Summary
Every Christian a Missionary
The numbers tell a sobering story. Roughly 20% of Americans attend church weekly, while 57% seldom or never attend a religious service at all. Among non-churchgoing members of Gen Z, 72% express doubts about whether God exists. Globally, Christianity remains the largest religion at about 31% of the world's population, but the third-largest "category" is now those with no religious affiliation whatsoever. The mission field, in other words, is not somewhere far away—it is the house next door, the cubicle across the hall, the line at the grocery store.
This is why the New Testament's Great Commission cannot be quarantined to career missionaries or once-a-year youth trips. In each of the Gospels and at the opening of Acts, the risen Christ commissions His followers in nearly identical terms. He tells them to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them" and "teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you" Matthew 28:18-20. He sends them to "proclaim the good news to the whole creation" Mark 16:15. He opens their minds to the Scriptures and declares, "You are witnesses of these things" Luke 24:44-48. John records his Gospel so that readers "may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah" John 20:30-31. And before He ascends, Jesus promises the Spirit's power so His disciples will be witnesses "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" Acts 1:8.
Notice what Jesus does not say. He does not specify a week-long trip, an age range, or a passport stamp. He gives no time frame and no narrow geography. The command is simply: go, proclaim, witness, baptize, teach—wherever you are. If the Lord calls someone to China or Bangladesh as a vocation, that is a holy calling. But the Christian who stays in DFW is no less commissioned. As Lesson from the Mission Field 11-10-24 puts it, mission begins the moment you wake up, with every person you encounter—spouse, child, roommate, neighbor, the stranger online. Believers need the Word as much as unbelievers do. We are all on an "eternal mission trip" this side of heaven.
Paul models this expanding sphere of witness in 2 Corinthians 10:13-18. He keeps within the field God has assigned him, hopes that his sphere of action will be enlarged as the faith of others grows, and refuses to boast in another's labor. The picture is like a drop of color spreading through milk: the Holy Spirit touches one person, and through that person He touches others, and the kingdom expands—not for our glory but for God's. We don't see the whole picture, but as Paul David Tripp observes, God doesn't merely inform us about the work of His kingdom; He calls us into it as participants.
This also reframes what is often called a "personal relationship with Jesus." A relationship with Christ is real and personal, but it is never private or solitary. As Lutheran theologian Chad Bird has argued, no Christian is meant to be an island. The relationship Jesus calls us into is communal by design—a faith received in the Body of Christ and carried outward to others. To be in Christ is to be sent.
What does that look like in ordinary life? It looks like sitting down at FriendSpeak with an international visitor and walking through Luke's account of Jesus' temptation, defining words like sin and devil and worship for someone hearing them for the first time, and watching her face light up when she learns the rainbow is God's promise Genesis 9. It looks like volunteering at a pro-life clinic and spending seven minutes with a frightened young man, talking about options for his child and about the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. In both cases, the missionary did not produce the harvest—the Holy Spirit did. The missionary simply showed up, planted seeds, and trusted God to do the rest. That is the calling Christ has placed on every baptized believer: not to be informed about the kingdom, but to be sent into it, right where you already are.
Video citations
- Lesson from the Mission Field 11-10-24 — Good morning. Okay, so we are starting a new Sunday school class. We'll be doing this for three weeks. And I think we're going to have a lot of fun with this. But fun is always a driving force for…