Your Role in the Great Commission

JUNE 4, 2024   |   2.5 MINUTE READ
CONNOR OWEN, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Donating to missions or praying for missions can often feel like this:

I’m giving my money; I’m offering up prayers. And someone else (ie. the missionary) is doing amazing work. My role is simply to donate and to pray. And if I stopped doing those things, the show would go on.

But what if that’s not true? What if God is using you to impact His global body of believers? What if it isn’t only the missionary who is preaching the Gospel in the Middle East—but you, too?

That’s an entirely new lens to look through. It’s one where you see the reality that you play an equal part in the ministry you donate to and pray for.

We don’t do missions alone.

At WGM, our missionaries build ministry partnership teams. Why? Because we know that ministry doesn’t happen alone. It happens with a team. So, while each missionary is on the ground doing ministry, there are another 40, 50, 60, maybe even 70 ministry partners making this ministry happen.

And who are they? They’re you.

Let me give you an illustration of what I mean.

What does baseball have to do with missions?

You’ve likely been to a baseball game before. And there are two types of games—both of which you impact in different ways.

The first is a professional baseball game. As a fan, your contribution is quite simple. You give your money in exchange for a ticket, which provides you with a seat.

You can yell as loud as you want from the sidelines, telling the batter to move up in the box, or level his swing out, or watch the runner on second. Likely, though, your words from the sidelines mean little (or nothing) to the professional ballplayer.

But what about when it’s your son’s or daughter’s little league game? You still pay money to get in (probably—well, hopefully—far less). And from the seat you receive, you can offer great words of encouragement and advice. If your child trusts you, they’ll listen, and maybe even play better.

In the first example, your attendance means very little beyond monetary contributions which help fund the team and their million-dollar salaries. Your impact ends there. If you don’t buy that seat, someone else will, and the show will go on.  

In the second example, your monetary contribution is important because it pays the umpires and helps keep the grass mowed. However, your greatest contribution is that you are an active member of that team. No, you’re not on the field. But when you’re not there, the team suffers. Your child suffers. Your presence is felt and desperately needed.

The same is true in missions.

Paul didn’t do ministry alone.

We see this in Paul’s missionary journeys throughout the New Testament. What would’ve happened if Paul didn’t have the church of Philippi’s financial support? Or the help of Silas and Timothy? Or the partnership of Priscilla and Aquilla? Yes, Paul was the one doing much of the traveling; without the others, though, the ministry couldn’t have happened.

You are an active participant.

You are not a spectator who is only here to sit in the audience and offer money so the show can go on.  

You are an active participant in what is happening in Kenya and Honduras and the Middle East and many other locations. Without you, the missionary you support would feel alone, discouraged, and want to quit. With you, though, they know someone is in their corner, doing ministry with them.

So remember, each time a new believer comes to faith in the place where your missionary is serving—that was you. Or each time a new ministry is launched among unreached people groups—that was you.

Your prayers and financial support aren’t making it so only the missionary is shaping God’s global body of believers. It’s making it so that you are, too, right where you’re sitting today.

And when you realize this truth, you start to see your role in the Great Commission is not that of a mere fan. You’re an active participant in what God is doing all around the world.

ACTION STEPS

PRAY: Knowing that you’re an essential part of the impact happening all around the world, ask God what His vision is for the place nearest to your heart. Ask Him how you can join in that work.