Repost: 10 Reasons to Visit Your Missionary
I can’t imagine why anyone would actually need a reason to visit your missionary, but here are some things to think about. And maybe in the near future you can plan your family vacation (yes, people actually do this!) around a mission’s trip!
- You will be able to pray more specifically for them. You have no idea what a missionary goes through on the foreign field till you have experienced some of it yourself. As you visit them on the field, you may go through minor culture shock (usually real culture shock doesn’t set in until you have been there for 3-4 weeks), but you will experience many different things, sometimes even before your plane lands! As you hear some of their struggles with sickness, cultural adjustments,theft, and language studies, you will be able to more intelligently pray for them.
- You will understand Faith Promise Mission’s giving more! Every year in your church’s mission’s conference you renew or increase your commitment, but you will never fully understand why you should give until you see mission’s work with your own eyes! A missionary cannot and should not have to get a secular job while on the field. His full-time work is winning the lost, starting churches and training men. He would have no time to start a business on the side. A missionary works long weeks with the end goal of one day leaving a work with a national pastor that he has trained. It’s not an easy 8:00 – 5:00 job. There is a lot of heartache and discouragement involved, as well as a huge financial burden. The beginning stages of a new church plant depend solely on the missionary’s support. Many times the missionary lives month to month, sometimes praying the end of the month comes a little faster! On the foreign field there can be many unexpected expenses. The idea that everything is cheap overseas is definitely a misconception for the majority of countries around the world. As you visit your missionary, you will see your Faith Promise in action!
- You will come back with a zeal for evangelism; not only locally, but globally as well! As you walk down streets crowded with people, ride subways and buses standing shoulder to shoulder with people, you will see that there is a great need for the Gospel on the foreign field. As you pass out tracts on the street and people actually stop to read it and ask you questions, you will see that the doors are wide open in many parts of the world!
- You will realize that your problems are minor compared to things going on around the world. Sometimes our biggest problems on a daily basis is getting to work on time because of the traffic, but you will appreciate your traffic after seeing the traffic in a city like Bangkok. The simplest things like getting your mail, paying a bill, going to the doctor or buying something at the pharmacy can take hours in a foreign country. On a larger scale, the missionary deals with situations like political unrest or being threatened to be kicked out for preaching the Gospel.
- You will gain an understanding of their life . It will make you aware and gives you a “connection” with other missionaries who visit your church. You will understand what the missionary does on a day-to-day basis. Watch this little video one of our authors, Natasha Tolson, did of an average day on the mission field.
- The missionary will be blessed, and you will be blessed. You will get a kick watching them squeal over the Reece peanut butter cups or Twix bars that you have brought them from America. On the spiritual side, you will be blessed hearing the many ways that God has provided and protected them.
- It is a great opportunity to encourage the missionary! Many times when another set of eyes can see what the missionary has been seeing for a long time, he can appreciate more what God has done. Day in and day out the missionaries can sometimes gets boggled down with the humdrum of daily life and even though they know God is working, it encourages them so much to have someone else come in with enthusiasm for all that God has done.
- You will get to know the missionary on a more personal level. Some have the idea that missionaries are “weird”, “abnormal” or “super spiritual”. You will find that none of these things are true. They are down-to-earth people who go through the same day to day things we do, only on another level of convenience most of the time. If you visit your missionary, you will see that he most likely does not live in a grass hut in the middle of a village surrounded by lions and tigers and bears.
- You will meet believers from around the world! You hear in sermons how someday in Heaven you will meet people who will be there because you gave to missions, but you can meet them NOW and actually keep up with them. Through the social media, it is easy to keep up with these believers! Even if you don’t speak the same language, an encouraging note on Facebook is so uplifting for a national believer (and Google translator is great for this!). When our missionary friends were deported from China, our home church sent letters to the Chinese believers, encouraging them and letting them know that 1000’s of miles away, other Christians were praying for them. So, not only do you get to spend time with the missionary, but you get to meet believers in his ministry who are also your brothers and sisters in Christ.
- You will realize that life as a missionary has it’s ups and downs; but it is totally worth it for Jesus! As you see the passion the missionary has for lost souls and for training men to take his place someday, you may come back with that same desire! God may place in you that same passion to serve the Lord as a missionary.
If you don’t have a missionary out of your home church or someone that you would specifically like to visit, you can click on this page to go on an organized mission’s trip with Vision Baptist Missions and meet some awesome missionaries serving God in various ministries around the world! It will make a world of difference in your life! So pack your bags and make your plans!