Not Everyone Goes, But Every Man Must Care: Missions Without Guilt or Apathy
By Pastor Joseph Spurgeon
Somewhere along the way, a dangerous idea crept into the Church: an idea that says if you're not selling your house, moving overseas, and blogging from a jungle hut, you're not holy enough. You may not be a Christian. That to truly follow Christ, you must go to the nations, or you're disobeying His call. Missions became “sexy” and “glamorous.”
So men ran sometimes from responsibility, sometimes from wisdom. They abandoned their homes in the name of being “radical.” Others saw the wreckage and swung the other direction, deciding missions was unnecessary or even unfaithful.
Here’s the truth: God calls men to different paths of obedience. And one man’s calling should never be another man’s guilt trip.
Missions Is a Calling—Not a Competition
The Great Commission still stands. Christ still calls His Church to disciple the nations. There are still billions who haven’t heard the gospel. But not every man is called to go—and not every man who stays is being disobedient.
Some are called to preach in their town. Others are called to preach across the sea. Some are called to support, to give, to pray, and to send. Others are called to pack up, learn a new language, and plant a church where there is none.
The issue isn’t whether you go. It’s whether you obey.
What we need are men who say to the Lord: “Here I am. Send me… if You will.” And if He sends, you go. If He says stay, then you stay and build. Either way, your life is not your own. You are a man under orders.
Short-Term Can Be a First Step—Not a Cop-Out
Another problem has been short-term missions. Are people who do them merely vacationaries? Are they these helpful or should they be abandoned. I believe that Short-term mission trips are not bad. They can be very good—if done rightly. They can expose men to the real needs of the global church. They can provide needed help and encouragement to long-term missionaries. They can test your readiness and fan the flame of future calling. They can be a help to the local church. God used short term missions to the Philippines and Israel in my life and I saw good fruit.
But they should not be a form of self-validation or spiritual tourism. Going somewhere for 10 days doesn’t make you a hero. But it might help you learn to serve. And that’s a start. But that said, they should be under the authority of the church.
Support the Men Who Go—and Train the Ones Who Might
If God hasn’t called you to the field, He has still called you to care. Real men don’t ignore the work of the Kingdom just because it’s happening overseas. They pray. They give. They encourage. They disciple their sons and should the Lord send them, they support them.
And they make sure their own house is in order because only men who can shepherd their families faithfully are fit to help shepherd new churches on foreign soil.
We must send men who are strong, wise, tested and called.
A Word to Men: Be Open, Not Apathetic
You don’t have to feel guilty for not being a missionary. But you do have to care. You do have to pray.
The Lord may never send you across the globe—but He might. Or He might send your brother in Christ. Will you prepare him? Will you support him? Will you cheer him on when he goes?
Don’t retreat into the ditch of apathy. And don’t let guilt push you into folly. Walk the narrow path of faithfulness. And let the Lord lead.
Final Charge
Brother, be open to the call of God. Be ready to lead wherever He places you whether that’s in your neighborhood or among the nations. Not every man will go. But every man must be faithful.
Build. Fight. Protect. Lead.
For Christ. For His Kingdom. For the nations. For our Posterity.