Reasons NOT to become a missionary (Part 2)
There are many reasons that the missionary life is not for you. In part one, I wrote about how it might not fit with your future plans or goals. This story, is more about why you might not like the idea of leaving home. Then, it gets even more tricky, because when you do finally settle in your host country — where is home?
Home becomes a confusing word
You might consider yourself a homebody. The ideal night in is with your feet up, sitting on your sofa, watching the latest Netflix series, and eating Ben and Jerry’s. (I mean, that is the ideal night for everyone, right?)
Or perhaps you are really embedded in your community. You know everyone: the cashiers at your local supermarket, the library, the ladies who run the doctor’s office, your dentist…
All your significant links are within a 5-mile radius: friends, families, your dentist. You know how to get anywhere without looking at Google Maps. You know exactly where home is and you are very, very comfortable there.
So, to just get up and leave would mean abandoning all that. You would be tearing up all those relationships; you would have to start all over again. It seems too hard and is it really worth it?
Jesus seems to think it is. Matthew 19:29 says something a bit strange:
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
Jesus says that those who do the hard thing of leaving behind their family, friends, familiar places, their dentist, will receive a hundred times as much as what they left behind. And from my experience, it’s true. Of course, I miss my family and my friends. I especially miss seeing nephews and nieces grow up. But God has given me things that have been such a blessing.
First, God gave me my wife.
Second, he’s given people that I consider to be brothers and sisters. They are the people I cry with, the ones that know too many details about my illnesses (occupational hazard), and the ones that help me when living in a new country seems too crazy.
Third, he’s given me places that I love visiting and now know like the back of my hand. I love my neighbourhood. I get smiles from the market sellers and from the men drinking tea outside the local café.
Seeing the men and boys walking in their long, flowing shirts, and their round skullcap as they walk to the mosque is comforting in its familiarity. Even the call to prayer throughout the day starts to say, in its warbling melody, you are where you are meant to be.
After a while, you realise that the place where God has led you is home. This can make life confusing and you start to ask yourself, “Where do I call home?” Is it where you grew up? Or is it your new country? Or is it a bit of both?
Home is where the heart is
A part of missionary life is going around and visiting churches in your home country. As my wife is American, we have spent time touring there. We’ve also spent time visiting various places in the UK.
And as we visited those places, both felt like home.
For one of us, the country wasn’t the place we grew up. And nor is it a place we’re particularly familiar with. We couldn’t give directions in the other person’s country as we’re not there enough to get that type of knowledge.
But, it felt comfortable; it felt like we could belong; it felt like home. We realised that home was anywhere we could serve and worship God. And luckily for us, that’s anywhere.
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. He is the owner of the publication THE CO-MISSION.
