Missions Is all About Doing what Jesus Commanded Us to Do

Growing up in the church and attending GA class, I would always hear about these amazing missionaries who traveled across oceans to different places around the world and participated in missions.

However, as the years went by, I formed the common misconception that missions had to be a grand gesture, like week-long missions trips abroad, to be considered missions. It wasn’t until much later that I realized the things I was already doing in my community were missions. The times I helped in the food pantry or helped with the kids during the summer were both a part of missions.

I think sometimes we overthink and overcomplicate missions. Missions is all about doing what Jesus commanded us to do. In Matthew 28:18–20, Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations.

We also tend to lose sight of the main motive of living a missions lifestyle. We live on mission and go on missions trips to bring others to Christ. We disciple people and share the good news with them because we want them to be a part of God’s kingdom.

Missions can be an expensive trip to rebuild houses in a third-world country, but it can also be a morning spent helping with a canned food drive in your community. The most important part of missions is the action you take to help someone come to know and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

I feel called to missions because it is something that I love doing. Knowing that my acts of service can spread the light of Jesus to others that desperately need it is enough reason to keep doing missions. Missions is something that Jesus called all His followers to do, and that is exactly what I want to do.

I also feel called to missions because you can form life-changing connections with people. I love hearing the life stories of the people I meet and what they have gone through.

In the same way, it is amazing to be able to share my life experiences and get to tell others how God has changed my life. The ability to form these connections and to serve in missions have been significant moments in my life.

Doing missions and ministering to others can be difficult, which is understandable. There are moments in my own life when it is hard for me to feel comfortable talking to people too. But as a follower of Christ, the Holy Spirit resides in you and He will be the push that moves you to connect with other people.

By leaving your comfort zone, with the power of the Holy Spirit, you can do amazing things. God can do amazing things through you. All you have to be is open to what God asks of you, whether it is moving to another country to share your belief in God or simply having a heart-to-heart conversation with your neighbor. Either way, the impact you could have on others by allowing yourself to leave your comfort zone for God is too big for you to ignore.