What is Missions and How Can YOU Be Involved?

By Rose Finley, winner of the 2011 essay contestI was bouncing along the dusty road of Africa sitting in the back of a small van. As I watched out the window a large crowd of village children began forming, each one calling out "Porto! Porto!" meaning, "White man! White man!" We were all excited for the lesson, stories, and games that everyone knew were ahead! "This is what real missions is all about," I said to myself.Inner city Philadelphia, I sat on the some short steps leading to a house in the projects. I was able to witness and pray with a teenage girl who was lost, alone, and struggling to find true meaning for life, fighting to stay away from the drugs, gangs, and violence that surrounded her neighborhood every day. "This is what real missions is all about," I said to myself.I am at home working from nine to five as well as struggling to start a business, fighting to find time to spend with my not so perfect Christian family. At my job I work with people who don't really care about what God thinks and who live their lives with no passion for a God who gave his life for theirs. At home my siblings struggle to find the mission that God has for them. I must look for ways to encourage them to seek God and stay strong in an always darkening world. "I am supposed to be a missionary. Is this what real missions is all about? Is this part of being a missionary?" I ask myself.Are you in Africa sleeping in a hammock, swatting at mosquitoes, going over Bible lessons for the next day? Are your days filled with the smiles from dusty village children clamoring for attention, and do you watch their eyes light up as they learn about Jesus? Or, are you wishing you were in Africa while you are tied down to a desk, working 40 hours a week, struggling to make bill payments, surrounded by people who don't care?Being a missionary is not about where you are, but who you are in Christ. As a disciple of Jesus, we are called to be missionaries, to go into all the world and make disciples. It is time for Christians around the world to become missionaries to their world. No matter what job we have or the places we go, we are called to reach the people we come into contact with, to share with them who Christ is to us and what he has done for them. Strengthen your walk with Christ and use the opportunities God places before you to witness to the people in your world. At the same time, use the things you know to disciple new believers and pass on the torch, so they in turn can also reach the world around them for Christ.Missions must start in our hearts. God has a special calling and place for each one of us. Just because you are not walking the dusty roads of Africa, does not mean you are not a missionary. It time for Christians to be missionaries wherever God places them. It may not sound like the hard core missions experience or even seem like REAL missions. But as you follow God and listen to his voice guide and direct your life, you will begin to look at the world around you as your mission field. Be all that you can be for Christ. Find ways to reach out to the people you work with, the people you live with, and the "random" stranger you happen to bump into.Spend time studying the Bible, getting to know God and who he is. Look for ways to serve God in everything you do. Ask God:

• To give you opportunities to share.
• For a passion and love for Christ that overflows into everything you do.
• To speak through you, that it will be his words and his light in your life that people are drawn to.
• For wisdom.
• To work in the hearts of the people around you, while working first in your own heart.

Finally be ready to watch God work. He will open doors for you to witness and share with others. Follow Him as He leads you from the streets of Chicago, to the slums of Japan, from the Villages in Brazil to your living room at home. Let Him be your guide. Follow his direction. And be a missionary to the world he places you in!This is real Missions!Rose learned at an early age to share Christ by serving those around her. She has served others in exciting locations like West Africa, Caribbean, Ireland, Taiwan, and Colombia as well as in her own living room. She dreams of becoming a missions photographer someday and sharing the stories of what God is doing in lives and hearts all over the world.