The Call to Missions

One of the most powerful moments in all of Scripture occurs in Isaiah chapter 6. The prophet saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. Seraphim cried, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3). Isaiah was overwhelmed by the holiness of God and the sinfulness of his own heart: "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5). Then God cleansed him — a coal from the altar touched his lips, and his iniquity was purged. And then came the question: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Isaiah's response was immediate: "Here am I; send me" (Isaiah 6:8). This sequence is the pattern for every missionary call: a vision of God's holiness, a conviction of personal sinfulness, an experience of God's cleansing grace, and a willing response to God's commission. The call to missions does not originate in human ambition or adventurous desire — it originates in an encounter with the living God. A man or woman who has truly seen the glory of God and experienced the grace of Christ cannot remain unmoved by the billions who have never heard His name. The question "Whom shall I send?" still echoes across the centuries. God is still seeking men and women who will respond, "Here am I; send me." The call is not only for those who will go to foreign lands — it is for those who will go across the street, across the city, and across cultural barriers in their own community. But the call is especially urgent for those who will go where Christ has not yet been named, to places where no one has ever clearly proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus told His disciples, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (John 20:21). The missionary impulse is not a human program — it is the heartbeat of God Himself. The Father sent the Son. The Son sends His people. To be a Christian is to be sent. The only question is where and how — not whether.

The first intentional cross-cultural missionary effort in church history began in Acts 13, and it was initiated not by the missionaries but by the Holy Spirit working through a local church. The church at Antioch was worshipping and fasting when "the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away" (Acts 13:2-3). This passage establishes that missions is the work of the local church, not of para-church organizations alone. The church prayed, the Spirit spoke, the church obeyed. Barnabas and Saul were sent from a local congregation that knew them, affirmed their calling, and stood behind them in prayer and support. They were not freelancers — they were sent servants, accountable to the church that commissioned them and to the God who called them. The Antioch church was uniquely prepared for this moment. It was a church born out of persecution (Acts 11:19-20), characterized by diverse leadership (Acts 13:1 lists leaders of Jewish, African, and possibly Roman backgrounds), devoted to teaching (Acts 11:26), and generous in its care for other believers (Acts 11:29-30). Healthy, Word-saturated, prayer-driven, outward-focused churches produce missionaries. Inward-focused, comfort-seeking, entertainment-driven churches do not. When Barnabas and Saul returned from their first missionary journey, they "gathered the church together" and "rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles" (Acts 14:27). The missionaries reported back to their sending church. This accountability and connection between the missionary and the sending church is a biblical pattern that should be maintained today. The missionary is not an independent agent — he is an extension of the local church's ministry to the world.

Paul laid out the logical necessity of missions in Romans 10:13-15 with an irresistible chain of reasoning: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" The logic is unbreakable. People must call on Christ to be saved. They cannot call on Christ unless they believe in Him. They cannot believe unless they hear the gospel. They cannot hear unless someone preaches to them. And no one can preach unless he is sent. Therefore, the sending of gospel preachers to unreached people is not optional — it is the necessary precondition for the salvation of souls. If we believe that people without Christ are lost, then missions is not a nice addition to the church's agenda — it is the most urgent task on earth. The beauty of the missionary's feet — travel-worn, dusty, blistered — is celebrated in Scripture because those feet carry the most precious message in the universe. The missionary does not bring financial aid, political reform, or cultural improvement as his primary mission — he brings the gospel of peace, the glad tidings of reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. Every other good work flows from and is secondary to this primary task. Paul's own life was driven by this logic. He declared, "So have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation" (Romans 15:20). Paul was consumed with reaching the unreached — going where no one had gone before, preaching where no one had preached before. He was a frontier missionary, always pressing forward to the next city, the next region, the next people group that had not yet heard the name of Jesus Christ.

