God has sent all of us into the mission field in one way or another. From our human perspective it often seems in order to be sent, we would need to physically go somewhere far away. Missionaries are sent overseas. Pastors are often sent to a new location. Youth groups are sent on short-term mission trips to Mexico. But what about some of us who stay home and attend our local church?

I was sent by God, and also by my home church, friends and family, on a short-term mission trip to Cameroon last November. It was an incredibly memorable experience that I have enjoyed sharing with those back home. The others on the trip were from Lutheran Brethren congregations as well, and were also sent by their home churches. Some were influenced by their pastors to go on the trip while others were from churches served by pastors who are former missionaries or strongly connected to CLB World Missions. It was inspiring to see the line between North American Missions and World Missions disappear as each team member revealed their story about why they were on the trip.

There was an obvious sense of "sending" while on the mission trip due to the distance between Cameroon and each of our homes. The realization that the mission of our home churches was strongly connected to what we were doing with churches in Cameroon shifted my understanding of "being sent" from merely applying to my time in Cameroon to applying to my entire life as a follower of Christ.

Our work of going door-to-door in Garoua, Cameroon helped me realize that God was at work in people's hearts and lives before we arrived. We know that God was there before our missionaries even stepped foot in Cameroon and Chad. How could I possibly ignore the fact that God is also working in the lives of my own neighbors back home? Is it my responsibility to decide when someone is ready to hear the Gospel? Isn't it my responsibility to just allow God to work through me? With the incredible openness that we witnessed in Cameroon I realized that there is no way for me to ever know when a person is ready to hear about God's gift of salvation. Of course I need to approach my neighbors back home very differently than I would in Cameroon, but the similarity is in the reality that God is working right here at home, as well.

This trip confirmed for me that from a human perspective "being sent" may mean going somewhere far away from home, but from God's perspective "being sent" must mean going as close as across the yard to our neighbor or as far as across the world to Africa or Asia. We are all sent missionaries in one way or another.

Tim Mathiesen is the Director of Communications for the Church of the Lutheran Brethren

More Featured Articles