
sponsoring a compassion child
Connect withthe missions board of your local church & ask them how you can get involved.
connect with current missionaries overseas.
Start getting trained to become a missionary.
I currently work for a university that trains and equips people to go overseas. Our mission is to take the church to where it’s not. One way we do this is through our accredited degree program. You get a double major while doing missions overseas. It’s called Bethany Global University (https://bethanygu.edu/).
In the end make sure you’re being led by the Lord and working in conjunction with your local church.
Hey Rose 🙂 In addition to what others have said, I just want to let you know that helping to fund a missionary at your church is so very important. Too often I hear people say “Oh, but I want to do more than just write a check to a missionary!” While that is a statement that reflects passion and love for the “hands-on” part of missions, part of the reason why many missionaries can’t go into the mission field is
That’s a good point!! I know LOTS of missionaries that rely solely on support!! We’re fortunate for my dad to have a job along with working at the ministry we work with, but I also know that things can be extra tight at times and espeically initially when people move finances can be a hard thing to navigate.
After going on mission trips to Uganda, Africa two years in a row, I have found it tough to have the longing to return to Africa, but not being able to do so at this point in my life. Although this is so, the Lord has taught me something very precious: in every circumstance, no matter where you are, where you live, or at what point you are in life, you can impact the lives around you & be a blessing!–overseas or not. It has soothed me to learn this & caused me to look for ways to be intentional & missional right where I am.
The other day, I had my treasured Bible tucked away in the brightly patterned bag I got during my last trip to Uganda. While running errands, I was overhearing bits and pieces of conversation at a store. There was a person there who I felt the Lord wanted me to reach out to by giving them my Bible. The reason being because their speech & outlook on life sounded rough but, I knew the Lord desired me to reach out in love to that person because underneath the roughness–by the Lord’s compassion–I saw that there was a bleeding heart longing for something–Someone–the comfort, peace & healing that the hope of Jesus brings to the broken. Even so, I grew hesitant and reluctant because I didn’t know if they would grow angry with me or how they would respond. So thankful for the strength of the Lord helped me to walk out of my comfort zone & in His compassion instead.
Yes, there was that twinge that comes when giving up something that is valuable & precious to you, but I had another Bible at home which is a luxury many people around the world do not have. I have been blessed to know the Lord & to have His Word sown into me for the past almost twenty years of my life. Sentiment didn’t hold a candle to the eternal worth of putting the Word into their hands for giving is truly “more blessed” especially when it is in the name of sharing Christ!!
Little things like this are things that are of great worth in the Lord’s eyes. You don’t have to travel globally or build an orphanage or donate hundreds–although these are all very beautiful things–but what the Lord cares about is the attitude of the heart! My advice to you is this: simply be willing. It will astound you what doors are thrown open to serve the Lord through that simple, sweet surrender!
HEY! Sorry I’m late here! haha…this is totally a conversation I’m into!!
I’m actually an MK (missionary kid) in Zambia, Africa…I know that not all teens live overseas when they’re young but there are TONS of ways you can be involved from the U.S., Canada, or wherever you live!!!
-I know writing letters to kids/mk’s has been mentioned..
-Sponsoring a child (I know lots of organizations, including the one we work with, you can do this with. So feel free to ask if you want some info)
-Doing something like a sewing project and sending the clothes made overseas
-OCC (Operation Christmas Child)
-Doing some kind of shoe drive…
-Sending Bibles to a country
One thing that is great is to maybe reach out to a specific organization and ask what they need or how you can be helpful! Maybe they need Bibles. Maybe they need funds for something so you could fund-raise. Maybe they need more child sponsors so you could do a sponsorship awareness dinner thing…That might be a good place to start!! Contact an organization adn ask! I know when people do that for our organizatin it means a LOT cuz then we can tell them what we need and people know they’re being helpful because it’s something we (well, the ministry we work with; we aren’t the leaders) need!!
