I have talked to several people outside the church who are adamantly opposed to “missions.” When I’ve talked to them about it they claim that it’s a bunch of white people going into poor villages who never asked for them to come, and the white people then try to colonize them to their white background.
I wish everything they said was false, but what they’ve accused missions of being has more truth than you might like. At least in some places by some people. It seems there’s a huge temptation to treat missions like you are the savior. You’re going to these poor people who must of course need your help because they’re living a terrible life. You are going to be the one to help them out of that life.
This weekend, I heard a quote that was quote convicting that I felt spoke to some of this:
“We want to be the savior of the nations because we don’t know how to point to the actual savior of the nations” ~ Tory Mayo
Whether it’s deliberate or not, a lack of understanding what it looks like to point to the actual savior is easily turned into a worship session of ourselves. We love people-pleasing, so why not go in and be the savior to all of the people who need our help.
As I continue to pursue missions, the thing that I know I must remember is that it’s God’s mission. He’s the savior, and I am only an avenue that he uses to share that hope of salvation.
Stop trying to save people, and instead, start looking for how God’s trying to use you. You’ll end up saving so many more in the long run when you start thinking about what God can do through you instead of what he will do with you.
Obedience.