“I’m not a missionary, coming home to report amazing stories from faraway lands. To make matters worse, I sometimes feel more burdened for people in my neighborhood than lost people overseas. Am I immature?”
“Teaching at a small midwestern Christian middle school is clearly less important than bringing the gospel to people in Iran. I just hope it counts for something.”
Lots of Christians resonate with these sentiments, but do they follow biblical logic? A glance at the apostle Paul and his understanding of missions will help answer this question. Be forewarned, Paul’s understanding doesn’t neatly nestle inside the categories we often utilize today.
PAUL’S INITIAL MISSIONAL VISION
Sent by their church in Syrian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas took the gospel east to Gentiles and Jews in Galatia’s Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe (Acts 14). By God’s grace, conversions happened and Christian communities were formed. Surprisingly, Paul and Barnabas did not consider their work complete.
Instead of immediately setting out for places where the gospel had not yet gone, Paul and Barnabas retraced their steps—risking their very lives—to strengthen, encourage, teach, and even appoint elders in their church plants (Acts 14:21–23). They wanted these churches to reach maturity in Christ and so they
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