Hope this helps! I’m gonna read all the comments now! 😉 I’ll add to this if I think of more! =)
I think these have already been mentioned. But–pray; give financially; if it’s not an option for you to go on a short term overseas trip right now, give of your time to help someone else who is going to prepare; do Operation Christmas Child or sponsor a child through Compassion; educate yourself about missions (I love reading books about Amy Carmichael, Hudson Taylor, etc. as well as learning about world religions and how to witness to people). That’s about all I’ve got tonight
I felt exactly the way you did a year ago! I’m currently 16 and I have always loved going on youth group missions trips! I felt like I had to wait until I was older to do things like that for more than one week a year. But I don’t feel the calling to leave my own city anymore. God has put me in my city and my church for a very important purpose and I have so many opportunities to serve God and others right here in my church. but I didn’t see those opportunities when I wasn’t seeking to grow in my relationship with God. When I am persistently seeking to follow Jesus, He gives me so much purpose I can’t even explain how amazing it feels! But it only came through spending a lot of time getting to know Jesus and the Bible and through many influential people at my church who recognize what spiritual gifts I have and encourage me to use them.
I know you want to do world missions so think about it like this: you are already a missionary, you just happened to be born into the exact location that God wants you to be. I’m not saying you won’t be called to go somewhere else in the future! That’s between you and God, but right now, your church needs you. Find out what your spiritual gifts are and start using them!
My most prominent one is teaching. And I get to teach the 3rd grade girls class at my church! I also volunteer and tutor kids in my city who don’t get as many opportunities to excel. I’m also good at crafts and I plan the crafts station for my churches weekend kids camp. If you love kids, there are kids all around you who you could show Christ’s love to. If your church doesn’t have those types of things, that’s okay! Maybe you could think of some things to do your your church to advance the gospel and missions. You could be involved in world missions through inspiring children to be missionaries.
And if you really want to help people all around the world, one of my favorite ministries is called Sole Hope. They sew shoes for kids in Uganda and get people here in America to cut the fabric for them! Check it out!!
My main point here is that I hope people who want to do great things for God realize their role in their own church. God doesn’t only have great things planned for you to do in your future. He had stuff He wants you to do right now and that excites me!! So maybe talk to people who know you well and ask them what you are talented at and what your spiritual gifts are and then figure out how to use those for God’s glory and for building up the church. <3
Hi Rose!
Hey!
I totally get what you’re saying; I sometimes just want to get involved. A lot of good has already been said, so I don’t have much, but there are organizations and other group that do mission trips overseas for young people. The two I can think of are ADVENT Taiwan and Youth Power Invasion. ADVENT is a program in which teens and young adults go to Taiwan and teach English as well as spread the gospel. I’ve been on this one, and I’m going this year. I’ve never been with Youth Power Invasion, but from what I know, it’s mainly in Latin America.
Hey Rose, I’d encourage you that “praying and supporting your church” isn’t a throw away phrase.
Prayer is one of the most powerful tools God has given us! It’s huge. And even though we may not be able to see it’s effect, it does have one. God listens, and acts. We have to see this.
Another thing I would encourage you is that “world missions” is a big word. We can do missions right here. We are called to share the gospel right where we are.
I know this might not really be what you were looking for, but I think sometimes we lose sight of it. Other than that, I’m not super informed. I want to go on a summer missions trip at some point maybe next year. But I haven’t really looked into it yet.
Matthew 9:37 says, “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” You don’t have to go half way around the world to find people who don’t know Jesus as their savior. As Jesus said, the harvest is “plentiful” or ready to reap. There are plenty of people who need the gospel around you. You can be a worker for Christ and reap eternal rewards! And you can also pray for Jesus’ prayer request. Matthew 9:38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Pray for missionaries around you and around the world.
I sponsor 2 girls in El-salvador. It’s through Compassion. It’s only 38$ a month and you get to write them and they write me back, it’s fun getting letters from them:)