defining the term

MISSIONARY.

What exactly is a missionary? Here at Cornerstone and EBC we throw the term around quite a bit. I have heard people use the term "missionary" in these ways:

"We should all be missionaries where we are; in our neighborhoods, at work, and with our families."
"You are a missionary wherever you go."
"I want to be a missionary."
"A missionary is one who preaches the gospel where Christ has not yet been named; every thing else is just cross cultural evangelism."

Ok, so often times when I talk to my dad on the phone, I ask him when he is going to be a missionary. I usually get the same reply, "I am a missionary. God has called me to do Upward Basketball." Dude. That is totally legit. But for some reason I keep pressing. I just feel like using my life to tell the unreached about the Gospel is so important, and I want others to share in that joy with me...I especially want my parents to share that, because I love them so dearly.

So, yesterday I brought the question up again. "Dad, when are you going to be a missionary?" He replied, "If I am going to be a missionary, I am probably going to do domestic missions. I would probably go to the poverty-stricken Appalachia region." I accepted the reply not so much out of satisfaction with the answer as out of respect for my father.

Then this morning I was praying for him. I asked God how I should pray for him, and God totally humbled me. God pretty much said that being a missionary to Appalachia was more an act of humility than going to an unreached tribe somewhere over seas. For my parents to get up and move to the most un-glorious place in America, for the sake of the gospel is truly sacrifice.

As much as I would love for them to experience planting a church in the jungle somewhere, I think that being a "missionary" in the Appalachian Mountains is a greater sacrifice. Who wouldn't want to go live in the beautiful jungle, learn a new culture and language, and then see a pure and beautiful church form out of nothing? There is so much reward in that, even here on earth! But to go live in the poverty of forgotten America, among the narrow minds of the religious folk and the moonshine and shotguns would take a serious act of humility.

With all of that said, I still think that a missionary is one who goes out to the unreached. Sharing the Gospel where you are, that is called a Christian.

So, if you are seirously staying in America as an act of submission to God, and not as a cop-out for going overseas, Hallelujah! Praise God that you are so overwhelmed by his love that you are sharing it with your unbelieving friends here. But if your reason for staying is that you have not felt "called" to missions....we have some talking to do.