Want to have some fun and make a point which everyone at church will remember?
Ask the question: “Who knows a missionary, personally? Raise your hand if you know someone who is a missionary.”
After a few people raise their hands, encourage everyone to go home and look into a mirror. Do it with a smile. No need to be unkind!
Now that you have their attention, explain the word “missionary:”
- The word “missionary,” even the word “mission” does not occur in the Bible. (That’s okay. Neither does the word “Trinity.”) But the concept does appear in the Bible.
- The root word mission comes from the word “send” or “sent.”
- When the Roman Catholic church translated the Bible, in the early centuries, they did a “missionary-minded thing.” They took the Old Testament Hebrew and the New Testament Greek, with a little Aramaic, and put it into the language of the people in the Roman Empire, Latin.
- The Latin word for “send” is “missio.”
- When the Latin was translated into English, it came out “send.”
- But meanwhile, the people who were sent out to share Jesus with others were called “missionaries.”
In John 20:21, Jesus said to His disciples, “As the Father sent me (to this Earth), in the same way, I send you.”
- Jesus said this to ALL His followers, not just those who traveled to other cultures or countries.
- It’s a little awkward but we are really ‘sent” people.
- We are “going” people – all Christians.
- You know, like the Great Commission: “Go, make disciples” – we are “sent.”
How does it feel to become a missionary?
Does it make you nervous?
Is it too big of a deal to handle?
Look at the actual intent of the “Great Commission:”
- “Go, make disciples” actually means, “as you go, make disciples.”
- This isn’t “as you go to some jungle overseas” (but it could be).
- It is, first and foremost, “as you go about your daily life, make disciples.”
What does this imply?
- Make disciples is not limited to the church staff and to the pastors.
- Everyone makes disciples, every day, wherever they go: barbershop, grocery store, school, restaurant, work, wherever.
Get that right, and you’ll start a revival!
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