Please don't send me to Africa...

I grew up going to churches that celebrated "missions." I have fond memories of meals made by missionaries to give us a taste of their daily lives. I remember slide shows - the kind where you had to slot each individual slide into the carousel then click through, and inevitably there'd be an empty slot or an upside-down slide...! I also remember dressing up in clothes from various countries. It was all very fascinating! (Now I feel like driving out to my parents' place and setting up the old slide projector. I'm pretty sure the kids would think it was the coolest thing ever!)

As a young girl, I often wondered if God would "call" me into missions. I was somewhat relieved to never get the call, whatever I thought that would look like. I remember a song called "Please Don't Send Me to Africa" - if you've never heard it, or maybe you want a little blast from the past, I found it on YouTube. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITmHLf1DB_0 (the song starts around 1:50). It's a fun poke at the pew-warmer, but I suspect a lot of us felt like this. Missionaries seemed like a different breed: they make huge sacrifices, often saying goodbye to friends and family for years at a time. They struggle to learn new languages and cultures, and eat unfamiliar foods. I viewed them with awe and admiration, thinking they must be pretty amazing to do what they do. (And, for the record, I still think they're pretty awesome, living their lives in whole-hearted surrender like that. It's a beautiful thing!)

Then came the day I first heard the "We're all supposed to be missionaries!" talk. The main idea, as I recall, was that those of us who stayed home weren't somehow free of the responsibility to tell people about Jesus. We should all be actively sharing the Good News with our friends and acquaintances. I remember thinking it was a good point, but didn't it somehow diminish the radical and sacrificial nature of what missionaries were doing? Inviting a friend from school to attend a youth event with me doesn't exactly compare to selling your house, leaving everything familiar behind, and moving around the world. Won't the "real" missionaries resent it if we elevate ourselves to their level without making any of the sacrifices they're making??

Well, I'm starting to wonder if we haven't missed the point altogether with the way we often view missionaries (and others in full-time ministry) and set them apart as so very different from the rest of us. In fact, I'm wondering if my safe and comfortable life hasn't missed the point. When Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matthew 28, He didn't preface it with "If you feel called..." - He simply reminded His followers of His power and authority, then said "Go." (There's the call. It's for all of us.) His disciples, overwhelmed by His love and empowered by the Holy Spirit, lived radical, transformed lives. How is it that so many of us who call ourselves followers of Christ look more comfortable than radical? Maybe our mistake hasn't been elevating missionaries, but allowing ourselves to be content with complacency, comfort, and safety. What if our lives, as Christians, were marked by sacrifice and purpose? What if we actually approached our days with a sense of urgency and passion? I bet we'd see God's power unleashed in unimaginable ways. I bet we'd see less poverty, more children adopted into families, and chains of oppression breaking around the world!

For many years, I (subconsciously?) bought in to the idea that I wasn't called to live a life of radical surrender to God. I thought that was just for a select few. I'm starting to think that's the only way to really live. As J.D. Greear says in his book, Gospel, "gospel-centered people offer themselves to God, joyfully, and then do whatever He directs them to do, knowing that only what He empowers them to do will do any real good. That's what we are responsible for - offering all we have to God and asking for His direction." Let's do that! Let's offer all we have to God and then do whatever He leads us to do. And then let's get together to eat some good food and watch a few slide shows and celebrate, in stunned awe, what our great God is doing in our world!