Missions.

Mission. [MIŠ•ən, noun] A religious assignment, usually at someplace other than home.
Adjectives, Missions [MIŠ•ənz], Missional [MIŠ•ən•əl], Missionary [MIŠ•ə•ne•rē, also noun]

When you go help a Christian ministry, namely one not at the ministry you’re usually connected to, we call that a mission. Often we call the person on a mission a missionary, but people tend to shun that title unless they’ve made that mission their life’s work.

Christians commonly assume missions are done, and missionaries are sent, to other countries. ’Tain’t necessarily so. Barnabas, Paul, Silas, and the other “missionaries” in Acts went to other parts of the same nation, the Roman Empire. Not once are they said to have left it. Other apostles indeed went to other lands; tradition has it that Thomas went to India. And of course Jesus has since sent other people to plenty of other countries. But wherever you go, whether it’s a faraway land or the church down the street, you’ve gone on a mission to help them out.

Is every missionary an apostle? No. There’s a lot of overlap, because Jesus regularly sends people on missions, and by definition, getting sent by Jesus makes you an apostle. But not every Christian goes on a mission for that reason. A lot of us take missions trips for our own misbegotten reasons.

Some missionaries are really just tourists.

Back in high school, I went to Mexico on a missions trip every Spring Break. Did Jesus send me on any of these trips? Not once. I wanted to go. So I went.

Yeah, other Christians have told me, “No, Jesus did want you to go, because he planted that desire in your heart.” Usually these would be the Christians who doubt God speaks to us directly, who think God points us in certain directions through signs and feelings and other iffy omens. Of course they don’t know what they’re talking about. I went because I wanted to go. If God did any ministering through me, it was in spite of me. I was a hypocrite back then: I didn’t care about ministry. I only cared about myself.

I went because I wanted to spend a week in Mexico with my friends. I could take the week off school, play soccer, practice my Spanish, play with the CB radio, sleep in tents, eat authentic Mexican food, drink a lot of sugary Mexican Coca-Cola, and maybe grudgingly do a few ministry-type things. Plus the youth pastors would arrange it so we could spend Friday shopping in Mexicali (buying, of course, switchblades and bootleg tapes), and one year we spent Saturday at Disneyland.

I’ve been on many missions trips since. I’ve taken kids… kind of as unintentional penance for the crap I put my own youth leaders through.

But it’s true of adults as well. Some of us go because we honestly do want to pitch in at those other churches, and help grow the Kingdom. And some of us go for way more selfish reasons: We wanna hang out with our friends, and maybe even spark a romantic relationship with one of them. We wanna go explore some fascinating new country… and hang out at their beaches. We want an adventure. But work?—forget work. We didn’t sign up to work.

I suspect this was most of the reason Mark didn’t stay too long with Barnabas and Paul on their first apostolic journey, and why Paul was adamant Mark not come with them a second time. To wit:

After some days, Paul told Barnabas, “Since we’re returning, shouldn’t we visit the Christians among all the cities where we preached the Lord’s message, and see how they are?”

Barnabas decided to take along John Mark. Paul was insisting they not take him along: He abandoned them in Pamfylia, and didn’t help them in their work. It became a shouting match, and they chose to split from one another. Barnabas took Mark to sail to Cyprus. Choosing Silas, and being given the Lord’s grace by the Christians, Paul left.

—

If Mark was being the same sort of whiny do-nothing I’ve regularly seen on missions trips, I don’t blame Paul in the slightest for not wanting him around. I’d have been more subtle than Paul, though: I’d have let him come along, but on some busy night on the boat, I’d have pushed him overboard, and let the little weasel swim to shore.

Yeah, Barnabas was ultimately right, but still: Self-centered people make rotten missionaries. If you’re involved with any missions activity, and you find out some of these people are coming with you, do your mightiest to make sure you’re gonna interact with them as little as possible. Their selfishness guarantees they’ll create nothing but problems and hurt feelings.

Not all missionaries are apostles.

As I said, I’ve been on many missions trips since, to different parts of the United States and Mexico. And no, Jesus hasn’t sent me on any of these missions. They were my idea. I joined another group, or I got in contact with the churches or missions in the area, asked, “How can I help?” and then went and helped.

Yes, I cleared these plans with Jesus first. That’s what it means to submit. Thus far his attitude has been, “Do what you’re gonna do, and I’ll be with you.” And when I went with the intent to wholeheartedly work for Jesus, I got to see the Holy Spirit do a lot of awesome things.

But he hasn’t sent me, as an apostle, to these places. There’s the difference. It’s a pretty vast difference.

If Jesus sent me to these places, I expect I’d be going back on a very regular basis. Or even move there. Apostles wind up spending the rest of their lives on the missions Jesus sends them on. And apostles tend to be the people we think of when we talk about “missionaries”: We imagine people who move to their missions permanently (and are then eaten by cannibals). But lifetime commitment is a sign Jesus sent them to work at that mission. You don’t just drop everything and move somewhere unless Jesus sends you—and if you do, for any other reason, it’s a good bet those reasons aren’t healthy ones. God can work with our personal reasons, but he still really needs to send you. You need his commission. Otherwise it’s just your ministry—not his. And that’s a scary place to be.

If Jesus sent me, I expect I’d start a ministry there, or take over an existing one. Certain foolhardy apostles figure this means they can set out alone, without interacting with any of the Christian groups Jesus already has there in place, and of course this isolationism is a sign they’re not really working for Jesus. (Or the other ministries aren’t… but it’s far more likely they aren’t.) Some apostles are sent to start a ministry, and other apostles are sent to help existing ministries, and it’s important to know which of the two jobs Jesus wants you to do. But as someone who’s not an apostle, it’s pretty obvious all I ought to do is help existing ministries—same as I do back home, same as every Christian does. So I do.

Ought you go on a missions trip?

Of course you should.

Jesus’s great commission—“Go make students of every people-group” —is for everybody, not just apostles. It’s what every Christian is meant to do: Go find him some students, and teach them everything he taught us. Thing is, not every people-group is gonna be where you live. So sometimes you gotta go elsewhere. Might be across town. Or the next town. Or the next state. Or another continent.

Need you go through your church and denomination? Well, that’d be the easiest way: They have resources already in place, and trips already scheduled. But you can also do it by contacting the church or ministry where you want to serve, asking them, “How can I help?”—and then go there and help.

Don’t you need a lot of money to do this? Well, you need enough to pay for your travel expenses and accommodations. Sometimes your church will help you raise the funds. Beyond that, not really. In my experience, having lots of money means you’re more likely not to go: Rich people rarely go on missions. I leave it to you to figure out why.

Some ministries, because they get a lot of offers for help, will charge you to help them. (Coordinating volunteers can be a full-time job, you see.) If they’re charging more than it’d reasonably cost them to accommodate and train you, stay away; they’ve got a scam going. But most ministries, especially new ones, will gladly accept the help. They’ll even help you cut your expenses: They’ll connect you with better and cheaper accommodations, food, and so forth.

Because you’re devoting your time and effort specifically to helping out the Kingdom, you’re going to experience the Holy Spirit’s work in a far more intense way than normal. And that’s why certain Christians are willing to go on any missions trip your church offers: It’s amazing to see him work. (Why don’t we see the Spirit do that as often back home? ’Cause at home we’re not devoting our time and effort specifically to the Kingdom—we’re distracted by all our other stuff. Change your lifestyle, and you’ll totally see him as present as he is on the mission field.)

But if you want to start small and inexpensively: Go to a church or ministry in the next town over, and pitch in. There’s plenty to do everywhere.