Jesus's final instructions before His ascension defined the scope of the missionary task: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The gospel begins at home (Jerusalem) and expands outward in concentric circles — to the surrounding region (Judaea), to the culturally different neighbor (Samaria), and to the farthest reaches of the globe (the uttermost part of the earth). This expansion is not sequential — it is simultaneous. The church is not called to finish evangelizing Jerusalem before it moves to Judaea, or to complete Samaria before it addresses the uttermost part. All four spheres are to be pursued at the same time. A healthy church ministers locally and globally. It supports missionaries overseas while evangelizing its own neighborhood. It trains cross-cultural workers while planting churches in its own city. The book of Acts traces this expansion as the gospel moved from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Asia Minor, from Asia Minor to Europe, and from Europe to Rome — the capital of the known world. By the end of Acts, Paul is in Rome, the center of global power, "preaching the kingdom of God... with all confidence" (Acts 28:31). The gospel had gone from a small room in Jerusalem to the heart of the Roman Empire in one generation. This is the power of God at work through faithful witnesses. Two thousand years later, the mission continues. The gospel has reached every continent, but not every people group. Thousands of ethno-linguistic groups have still never heard the name of Jesus Christ. The Revelation 5:9 vision of people "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" worshipping the Lamb will one day be fulfilled — but the work of bringing the gospel to every tribe is not yet complete. The church must continue to send, go, pray, and give until every people has heard.

Jesus saw the multitudes and was "moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). His response was not to launch a campaign or organize a committee — His response was a prayer request: "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest" (Matthew 9:37-38). This command to pray for laborers reveals something profound about God's method. He could raise up workers without our prayers — but He chooses to involve us in the process. Prayer for missionaries and future missionaries is not a passive exercise — it is active participation in the missionary enterprise. When a church prays earnestly for laborers, God raises up laborers from within that church. Prayer and missions are inseparable. The church that prays for the nations will produce workers for the nations. Prayer should be specific and informed. Pray by name for missionaries your church supports. Pray for specific countries and people groups. Pray for the translation of the Bible into unreached languages. Pray for persecuted believers around the world. Pray for open doors in closed countries. Pray that God would call young men and women from your congregation to the mission field. Pray that God would burden your church's heart for the lost — both locally and globally. The prayer for laborers must also be accompanied by a willingness to be the answer to the prayer. It is possible to pray "send forth labourers" while secretly adding "but not me and not my children." Jesus does not allow that caveat. The one who prays for laborers must be willing to go — or to release those he loves to go. The greatest act of faith a parent can perform is to raise a child who is willing to be sent to the ends of the earth for the gospel, and to release that child with tears of joy rather than resistance.

The call to missions is not reserved for a special class of super-Christians. It is the natural overflow of a heart that has been captured by the love of Christ and burdened by the lostness of the world. Paul's testimony applies to every believer: "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). If Christ died for you, you no longer live for yourself. You live for Him and for His mission. Some are called to go — to leave home, learn a language, cross a culture, and spend their lives proclaiming Christ where He has never been named. This is the highest adventure and the most strategic investment a human life can make. The missionary does not sacrifice — he exchanges what he cannot keep for what he cannot lose. Jim Elliot, martyred at age twenty-eight while attempting to reach the Auca tribe in Ecuador, wrote in his journal, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Others are called to send — to pray faithfully, give generously, and support practically those who go. The sender's role is not less important than the goer's role. Paul could not have reached the Gentile world without the churches that supported him. The missionary on the field is the visible tip of the spear, but the sending church is the shaft, the arm, and the strength behind it. Without senders, there are no goers. Every believer, whether goer or sender, is called to be a witness. "Ye shall be witnesses unto me" (Acts 1:8) was spoken to every disciple, not just the eleven apostles. Your neighbor, your coworker, your classmate, your family member who does not know Christ — they are your mission field. The call to missions begins on your doorstep. Ask God where He would have you serve. Ask Him to break your heart for the things that break His. And when He calls, answer as Isaiah did: "Here am I; send me."