3 Ways Missionaries Are Willing

A prayer movement taking place in England is creating the most extraordinary missionaries. One group takes literally what Jesus said to his disciples. They pray, and they say, “OK, Lord, where do you want us to go?”

They’re willing. And we must be willing, too. But how?

Willing to Go
At first, these missionaries would get in a car and drive two or three villages away. But now, they get on planes, and they go to “you fill in the blank” town.

“Oh Lord, you want us to go to Johannesburg.”

“Oh Lord, you want us to go to Nairobi.”

“Oh Lord, you want us to go to Singapore.” And other places.

They take nothing with them. They get off the plane, and they say, “Who should we meet, Lord?” And they meet someone. They’re there on average for two weeks, and they come back with the most remarkable stories of God’s provision and amazing conversions.

Our efforts, in contrast, want to domesticate the words Jesus said to his disciples in a way that keeps us in a place of self-imposed protection. More often than not, when the Spirit of God actually gets hold of someone, there is a genuine missionary impulse, the willingness to step out and be a little more adventurous than they have been in the past.

The particular commissioning story in Matthew 10 is very specific: “Do not go to the Samaritans; go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and here are your marching orders” (cf. Matt. 10:5). But if we take the missionary-sending stories that go through all the gospels, but especially Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we can find some things they have in common that are worthy of consideration.

First is the willingness to go where Jesus tells you. Which assumes a lot. It assumes that I have the kind of relationship with Christ that lets me know I can trust him. Because more often than not, a hesitancy to step out in faith has more to do with my lack of understanding of the nature of God than my own lack of courage.

Willing to Trust
You see, if I understand that God is the one who will come and hold me “like those who lift infants to their cheeks” (Hosea 11:4b), that means I am willing to trust him. It means that there is in him “no condemnation” (Romans 8:1) and that he can and “will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). In other words, if I have that kind of solidity because I understand deep within me who God is, that gives me more fuel to step out and, to use a secular line, “take chances.”

Take chances. That line never appears in the New Testament, which would instead say something like “listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.” I do things I wouldn’t normally do, first of all, because I know that’s who God is, and also because I see myself, by virtue of baptism and confirmation, as a missionary.

By virtue of my core identity, then, I’m not a Christian who is learning to be like my own life. I’m a Christian whom God has sent on mission.

Willing to Step Out
That’s the assumption of literally the entire New Testament. Wherever I am, I’m called to listen, obey, and step out. And if there’s anything inside me that’s hesitant and fearful, it’s either because I don’t understand God very well or because I need a deeper sense of trust.

God, work in me, that I may be more of the one you’ve made your child and an inheritor of the Kingdom of heaven. Because all the rest: the trust for God’s supernatural provision, even for food, clothing, and shelter; the willingness to step out boldly in prayer and expect God to do extraordinary things: heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons—all of that flows out of that kind of confidence that comes from a heart that says, “I know who he is, and I know who he’s made me.”

And because those are true, I can begin to step out.

Don’t write off these missionary sendings as something that was particular to Jesus’ first disciples. They’re too consistent. They say something to the church as a whole that we are also called to hear, something that challenges us and invites us into be a part of this remarkable movement where the people of God step out, and God uses them in extraordinary ways. And out of that, something happens which can only be described as the Kingdom of God.

Are you willing to go? To trust? To step out? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer.

(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on July 7, 2016, in the Bishop’s Oratory of the Diocesan Office, Orlando.)

Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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