The Reality Check of Foreign Missions

There are countless reasons to support foreign missions. The Lord Jesus gave the great commission to go into ALL the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Any Christian who deprioritizes supporting foreign missions due to the feeling that they have enough work to do around their own community has a very narrow view of the great commission. Of course we all must get the gospel out to those in our own communities, and that job is a big one, but to leave our brothers and sisters, who ARE willing to go to a foreign land and put their lives on the line for the gospel’s sake, out in the cold with no prayer or monetary support is not being very great-commission oriented. We must do all that we can to help these brothers and sisters get the gospel out to people who may not have even ever heard of the name of Jesus Christ. By partnering with faithful missionaries, we may, by the grace of God, receive rewards in heaven one day for our contributions to their ministries. Souls who we may not ever meet here on earth, may repent and believe and become part of the body of Christ. How valuable is that?

In addition to all of the eternal benefits of foreign missions for the souls of men, I wanted to bring up one earthly benefit of supporting foreign missions that I have experienced many times as a member of a church who does support many faithful missionaries. The benefit is what I call “the reality check of foreign missions”. We tend to think of Christianity as being very American, or at least very western. We associate Christianity with certain popular figures, authors, pastors, large churches, etc. We put Christianity into this little sterile bubble where there’s not much hardship or pain, and where we think we are doing God a favor by attempting to “live right” and go to church. Listening to a missionary from a field talk about their hardships, and what they’ve seen in countries where Christians are severely persecuted, gives us a proper perspective on the Kingdom of God. Christianity is bigger than America with its elaborate, comfortable churches who experience no persecution at all really. God is doing bigger things worldwide than we might think. We need to be challenged with the realities of persecution and commitment that these missionaries share with us as they come to our churches and we are able to converse with them and learn from them. Do you want a better prayer life? Do you want more godly examples of commitment and sacrifice in your life? Burst your bubble. Support gospel-driven missionaries to foreign lands and attend a church who makes this a priority.