The problem becomes the modern connotations with the term “evangelism,” some of which are valid and others that are so disconnected from the biblical reality and confused with man-made traditions that it doesn’t properly express what it means to be like Christ.  To use the term, evangelism, as biblical as the word is, brings to mind a one-way communication of the gospel designed to bring another person to conversion.  Now, at some point, evangelism, even with this definition, should happen.  The gospel must be communicated.  Some point of commitment, repentance, is made.  This is good, but only one piece of the picture if that’s all we understand.

A missionary is a more complete picture of what I’m talking about and is what is needed to bring believers to understand what it means to be like Christ and what we are all called to.  A missionary is sent from one land and one people to another land and another people to spread the good news of the kingdom of God.  Doesn’t sound like a big difference, but if you look at it, it is.  We have been sent by God from His kingdom and His Church to the world and to its people to call them back to His Kingdom and His Church with us.

A missionary takes time to listen and learn, to discern the culture around him and his situation and context.  A missionary feels called to people, not just to a message or just to preach.  A missionary falls in love with these people and challenges them to leave their land and people for the kingdom and the church.  A missionary seeks to remove cultural barriers, not create them.  A missionary is willing to change his own stripes, as much as he can, to become all things to all men, to win them to Christ.  A missionary seeks to learn, humbly, about a people before he tries to teach them.

A true missionary will evangelize by nature, but his identity is more like Christ, an alien in the land, and therefore a better representation of Him.  The missionary will make disciples, not just converts, seek an indigenous expression of the church in a culture and place and time.

I’ve lived in another country, another culture; I know what it means to look and feel stupid, to be humbled, to not be able to communicate, to only eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because those were the only ingredients we could recognize at the store, to learn to love without feeling superior and appreciate other peoples not like me.  It is powerful.

The truth, however, is I am just as much a stranger in a strange land here in the US as I was in Korea.  And so are you.  Start thinking like a missionary.

I know I promised some thoughts on the gospel … those are coming up … one more on being a missionary and then we’ll get there .

Peace.

Some of the responses I would get would be how great it was that we were missionaries and what a great experience that must be and so on and so forth.  So when we had the little get together at Faith Community, what God put on my heart to encourage people with was this: you are a missionary.  Everyone who is a true disciple of Christ is a missionary.  I just happen to do it in a different country.  You’re called to be a missionary here.

Yeah, people didn’t really get it.  They still don’t.  At the end of our four years in Korea, God told me, “I’m sending you back to the US to be a missionary there.”  As usual, God has me put up or shut up.  I knew what He meant, and much of what that entailed.  People didn’t have a problem with us living like missionaries in a different country (living simply or in community, focused on the kingdom, etc).  They loved it … overseas.  But it challenges people when you live like that next door to them.  It challenges their idea of what it means to be Christian since so much of it has been tied up into being American.

If you are to be a “Christian,” or “like Christ,” then you have been sent AS HE WAS SENT.  That scripture is as clear as the nose on your face and takes some serious self reflection to truly understand.  Here is the scripture if you don’t believe me, from John 20:21: “Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you!  As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’”

Jesus was sent from the Father to heal a broken world, to give hope to the poor, to call people to righteousness, to preach about the judgment, to heal the sick, raise the dead, and deliver from demons.

So were you.

You have been sent to preach good news.  You are a missionary.  You are called to look at the world around you as an alien and a stranger, as someone from another world and another kingdom, and to call people to that world and kingdom … because it is good news.  It is the best news EVER.  And you don’t hide a light under a basket, you set it on a hill and declare it.  That is not for a few Jim Elliots or, to a much lesser degree, Britt Mooneys or others.  It is for everyone born of God to be sent to a hurt and dying world.

Forget evangelism.  You are a missionary.  Start thinking like one.

This naturally leads to a discussion on the gospel … which comes next.

Peace.

We left as two and returned as three. We gave up a life in Atlanta and received a life all over the world. We have places to go in several states and countries … all with family we acquired while in Korea.

Becca and I have received numerous brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers and children as a reward for our time in Korea. This is why, despite the hardship and sacrifices, all we know of our time in Korea is joy. Our reward has so surpassed our sacrifice that we don’t feel like we gave much at all.

This is common among most missionaries, even those that suffered far worse and sacrificed far more than we ever did.

What I keep from Korea:

Community is the most important aspect of the Body of Christ. You will grow to the degree you have intimate relationships with other believers. Without them it is only an organization. It is not the Church.

People learn best when they are taught by example. Words mean little to nothing without the testimony to back it up. Sometimes worship teaches Christians how to follow the Spirit in their own life. It is crucial that more people see this as the Day approaches.

Your gift will give you opportunity. You don’t have to manipulate situations or force your own opportunities. God is faithful and, if you are humble, will give you more than you asked for.

Be free from the traditions of men. Be committed because you have relationship, not because you meet in the same building or share a common registry.

Live like a missionary at war wherever you are. Travel when you can. Live simply so you can move quickly and invest in the Kingdom.

Give to the poor.

If you hear one thing from me, hear this. Go. Leave. If you feel any inclination at all, be an active participant in spreading the gospel in another country. You can’t imagine the reward.

Peace.

