Your Faith
What About Jerusalem?
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of going on a mission trip to Mexico with my church. For one week our team led a Vacation Bible School in the morning, did door to door evangelism in the afternoon, and then various other adult ministries in the evening. It was non-stop outreach.
One of the greatest things about the mission trip was partnering with a local church in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so beautiful to see Christians of different cultures and backgrounds working together for a common goal, using the different gifts that God had given each person. As beautiful as it was to be part of such a wonderful week of ministry, I couldn’t help but feel guilty and hypocritical, especially as we were going door to door. Why? By showing them how to share the Gospel, the implication was that we actually share the Gospel. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’ll be the first to admit that I do NOT go door to door to share the Gospel. The thought of approaching a total stranger and sharing the Gospel is about as appealing to me as dental work. Yet there I was, showing my Mexican brothers and sisters how to do it.
Mission trips have almost become a rite of passage in our Christian subculture. The further away you go for one and the longer you stay there, the more respect you have in Christian circles. Churches pride themselves on how many overseas missionaries they support. It’s not uncommon to see churches with maps in their foyers displaying the different countries where they are sending money, mission teams, and other resources. In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples that they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth. The Church seems to be doing quite well in the “ends of the earth” department, but what about Jerusalem? Why is it that we’re willing to travel thousands of miles to share the Gospel but unwilling to go across the street to our neighbor, or to the next cubicle to our co-worker, or to our classmate sitting next to us in AP Bio?
So there I was, sharing the Gospel and showing others how to do it as if I was some expert on the subject, when little did they know that this was the first time I was doing it since the previous mission trip the year before. I may as well have been teaching them how to speak Russian. This huge inconsistency in my life was becoming more and more apparent to me, and I couldn’t help but feel ashamed. It was the classic case of “Do as I say, not as I do.”
The phrase “mission trip” is an oxymoron. Mission is life. It’s a lifestyle and it’s for a lifetime. A trip is something that is temporary. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season….” When it comes to preaching the Gospel, there’s no down time or off season. Would we justify not being loving for 51 weeks of the year, and then going on a love fest for a week? Would we condone our children not praying all year and then participating in a one week prayer vigil to make up for lost time? Would we approve of someone not opening their Bible for 51 weeks, and then locking themselves in their room for a week to read the Bible from cover to cover? Would we not eat for 51 weeks and then move into Old Country Buffet and pig out for a week? Then why is that we are fine with limiting our evangelism to these one week mission trips? Why is it that we will share the Gospel with a stranger in Mexico but not our best friend? Why is it that we will sacrifice vacation time to go on a mission trip but not sacrifice five minutes to talk to a coworker about Christ?
As Christians, we need to change the way we think about mission. We don’t go on mission trips. We are on a mission trip. It started the day we became Christians and it will end the day we die. Whether we are in a remote village in China or drinking coffee at Starbucks, we are on missions. Whether we are on a trip organized by our church or riding the subway to work, we are on missions. Whether we are going door to door in Mexico or talking to our next door neighbor, we are on missions. In other words, the zeal and focus with which we share the Gospel when we are on our mission “trips” is the same zeal and focus we are called to have the other 358 days of the year.
The next time a church brags about all the countries to which they are sending missionaries, ask them if they are reaching out to their local community. The next time a Christian brags about all the mission trips they’ve been on, ask them if they’ve ever shared their faith with a coworker, classmate, or a neighbor. And the next time someone talks about taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth, ask them about Jerusalem.
Colossians 4:5 says, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” We have opportunities everyday to share the Gospel with people who desperately need to hear it. We don’t have to wait for the next mission trip. Let’s be faithful in Jerusalem. 