How to get involved in missions

Here are three ways that you can get involved in missions: 1) Pray - Missionaries need people to pray for them. You may not feel like you know much about what is going on in the lives of missionaries around the world, but you can still pray for them. Start by learning the names of some missionaries that attend your church, and pick up their prayer cards. Commit to pray for one missionary family. To learn more about what each individual missionary is doing, you can email them and read their updates or prayer letters. You may feel like you don't really know how to pray or that your God won't answer your prayers, but the truth is that praying is just having a conversation with God, and God promises that he will answer the prayers of a righteous person. Prayer is a great way to draw nearer to God while positively affecting the lives of others, even those thousands of miles away, in remote areas of the world! I challenge you to pray for a missionary on a daily basis. Having their prayer card on hand will help you to remember. Pray for them however God leads, and don't stop! James 5:16b The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 2) Give - Consider giving a portion of your income to support a missionary. You may think that you don't make enough money to support someone else, but God wants you to give freely, no matter how much you make each day. Remember the lady who gave all she had, and God blessed her for it! You will probably find it hard to give at first, but over time, it will become easier and you will be blessing someone else. Don't be afraid to give generously-God will provide for you. More than anything, God wants to use you, like he used the boy with the five loaves of bread and two fish to feed the crowd. Jesus could have created food from stones and not used the boy's lunch. However, by using the boy's lunch he was helping the people to increase their faith in him and his father. His purpose was to draw them closer to him, not to steal the boy's food. Besides, everything we have belongs to him, anyways, because all things were created by him and for him. You can trust God. Jesus also said that he cares about sparrows, and you are worth far more than they are - you are a child of God! So God will care for you! Give and God will reward you. You may have to wait until Heaven for the reward, but it will be worth it! You don't have to give money, though. Giving of time is also important and necessary. Send emails to missionaries to let them know that you are thinking about them. Or help out at youth group events to send supplies overseas. Giving is vital to missions. Share some of the things that God has blessed you with and help impact lives for eternity! Luke 12: 6-7 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 3) Go - Get involved with mission trips. Find out what trips are available through your church, and sign up. If you want to become a missionary, this is a good way to gain experience and see close up what is involved in missions. You may have to give up some of your free time and money, but I can guarantee that it will be worth it. While short-term mission trips can't fully prepare you for long-term mission work overseas, it can give you a taste of what it will be like. God has commanded us to go, so take the opportunity to serve and make a difference in the lives of others. Matthew 28: 16-20 The Great Commission 16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Being a long-term missionary overseas is not for everyone. God has called each of us to do different things with the talents and gifts he has given us. He created each of us to be unique from one another. God may want you to stay right where you are and work, but he still wants you to pray and give! He wants you to be a missionary wherever you go, by telling others about him. However, just because you don't learn languages well doesn't mean that you can't become a career missionary! There is a need for teachers, doctors, dentists, computer technicians, pilots, etc. God can use you on the mission field with your individual gifts and talents. So if you feel God calling you to go, know that he has a specific job for you to do. The three points, praying, giving, and going, apply to every Christian in a way. God's will is that you pray, give and tell others about him. Let your light shine! Mission organizations to contact, if you are interested: Wycliffe Bible Translators Christian and Missionary Alliance MV Doulos and Logos Hope Missionary Aviation Fellowship New Tribes World Gospel Mission