How Will They Hear If No One is Sent?
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
(Romans 10:14-25)
“As a child, I remember on many occasions we had missionary families in our home.” Kellie, our Global Outreach Admin, reminisces. “They would come and share a meal with us and tell their stories. Stories of other cultures and God’s great power being manifested as they ministered in foreign lands. Also, sharing their stories of struggles. Struggles of learning a new language and culture, finances, sending their kids away to boarding school. Dealing with times of loneliness, fear, and doubt. Even though I was young I remember those times well. Through those experiences, God gave me a love for missions and especially for missionaries.”
Have you heard inspiring stories from ordinary people who become missionaries abroad?
It is easy to think that missionaries are somehow “super saints” with some sort of supernatural God-given power that allows them to be unaffected by what we are affected by. Not so–they are just like all the rest of us. But they are willing to say no to the status quo and the dream of wealth, willing to leave the comforts of their home country and their friends and family to take the gospel wherever God calls them.
Missionaries forgo the “American Dream” to pursue building God’s kingdom; something we are all called to do to in different ways.
Missionaries have been part of the Christian faith since the first century. Paul and Barnabas were sent off to Cyprus (Acts 13:1-3). Ever since then missionaries have been serving across the globe to advance the name of Jesus and the need for missionaries continues. It may be easy to think that by now surely everyone has had a chance to hear the good news of the gospel, however, there are over 3 billion people in unreached people groups. Think about that; over 3 billion people have never heard the good news. From creation to the cross and beyond, the story of God has yet to be unveiled to many people who God loves and wants to reach through us! Evidently, these unreached people groups lack enough Christ-followers to evangelize their own people, thus never having a chance to hear the good news. The need for missionaries continues as strong as ever today.
Every Christ-follower is called to by Christ to participate in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
Since we are all called the question we need to ask is “how am I responding to the call?” Here are three ideas:
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- Keep missions in focus. One way to do this is to pray for missions (broadly) but consider also praying for missionaries by name and by the location they minister to. (You can find a map of where our missionaries are by clicking HERE and scrolling toward the bottom of the page.)
- Participate in mission opportunities through Newbreak. We give information about upcoming local and global missional opportunities throughout the year. So stay tuned for those announcements during our weekly gatherings and emails.
- Become a monthly “Kingdom Builder” giver. Kingdom Builders is how we fuel and fund people and projects locally and globally to bring the life-changing gift of God’s grace to their world. You can find more information about Kingdom Builders and give to it HERE on our website.
Newbreak supports 86 missionaries in 37 countries through our monthly KB giving! This is only possible based on everyone’s participation.
God’s desire is to reach the world, not to be God of only a particular pocket of people. But His plan requires action on our part. Will you pray today about what your role will be in participating in the great commission?