Don’t you like to travel to new places and visit familiar places?
I surely do as I like to explore the world!
In fact, I travelled to Sydney in Australia for ten days. I went there to spend quality time with my friends, who were part of the same church as me, and to attend the Hillsong Conference.
Christian Perspective
Travelling and visiting places are great spiritually as well. As we are exploring the world, we are basically exploring the nature of God.
Another reason is that we could spread the Gospel around the world (Acts chapter 1, verse 8).
The world is a part of God’s creation but it became distorted and caused separation between God and humanity. Due to this, God commissioned us as participants of His mission in restoring the world (Matthew chapter 28, verses 18-20).
The first participant of God’s mission was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In fact, He was God in the human flesh.
To be specific, God commissioned Jesus to go into the world as an image of Himself and crucify Himself on the cross. So that we might be saved through Him.
Being Sent
Before Christ was crucified, He declared that God sent Him into the world, and then Christ has sent His disciples into the world (John chapter 17, verse 18).
After His resurrection, He made that statement into a commission by saying, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John chapter 20, verse 21).
Although Jesus said that He has sent His disciples into the world during His earthly ministry, He practically means He is sending us into the world as well. Disciples of Jesus mean Jesus’ followers at that time and now.
Nevertheless, Jesus was sent with the power of the Holy Spirit by His Father. His mission was done through the Spirit’s leading.
The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. However, the Spirit also is the one who empowers people for His mission.
Have a look in the book of Acts as this book illustrates that the apostles were sent by the Holy Spirit for the mission of God.
God the Son is sent by God the Father and God the Spirit. God the Spirit is sent by God the Son and God the Father. The apostles are sent by God the Son and God the Spirit. Only God the Father is the unsent sender. He sends the Son and the Spirit, but He himself is never ‘sent.’ (Christopher. J. H, Wright, J.H. The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission)
This means we are also sent by God the Son with the empowerment of the Spirit, also.
Although I had to leave New York because of other reasons, one of my friends told me God is sending me to New Zealand to spread the gospel of Christ by Christian writing.
I totally agree with her as the subscription list of my devotionals has increased. Through my church in New Zealand, I found an opportunity to spread the gospel of Christ even further by writing Christian articles.
Since Christians articles are not supposed to be my devotional writing style, I had to develop a new writing style.
At first, it was difficult to change it as I loved it so much. However, the senior pastor of my church said, “Getting used to new styles is part of growing as an author - abiding by whatever publication you're writing for. It's all part of the challenge.”
As I was thinking of my dream as a Christian Writer, I realised that this is true. The Spirit prompted me to feel that writing articles for Christian Today was moving one level up in my writing skills. Therefore, I gracefully changed my writing style and it has become simple now.
God’s Mission
Many people think being a missionary requires us to travel all over the world. When I read Matthew chapter 28, verse 18-20 a few times, I used to think in this way too and also thought we have to be an evangelist if we want to participate in God’s mission.
However, according to the Holy Scripture, we could be apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, or other designation God called us to be. And in fact, everyone is called to be a missionary and therefore, everybody can participate in God’s mission.
Secondly, the main focus of “make disciples of all nations” in Matthew chapter 28, verse 19 is to make people as devout followers of Christ anywhere. Although sometimes it is necessary to travel all over the world, we do not have to for the sake of becoming a missionary.
I am a local missionary where I am now, writing articles and devotionals. As I have three online platforms for my articles and 11 or 12 for my devotionals, I found my mission-calling a privilege. The main reason for this is that I get to contribute my spiritual gifts to wider communities through the Internet.
Is Jesus sending you to be a missionary for the sake of His gospel locally, or doing it overseas? Take courage and become a participant of God’s Mission. Also, remember that everywhere is a mission field!
Kevin Park is studying at Carey Baptist College and finds that Christian-writing is his ultimate will of God and his ultimate method to build the kingdom of God. He started to become a Christian writer from 2013. Other than his writing life, Kevin desires to see that each finds everlasting satisfaction in God, the Almighty. You will be able to contact him at kevin.park1991@gmail.com. He loves to encourage others spiritually.
Kevin Park’s previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/kevin-park.html