The Missing Missionary

I need to file a missing person's report. A missionary is missing in action. Now, don't misunderstand. The missionary I'm referring to hasn't been lost in a remote jungle or kidnapped by terrorists. His airplane didn't disappear from the radar screen. His ship didn't go down at sea. This missionary is missing because he never showed up for duty in the first place.

Who is the missing missionary? Not Jesus. He left the comfort of Heaven on a mission to seek and save the lost. Not Paul. The love of Christ compelled him to be an ambassador for the gospel to the ends of the earth. Not Peter. He was an unschooled, ordinary man, but he never stopped telling others what he had seen and heard about Jesus.

Even God's servants in Old Testament days showed up for duty in the missionary cause. Abraham heard and believed God's promise to bless all people groups on earth (Genesis 12:3). The psalmist begged God to make known his salvation "among all nations" so that "all the peoples" will praise him and "all the ends of the earth will fear him" (Psalm 67:1-7). Daniel served God in the highest echelon of a foreign government, and saw a vision in which "all peoples, nations, and men of every language" worshiped the Messiah (Daniel 7:14). Despite Jonah's personal reluctance to do God's will, under the soggy sea and under a sweltering sun he learned how much God cares about lost people.

Who are the missing missionaries? Not the faithful servants your church supports who reach across cultural barriers with the gospel. Some missionaries have been on the field for years; others are just getting started. An increasing number of them are second-career missionaries who retired from their jobs as engineers, nurses, teachers, and construction workers so they could devote their remaining years of productive service to full-time ministry. Some of them are young recruits, responding to the tug of a missionary call God placed in their hearts at a tender age. Quietly and with little fanfare, soldiers in God's missionary army have scattered to the ends of the earth, taking with them the message of eternal life along with tangible evidence of God's love like food, medicine, education, and job training. If missionaries were completely missing, our world would be a far harsher, sadder, more dangerous place.

Yet, I'm still concerned about the missing missionary. Where is the one God is calling to venture into nations where 95 percent of the population follows Islam? Where is the young Christian willing to tackle the intellectual challenges of ministry on a university campus in London, Mexico City, or Rio de Janeiro? Where is the man or woman whose heart breaks for the children living on the streets in Bangkok, Bombay, and Port au Prince? Where is the one God is calling to patiently cross the cultural barriers that still prevent throngs from coming to Christ in Japan? Where is the bold believer willing to learn a new language and endure the stress of culture shock because it's his "ambition to preach the gospel where Christ is not known" (Romans 15:20)? Where are the husband and wife teams like Priscilla and Aquila who are willing to risk their lives for the sake of the gospel? Surely there are more Christians whose hearts are stirred by God's call to world evangelization.

Where is the missing missionary? Could he or she be right there in your church? Maybe, just maybe, could the missing missionary be you?