What is a missionary?

What is a missionary to you? When I say missionary, what comes to your mind? Many people I know, when asked this question, would say that a missionary is someone who spreads the gospel to people all over the world. This is true, but this should only be part of the definition. The sad reality is that for many people, missionaries and non-missionaries alike, this is all they do. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for preaching the gospel. We are commanded to do it and it is necessary to do as Christians. We are called to do much more than this though. We are called to minister to the whole needs of a person. In the Hebrew language the word for this is "Shalom". "Shalom" basically means being whole in every area of life. This includes wholeness of spirit, body and emotion. This idea of "Shalom" was God's original plan when he created the earth. Everything was to be whole and complete. When Adam and Eve sinned, that wholeness was broken. I believe that we as Christians are called to try to restore that wholeness in people's lives.

The problem is that many missionaries don't see people's needs as being multi-layered. My biggest problem with some missionaries today is that they think church planting is all that needs to be done. I understand that they have good intentions, but this makes no sense. Let me give you a real life example, I talked to someone about a year back that had just returned from a trip to Africa. She said that she had to be very careful about calling herself a while she was there, because the term "missionary" had a very negative connotation. This was because there had been many missionaries to the areas she had visited in the past that came only to build churches. She said that there were people all around that had no clean water, were starving, and had no houses to live in. Despite all of this need, the only thing the missionaries did was build churches! Are you kidding me?!?! The missionaries were so driven by their own agenda, that they failed to see the needs of the people all around them. This begs the questions: "If the people are dying, how will they come to know Christ?" and, "Is someone having a building to worship in more important than daily food and water?"

The needs in the community I spoke of were not being met. Therefore people were not coming to Christ, because there was no love shown for them. These missionaries came in, built churches, and left. There was no concern for the physical and emotional needs for the people. The people saw this as the missionaries not caring for them, so they developed this negative feeling towards missionaries in general. I find this to be very upsetting. How could such great needs go so unmet? How could they ignore the suffering and poverty around them? I can not answer these questions, so my goal is to change people's view of missionaries.

I want a missionary to be known as a person that shows God's love through teaching, assisting, counselling, and preaching to the people that need it the most. It is proven that people who are helped at the same time they are ministered to, are much more likely to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. So that is my mission, to change what people view as missions and missionaries. I want to be a missionary, but I don't want to build churches. I want to help people become self-sufficient and through this, show them the love of God. After all, it was the poor, sick, and outcasts that Jesus ministered to the most.

I'm a crazy hippie that wants to spread God's love "to the least of these"...so don't try to get in my way.