This had been on our hearts when we arrived in Korea, but we did not wish to conflict with other ministries, and at the time, local fellowships had something on every night of the week. So we just forgot about it.

Months later, when Larry suggested our own meeting, Thursday evening opened up. We quickly started a meeting that was a blessing to many for a year and a half. We fed people, loved on them and led them in freedom and worship. Becca and I learned so much during that time. God brought several special people in our lives, people we call friends to this day.

All at once our lives changed again. Fred Stock and family were moving on, and there was no one to take over a local ministry, the Hospitality House. God led us to walk through this open door, and God blessed us with another year and a half as leaders among a loving community of believers.

At the same time, Larry Trammell passed away, and Becca became pregnant with Micah. While we didn’t move to another country, our whole lives turned upside down. Again, God’s grace was evident and sifficient through every trial.

We traveled extensively over our four years. We went on three missions trips, to a wedding in Hawaii and spent half a summer in Germany. Micah alone went to 4 countries before his first birthday. I’ve seen the Great Wall and the sunset in Fiji. I swan under a waterfall in the Philippines. I heard the roar of worshp in India. I gained five or ten pounds eating at corner bakeries in Germany.

Becca and I also gave abundantly through this time, despite earning considerably less. We lived simply and gave more than we ever had before.

The House was an opportunity for me to put principles in place the Lord had taught me over the years. While it was a temptation to just perform according th the status quo, we boldly proclaimed the freedom in Christ available through corporate worship. We watched beautiful Body ministry happen on a level few have ever experienced. It was everything I ever wanted in a community.

Then God called us to return to Atlanta.

I don’t believe you can fully prepare to go overseas and live as a missionary. I know that many organizations have their methods of orientation, and they do help, but the actual transition that you go through cannot be fully understood in a seminar or conference setting. Practice is always different from the actual game. As necessary as practice can be, once the clock starts and it is for real, it all changes.

This is why leaving alone is not sufficient. We had to be the people we were called to be in the place He called us to. We had to play in the game where the score counted.

Several difficulties had to be addressed. First, just the ability to do “normal” things was limited. We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a month or so until we figured out how to get certain things at the local grocery store. You feel like an idiot when you live in another culture for an extended period of time because everybody seems to inherently know so much that you do not. I embarass myself routinely in my home culture, so you can only imagine the horror I was there sometimes.

It was incredibly humbling. What a blessing.

Of course, we had to make new friends. While it was a blessing to mourn our American-ness, it was torture, literally, to mourn our close friendships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. There is an eternal nature to them that is difficult to live without when certain people have become a part of you.

Opening up and becoming vulnerable in the midst of that was hard and necessary all at once. Thankfully, our new community made it difficult to be isolated, and we did make some amazing friends that are now our family, too.

But another transition was in the area of Christian fellowship. As a member of a thriving house church, I knew a freedom in Christ that, sadly, most do not experience, nor do they care to. To be thrust in such a traditional environment was, quite honestly, much like being a college graduate and sitting in those little first grade desks again. The feeling of going backwards was uncomfortable.

But knowing God’s call was key. We truly felt the Lord had us in that community; so we gave as much as we could to others through the fellowship there. We spoke truth and used our gifts as there was opportunity. But because of who we were in the system, conflict naturally arose.

Believing the truth that conflict exists to prove character (1 Corinthians), we loved despite the accusation and opposition, choosing to honor instead of gossip, to unify instead of divide. It was frustrating but we endured.

God began teaching me that I did not have to make room for my gift. My gift would make room for me.

And my gift did make room.

Preparing to go was quite the ordeal. Becca and I knew we were called to go, and we both confirmed the other’s leading by the Spirit, which was incredible. But we left behind so much: close family on both sides, jobs that we enjoyed, and a fellowship that was closer than family in some respects.

Nothing makes you more free than selling, giving away, or saying goodbye to your stuff. It is difficult to express the joy of less crap. Jesus taught that to have reward/treasure in heaven, we are to give our possessions to the poor and follow Him. He was not a minimalist. Although the scripture does not specifically record it, I do believe that He spoke from experience here. He left His home and had no place to lay His head. His hometown rejected Him. We have little record of any worldly possessions. His constant traveling would have made accumulating material goods rather difficult.

But He was anointed with joy beyond all. Christ taught massive giving because He knew the joy it would give the giver and wanted to share it.

Be careful with the modern American excuse of willingness. “I’m willing to give my stuff away if God wants me to” can be deceptive. Willingness and actually doing it are two different experiences. Becca and I know firsthand. I believe the Bible teaches reward for what we do, not for what we’re willing to do.

There is sacrifice in giving, but the reward so outweighs the sacrifice that the deal is too good to pass up, although many do anyway. I think most missionaries have experienced this, and we were no exception.

God’s call and revelation were clear, and this helped us to move forward in bold and courageous faith. Excitement and anxiety were constants. I had never been overseas before, even to visit, and God called me to live in Korea for at least two years.

Our reliance upon Him was absolute as we realized our own inadequacy. The blessing in this cannot be overstated.

The leaving taught us so much about following the Spirit, trusting and relying more on Him than we ever had before. This alone would have been enough, but God had much more to teach us.

Peace.