Friday, March 2, 2012

Missionary or Just Missional?

What's the difference?

I believe that it is possible that one of the only real differences is that the former has a title and lives in a different country... whereas the latter does basically the same "ministry" in their homeland.  Ideally, anyway, I think that should be the case.

As I am considering what life after this year will look like, it is very hard for me to say for sure what direction I will go.  I will likely live at home for a while and might look at ministry opportunities to work with Latinos.  Or I might go back to school for a while and work a part-time job on the side.  I might get married and settle down with a family.  The Lord might lead me to return to Latin America for a longer time period in the future.

The truth is, regardless of what possibilities fill my mind as I drift off to sleep at night, I know one thing:  I want to serve the Lord in whatever capacity I find myself.  Maybe I will live a missional life as a Spanish tutor in Pennsylvania.  Maybe I will support missionaries with the income from my career in the future.  Maybe I will live simply so that I can work part-time and be involved in a ministry in my free time.  Maybe my primary ministry will be in my home and my community.

So no, I don't know what my future will look like, but I do know one thing.  When my official title is no longer "missionary" that doesn't mean that I will stop being one, any more than having the title made me one in the first place!  

2 comments:

Rachel said...

amen hermana

Anonymous said...

Well said, my dear. Both are essential and challenging(neither is more spiritually glamorous than the other--as my younger self used to view overseas ministry--cough cough).

~Whit