the basic message #E250

2/21/04

Are you a missionary, or do you know any missionaries?  They are indeed special individuals that give unselfishly of their time and talents, and they should be applauded.  I have no idea how many missionaries are working in the world right now, but I'd guess the number is in the tens of thousands.  Sound like a lot doesn't it?  Maybe it's time to start putting the pencil to just how much time missionaries are spending on the field versus how many Christians are in the world.  I'll use my church as an example.

I'd say that our typical Sunday attendance is somewhere around 700 people.  We probably do a few missions trips per year, and there is probably somewhere around 20 people in each missionary trip.  A typical trip probably lasts around 10 days.  So let's do the math here: Three trips consisting of 20 people for 10 days should equal about 600 man-days of missionary work each year.  600 man-days........that's not too bad is it?  Before you answer, let's figure out how many man-days our congregation occupies.  700 people for 365 days per year equals 255,000 man-days per year.  If you don't have a calculator, that means that our missionary field time is equal to about .003 percent of our congregation's time.  Where is this exercise going, anyway?  I'm glad you asked.

I'd like to challenge your imagination for just a moment.  Think about what a missionary does during a typical missions trip.  They usually go around telling people about Jesus Christ and how he died as a substitute for our sins.  They also do some physical work- maybe building churches or helping to repair the homes of poor people.  They might even participate in Habitat for Humanity- the organization that builds homes for poor people.  I like that group.  Can we agree that missionaries normally do "good things" for people, thereby helping God's kingdom here on earth.  If we can agree on this basic summary of a missionary's purpose, let's get back to the numbers.  As I said earlier, my congregation has about 255,000 man-days per year, based on each of our 700 congregants having 365 days in their respective year.  The 20 missionaries going on 3 trips per year only total 600 man-days per year based on 20 times 3 times 10 days.  The point?  If each person in my church dedicated only one day per year to doing some sort of missions oriented work, we could nearly double our efforts overnight.  One stinking day per year- is that too much to ask?  The average church member might protest: "I don't know anything about missions work, and besides, I couldn't go on a missions trip in one day".  I can assure you there are hundreds of projects you can get involved in that would only take a day, or even just a few hours that would literally change the world.  I like to call my local homeless shelter and find out what sort of supplies they currently need.  Believe me, they always are in need of something.  Over the past few years, I've been shopping for underwear, diapers, sheets, towels, deodorant and just about everything in-between.  I also like to send a small check to a Volunteers of American home for abused children each month.  With this money they take the children out for a "special" meal at McDonalds or whatever they want to do.  If 3 other people did this they could have that "special" meal each week. 

I'm going to make a statement that might anger some folks, but I'll take the chance.  If only 5% of all professing Christians would live the lives that Jesus instructed us to do, we wouldn't need missionaries ever again.  If that 5% would simply do what Jesus told us, this world would change dramatically overnight.  Why should we get so excited about funding missionaries when we hate our neighbor?  Why should we pat ourselves on the back about sending missionaries into the world when we have people sitting on the same church pew as us that we can't get along with?  I've been to plenty of churches, and I'd guess that nearly every one has some sort of petty politics going on that disrupt what God wants them to do.  The choir is mad because they didn't get the $500 robes they wanted.  Big deal.  The deacon's board is mad because the pastor didn't jump through a hoop for them.  Who cares?  Brother Jones is ready to quit the church because no one praised him for weedeating the sidewalk.  Brother, if you need praise that bad, then please don't do us any "favors" again.  It's real simple, folks.  We just need to quit asking "WWJD" and get up off our butts and DO what Jesus did.  Is there anyone out there that can even remotely argue against that statement?