Is it true that only a few Christians are called to be missionaries? How we choose to answer the question depends upon how narrow or broad our understanding of “mission” is.
A fairly narrow view sees mission as that special job, reserved only for elite Christians who are willing to go overseas, usually to a third world nation, risking life and limb for the sake of the gospel.
But, what if we were to broaden the idea of mission? And not just broaden it a little but a whole lot! What if our idea of mission was not necessarily based on what Christians do, or where Christians go, or how they get there, but upon WHO God is?
I believe that when we come to understand the Biblical teaching that God Himself is a missional God, then we will come understand our very own Christian calling to be missional as well.
So, how do we know that God is missional? Well, for starters, we know that he is a sending God!
In the Gospel of John, for example, we see a number of examples from Jesus:
“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has SENT” (John 6:2)
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will SEND to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26)
And again Jesus says, “As the Father has SENT me, I am SENDING you” (John 20:21)
The picture that we begin to see in the Gospel of John is only a tiny snippet of what we in fact see in the whole Biblical story: That God, in his very identity, is a missional God, and that this identity is to shape our very own.
Back to our opening question, then: Is it true that only a few Christians are called to be missionaries? Are only a few called to be like God and to seek his heart?