Reasons NOT to become a missionary (Part 1)
One thing I often get told as a missionary is, “I could never do what you do.” It’s definitely a well-meaning comment and they say it with complete sincerity. Then often they seem to blurt out a stream of reasons to justify what they just said.
So, I thought I would save you the stress of coming up with reasons why you shouldn’t become a missionary.
It’ll ruin all your plans…
I never thought I would become a missionary. I would teach in the UK for a good number of years. I would retire.
After that, I would live in a cute, little cottage in the English countryside. I would probably have a dog. And I would definitely have chickens. (There would be six: Lottie, Dottie, Spotty, Hetty, Lettie and Betty.)
So, I had my future all planned out.
If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be driving around a country in Asia on a motorbike, buying fruit and vegetables at a local wet market, and speaking a very difficult language to learn, I’d have suggested you should see a doctor. It would have seemed impossible and crazy.
Maybe you relate to this.
You’ve got your 10-year plan. You’ve got your goals and your steps. Maybe it’s a rewarding career, or plans for a family, or to achieve something like running a marathon, or buying a retirement villa in the south of France. (Or maybe all of the above, because we all like to believe that goals are like Pokémons, we gotta catch them all — but that’s a topic for another post.)
But, whatever your future plans are, they most certainly do not involve cross-cultural missions. So, that’s a good enough reason to never even consider it, right?
…but God will give you better ones
What if, though, God has got something better planned for you? If we took the words of Ephesians 3:20–21 seriously, then it is probably the case:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
What if, by pursuing your perfect plan, you’re missing out on something immeasurably more?
I love my life in Asia. It’s hectic, colourful, rich, exciting and rewarding. I’ve met incredible people, including my wife. I have grown so much as a Christian and a person. I’ve pushed myself in ways that I never thought I would (driving a motorbike for a start).
Deciding to just humour the possibility that my plan wasn’t that great was the best decision in my life. It’s not as if my plan was bad. It is God’s plan for many people. But, God knew me far better than I knew myself. He knows the deepest desires of my heart, the ones that I didn’t even know were there. He knew that a life in Asia would be what I needed.
Before we go any further, however, I do want to put in a disclaimer. Going overseas is not easy. Many people really struggle with their new country. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not a part of God’s perfect plan. I’ve even relished the really difficult moments, because, somehow, through the situation, God revealed his goodness.
Just Ask
You may be asking, then, what changed? How did I go from someone who would say they would never become a cross-cultural missionary, to someone who has lived and served in Asia for nearly 7 years? It’s really simple: I asked God what His plans for me were.
I realised that I had been listening to the career advice, advertisements, social expectations of what a good life looked like. Again, my plans were not wrong. What I had failed to do, however, was to ask God. It turns out He actually knows a thing or two about the future. It seems silly, doesn’t it? I got caught up in my own thoughts of what the world should be like, I forgot to ask the One who actually invented it.
So I would encourage you to put your plans to the side for a minute. Find somewhere quiet. Take some time out. And just ask God what His plans for you are. Ask God if you are called to be a missionary. You never know, He may have something brilliant in mind.
Justin Marsh is a missionary who has served in Asia for over six years. He is the country leader of a team of missionaries and has just completed an MA that looks at missional practice. Whilst his team works within a range of contexts across the country, Justin’s focus is the Muslim minority groups.
