Missionaries

Mark 16:15

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

I’ve always been fascinated by missionaries.  As a “PK” I had frequent contact with missionaries growing up.  In my childhood I had the opportunity to get to know missionaries as they would visit with us while on furlough.  When I was a kid I had a friend named John Torres.  His parents were missionaries to New Mexico and they lived behind our church in their RV for about six months.  John and I hung out constantly and ran all over town together.  He and his family came back when touring churches several years later and our friendship was instantly renewed to the way it had been.  We were teenagers by then, but he and his sister Christine and I were inseparable for the time they were with us.  To be completely honest, I don’t know where God has taken John and Christine in their adult lives, but I do think of them every now and then and pray for God’s hand in their lives. 

Of course, of all my childhood missionary family experiences, none could top the Silveiras family.  When I was about nine we had an entire family of missionaries (the Silveiras’ — a couple with their six children) living in a pop-up camper in our backyard.  The camper belonged to my grandparents and they loaned it to my parents for the missionaries since they had no home in the states.  I don’t remember much about the Silveiras family (I was only nine after all) but I do remember the ketchup.  Yes, you read right — ketchup.  See, the Silveiras’ had spent their lives ministering in the parts of Brazil that you never see on travel brochures.  They had never tasted that wonder of American culinary masterpieces, the condiment of condiments — ketchup.  Now, personally I don’t really care for ketchup unless I am really in a mood to have it on my french fries.  But these folks were amazed by it.  They put ketchup on everything!   And by everything, I mean everything.  Trust me when I say that it is an experience not to be forgotten when you witness someone who is not in the stages of advancing pregnancy dump a large glob of ketchup into a bowl of ice cream and tuck in!  They loved ketchup — in bottles, in jars, in those little foil packets you got in the drive through (which was a whole other marvel to them as well).   The problem was they were so in love with the whole concept of ketchup that they missed out on a variety of other tasty condiments and meal compliments (and often missed the taste of a meal itself by covering it with ketchup).  It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever forget (and now neither will you thanks to that ice cream reference!).

It strikes me now as an adult that throughout my entire childhood, teen years and young adulthood that whenever I think of missionaries I think of the Torres’ and the Silveiras’ living in our backyard and becoming our friends.   It reminds me that missionaries are more than just a photo on a card that you stick to your refrigerator with a cute little magnet.  They are more than the tired-looking family in slightly out of date clothes traveling the countryside reporting on their successes.  They are more than endless slide shows of toothless grins and dirty toddlers.  Our missionaries are real people with real needs. 

But what about us? Aren’t we supposed to be missionaries too?

You may think that you don’t have a place with missions.  You may think that since you are too old, too young, too infirm or too whatever to actually go to the mission field that you cannot be a missionary.  Our church motto is “Across the street and around the world.”  If you can’t go around the world, you can cross the street. And while scripture tells us to “go out into all the world” that can also mean the widow on the corner or the struggling single mom down the street.

There are a number of ways to think of those sharing God’s word throughout the world.  Don’t let your concept of missions be limited to ketchup.  You know, you can’t make a meal out of ketchup.  As much as you like it, it’s still just a condiment meant to compliment a dish not be the dish and even though we couldn’t convince the Silveiras family, it’s still just one of many condiments.  So many times I think that when we think of missionaries and mission work, we think we can’t be involved because we can’t go to the mission field.  We can’t be the ketchup on the Gospel meal.  But we don’t have to be ketchup.  We can be mustard, mayo or my personal fave, ranch dressing.  There are so many ways to serve and so many ways to be involved.  Don’t be like the Silveiras family.  Don’t limit your focus to one taste.  God didn’t.  Just as He created different people groups that need to be ministered to, He created different people types to minister.  In doing so, He also created many different ways to minister.  If you’re ketchup, great, but if you’re not, don’t give up.  We can each be a tasty way to deliver the Gospel meal to those who are hungry.  Ask God to use you in any way He sees fit and your flavor will always be the perfect compliment to His message.