Photo Credit to
Ian Christmann
When I first started this journey with Youth With A Mission, YWAM, a little over three years ago I told people, "YWAM is just a place I can get my foot in the door for missions." I knew I wanted to be a missionary, but honestly I had no clue what that meant. Actually, if I'm really being honest, I thought in order to be a missionary I would have to live in the worst conditions possible, truly "suffering" for Jesus. I thought I would be working in an orphanage all day, sleeping in a hut in the middle of the jungle, living on little to nothing, and head back to the States once or twice a year. I knew what missionaries do was certainly important and probably hard, especially leaving family, friends, and comfort, but what I didn't know was that before I even entered into YWAM I was already a missionary. (I may not have been acting like it but that's a story for another time!) My biggest revelation over the past couple of years and even more so the past couple of months is that we are all called by God to be missionaries.We all have the same mission mandate; to first love God, love others, and love ourselves (Mark 12:30-31) and then we are all called to make disciples. (Matthew 28:19) The only difference between missionaries is location. I don't think what I do is any more "Missionary like" than my mom teaching high school kids, or my dad running a business with integrity, or my Granddad who works at the food bank, or my Grandmother who takes care of everyone, or my sister who's going to school...I think you're catching my drift. We are all called to live our lives in such a way that honors God and brings Him glory, the only difference between us is the location in which we feel called. Being a missionary is a way of life, lifestyle, not some three year long mission commitment like I thought it was when I first started out.
Regardless of whether I'm with YWAM the rest of my life or God chooses to bring me somewhere else, regardless of wherever you are at this very moment or where God is calling you to, the mission stays the same, "Love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind...love your neighbor as yourself." So, the good news for me is that as it turns out I don't have to live in some far away jungle land to be a missionary, and YWAM isn't just a "Foot in the door" (I just so happened to have landed a pretty sweet spot on the beach, thank you Jesus!) and neither do you, unless of course He's calling you to do that, then I would obey. The truth is as a Christian you are a missionary and the mission field is everywhere. The world needs us to live our lives in such a way that brings God all the glory, the location is just a small detail in that call.
When I first started this journey with Youth With A Mission, YWAM, a little over three years ago I told people, "YWAM is just a place I can get my foot in the door for missions." I knew I wanted to be a missionary, but honestly I had no clue what that meant. Actually, if I'm really being honest, I thought in order to be a missionary I would have to live in the worst conditions possible, truly "suffering" for Jesus. I thought I would be working in an orphanage all day, sleeping in a hut in the middle of the jungle, living on little to nothing, and head back to the States once or twice a year. I knew what missionaries do was certainly important and probably hard, especially leaving family, friends, and comfort, but what I didn't know was that before I even entered into YWAM I was already a missionary. (I may not have been acting like it but that's a story for another time!) My biggest revelation over the past couple of years and even more so the past couple of months is that we are all called by God to be missionaries.We all have the same mission mandate; to first love God, love others, and love ourselves (Mark 12:30-31) and then we are all called to make disciples. (Matthew 28:19) The only difference between missionaries is location. I don't think what I do is any more "Missionary like" than my mom teaching high school kids, or my dad running a business with integrity, or my Granddad who works at the food bank, or my Grandmother who takes care of everyone, or my sister who's going to school...I think you're catching my drift. We are all called to live our lives in such a way that honors God and brings Him glory, the only difference between us is the location in which we feel called. Being a missionary is a way of life, lifestyle, not some three year long mission commitment like I thought it was when I first started out.
Regardless of whether I'm with YWAM the rest of my life or God chooses to bring me somewhere else, regardless of wherever you are at this very moment or where God is calling you to, the mission stays the same, "Love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind...love your neighbor as yourself." So, the good news for me is that as it turns out I don't have to live in some far away jungle land to be a missionary, and YWAM isn't just a "Foot in the door" (I just so happened to have landed a pretty sweet spot on the beach, thank you Jesus!) and neither do you, unless of course He's calling you to do that, then I would obey. The truth is as a Christian you are a missionary and the mission field is everywhere. The world needs us to live our lives in such a way that brings God all the glory, the location is just a small detail in that call.