Wait, I’m a Missionary?

“I want to be a missionary when I grow up.” 11yo A said as we sat on the floor getting to know each other during the Sunday school ice breaker game. 

“That’s what I’m doing right now! I am a missionary.” I responded.

Wait, WHAT did I just say?! 

“I am a missionary” …??? 

A switch flipped in my brain when those words came out. It was a head tilt, eyebrows raised kind of realization. I’ve always told people I’m on a mission trip, but the thought of calling myself a missionary seemed presumptuous. 

Missionaries live in villages and share the gospel in dangerous, unreached areas. Missionaries run orphanages and save girls from sex trafficking. Missionaries give their lives to planting churches and leading others closer to God. Missionaries are people like Eric Liddell in China, Jim Elliot and Nate Saint in Ecuador, or Amy Carmichael in India. 

Missionaries are super star Christians, right?

Surely that’s not me…

The definition of a missionary is one who is sent out to undertake a mission. That can mean a lot of things. In the North American context, it’s typically used to describe a Christian who has devoted a significant period of time or even their whole life to sharing the gospel specifically in another country. The missionary movement was primarily an evangelical spread from “the west to the rest”; from European countries to the rest of the world. 

However, that script has changed now. Christianity is thriving in other countries, including Africa and China, while it is declining in the United States. In fact, that decline has occurred so drastically that missionaries are even being sent from other countries to the United States! In what was once considered the “Bible Belt” of the world, atheism and the New Age movement are thriving. 

Could that be reversed if we revised our definition of a missionary? 

What if a missionary was simply “someone who dedicates their life to living out the Great Commission wherever they are”?

What if we ALL were to go and make disciples of all nations (including our homes, families, workplaces, schools, coffee shops, etc.), baptize them, and teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded?

What if you chose to call yourself a missionary? 

I am a missionary.  

It’s empowering to accept that title. It’s an acceptance of the calling to fulfill His mission – universal reconciliation for universal worship. He seeks to unite the world under the order in which He created it to thrive. Stepping into that mission with Him is also accompanied by a weight, a need for a somber readiness. 

This is a battle, not a game. He’s looking for soldiers to fight. Will you accept your deployment? Will you join me in this battle? 

I am a missionary.

I choose to go into the spiritual darkness, carrying the light of my Father’s love. I choose to dedicate my life to making Him known wherever He calls me to go. If it’s internationally for the next 8 months or the rest of my life, yes, I will. If it’s in Oklahoma running a ranch for at-risk teens, yes, I will. If it’s unknown and unplanned, yes, I will. 

I am a missionary.

We did an activity to demonstrate trust during the Sunday School lesson. After holding a lighter under an empty balloon causing it to pop over my head, the teacher then held a lighter under a balloon filled with water. She explained how I had chosen to trust her. When the water balloon didn’t pop, showing my trust was well-founded, the children still wanted her to drop it on my head. 🙂

* Funding update *

I am less than $3,000 away from being fully funded for the whole trip! WOW! God has clearly shown His provision to me through your generosity. Knowing that you believe in me and what God is doing through me on the World Race enough to sacrifice your finances makes me feel incredibly honored and blessed.

My final deadline for the remaining amount is April 30th, so please continue to pray for financial provision. I know He will be faithful to complete what He has started!

So much love, 

Victoria L. Groves