How to be a Missionary, Part 4
Know Your Mission
My mission, 15 years ago, was to love people, especially children, and especially at-risk children. I’d figured that out during my teens, and it seemed pretty simple. Then I went to Brazil and it practically looked like teaching English. So my mission was to teach English. And while I love doing that, it wasn’t my core—my lifeblood: it was simply one of the ways that I do my core mission.
Then I became the coordinator of Living Stones, working with at-risk children. This was in complete alignment with my core mission, and I have found so much satisfaction in doing this. I am blessed to have found this: a vocation that lines up perfectly with my core mission.
Then I got married. Part of my core shifted. Now, an integral part of my core mission is to serve and love my husband. And then I had children: another part of my core mission is now to be a mother. I am still me, but I have been stretched. It is a wonderful thing, and as any mother will tell you, it isn’t addition, it is multiplication. You aren’t piling on one more thing you have to do in life: your life and love is multiplied and expanded to include more: and somehow, miraculously, to help you become even more YOU.
In 2016, Caid and I realized that the best way we could connect with others quickly, in this day and age, was through vlogging (video blogs). I was already making a lot of baby videos for our family, and making weekly vlogs about our life and mission just made sense.
Missions is changing rapidly, along with culture and technology and the times. Gone are the days of missionary slide shows (I remember them from my childhood fondly), now your supporters want to really see and understand what is going on (as they should!) An annual newsletter isn’t enough anymore. While we are the first missionary vloggers that I know of, I think in the next 5-10 years it will become more of the normal, as supporters want more involvement, and investors want more accountability.
We now have around 500 videos, with lots of baby pictures, laughing, learning, life and culture in Brazil, and whatnot. We hope to share practically what a missionary looks like in a world where for many, it isn’t very clear.
Our family is serving God in Brazil. But if God leads us somewhere else, or to do something else, then we will follow. I get asked a lot “But are you going to live in Brazil forever?” And the honest truth is, I don’t know. I believe that part of being a missionary is always being ready to go, if God says so. It is about following Him, whatever that looks like. It means putting down deep, deep roots in Jesus, because locational roots can, and will change.
2. Share Your Mission
I am not going into sharing about Jesus: that is the mission and bottom line for everyone as Christians. I am talking about sharing how God has called you to do your specific, practical part of missions as a career. In a way, you are a salesman: you have a message explaining who you are and why you and your ministry is worth investing in.
I have heard it said that you should have three ways to present your message: the movie poster, the movie trailer, and the actual movie. Over the years, these are the tools that have helped me to do that:
A. The prayer card: personally, I use a business card because it is smaller and cheaper. It works great these days, because mostly, you just want to connect them with a website/giving site that has the rest of the information. I have a quick “elevator pitch” (condensed message that I could share on an elevator ride) that works like a movie poster.
B. YouTube Channel: we have a quite literal movie trailer that is our introduction video on our YouTube channel. We upload weekly 5 minute of less videos, so that people can check us out and get to know us in little, digestible bits. In the past, this was newsletters—and we still do a Christmas letter and monthly e-newsletters, but the videos have been much more accessible to this generation. I also have a blog, but that is more of personal thoughts, rather than missions updates.
C. Website/personal meetings: The whole story can be shared on the website, or in a personal meeting, when you have time to really connect (hopefully). This would be like the actual “movie.”
3. Learn From Others
1. Alifeoverseas.com
2. Craiggreenfield.com and his books Subversive Jesus and the Alongsiders Story
3. Velvetashes.com (for women)
4. Annvoskamp.com and her books One Thousand Gifts and The Broken Way
5. Paracletos.org
6. Wearethatfamily.com and her books Rhinestone Jesus (and others)
7. Dlmayfield.com and her book Assimilate or go Home
8. Wordmadeflesh.org and founder Christopher Heuertz’s books (and old copies of “The Cry”)
9. Half the Sky and A Path Appears by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
10. New Friars and Overturning Tables by Scott Bessenecker
4. Learn From Your Mistakes
What I have done wrong:
A. I blurred the lines between personal funds and ministry funds. I would end up paying for most of the Living Stones supplies and parties out of personal funds (which were pretty non-existent)
B. I blurred the lines between ministry fund raising and personal fundraising. I could talk about Living Stones all day, and ask for money for the kids, but I didn’t want (or feel adequate) to ask for myself. You must know who you are and know what your ministry is- each needs funding and each is worth it- but one cannot suffer because of the other- boundaries are there to protect us. Find the lines and make them clear for everyone (for me, that meant separate videos, websites, updates)
C. I worked crazy hours to prove I was worth the money given/ worthy to be called a missionary
D. I didn’t call myself a missionary for years, while I was being a missionary
E. I didn’t want to spend any money on myself or making a home for myself. And while I survived fine, I think I missed out many enriching experiences and the support of feeling “homey”
What I have done right:
A. I kept reporting on what was happening and the beautiful stories God was writing. Blogging was a really good outlet for me to do this, and to get better at it.
B. I kept putting myself out there and connecting with people. I created a “round” of people to visit every time I was in the USA. I had a list, that I kept updating, of people to write and connect with, even when these people didn’t reply or respond back. I made sure to write personal thank yous to new and continuing supporters.
C. I didn’t get into debt, or got out of debt quickly. This is one of the top things stopping the next generation from becoming missionaries.
D. I really loved what I was doing, and made sure not to publically complain. Was everything perfect? No. But when something needed to change or needed working through, I did it privately, making sure not to burn bridges and tear down other people, especially people in the ministry with me.
E. I was okay with only knowing a little bit. I used to joke that God would only show me the next 6 months of my life because He knew I wouldn’t have to trust Him if He showed me more. But it was true, and for most of the 10 years I served as a single missionary, I couldn’t tell you what was going to happen after that current 6 months.