My oldest child was always fascinated with geography. When he was three, I made him a blanket with a fabric world map on one side and red flannel on the other; by early elementary, he had memorized the locations and names of all of the continents and most of the countries displayed on this map. When he claimed his own room in the basement at 13, he convinced me to help him hang a floor to ceiling map mural on one wall (Pro tip: Never ever wallpaper with your teenage son.) By high school, he wowed his peers by biting his sandwiches into the shapes of most of the states in the US (Hawaii and Michigan are hard), and by his junior year in college, he had spent one entire summer and a part of another in a country across the ocean. So, when he approached his father and me a few months after his college graduation and told us he felt called to be an overseas missionary, the desire seemed par for the course. Finally, after searching for and finding a mission-loving wife, our son and his new bride took a very long flight across the ocean and made their home in a foreign land.
Mis·sion·ar·y
When people ask me why my kids are living overseas, I have a variety of responses. If the questioner is older and a member of a mainline denomination, I often say my kids are missionaries; if I am speaking to a younger crowd, especially those from an evangelical background, I use the term church planter; but, if I am unsure of the faith status of the individual, or if I don’t know their motive in asking the question, I will say my kids are working for a mission organization. Most of those responses give just enough information to sufficiently end the conversation. I don’t give vague answers only to protect my kids’ team and their identities, I give vague answers because, truthfully, I don’t really know what they are doing and how they are doing it. I am okay with this lack of clarity however, because although I might not understand my missionary’s specific tasks, I understand the big picture. Let me explain.
God’s Master Plan
A dozen years ago when our son was contemplating overseas missions, my husband, our son, and I enrolled in a class called Perspectives. For those unfamiliar with the course, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, is a 15 week course “designed around four vantage points or “perspectives” — Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic. Each one highlights different aspects of God’s global purpose.” In this class, we learned that God’s global purpose–his master plan–is to bring all people–every tongue, tribe, and nation–to himself, so they might know, love, and serve him. As Christians, then, our purpose is to tell others of God’s purposes and invite them to join the family. Christopher Wright, in his book, “The Mission of God,” gives a succinct–albeit wordy– definition:
Mission is “our committed participation as God’s people at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission within the history of the world for the redemption of God’s creation.”[1]
The Perspectives class and other books (such as Wright’s above) helped me to grasp the big picture of mission; it was not to be understood just as the expansion of Christianity globally, but rather as the task given to Christ-followers everywhere to “communicate the good news not only with their words but also with their lives and deeds.”[2] We are all to live as people on mission, joining God in what he is already doing to redeem his people and his creation. Mission is God’s idea, not the church’s invention. I don’t have to understand the details of my kids’ daily lives to understand their job. Their task is the same as mine. We are supposed to live our lives in a way that brings God glory and makes him attractive to the world.
To the Doubting Mama (and Dad)
If I were not a Christ-follower, I think I would be skeptical of people who claimed to know God’s purpose for the world. You might be the parent that thinks your kids are too religious, too serious, and too far away from home. You may resent this whole “Master Plan” (and maybe God himself; he seems to be the one responsible for your child’s absence.) I wish I could invite you over for coffee and talk with you about Jesus; I wish that I could convince you that he is faithful and strong and true. But since I can’t, please hear me: God created us to reflect him; we chose our own way; our sinful minds rejected him. He sent Jesus to be perfect for us. When we believe in Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and we can come close to God again. This is the gospel. Your kids believe it! Ask them about their relationship with Jesus, about the people that they serve, about their hopes for the future. And keep on loving them–even if you don’t fully understand–as they pursue God’s mission for the world.
“Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!”
~Psalm 96:3
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[1] Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), pp.22-23.
[2] Michael W. Goheen, Introducing Christian Mission Today (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), p. 26.
Parents of Goers 