[featured_image]Missionaries are needed to transform America. Local churches must prepare missionaries for both global and local ministry. Jesus is the One who sends; local churches are to prepare those whom He is sending. Every believer is sent somewhere—either to their local culture or to a distant culture. George W. Peters (former professor of world missions at Dallas Theological Seminary) notes,
The Bible does not make such geographical distinctions in connection with the call to the ministry of the Word. Certainly the apostles were not aware of the fact that they all would be led into “foreign missions” when the Lord called them and appointed them to apostleship. The choice of the geographical area of service is a matter of individual leading, but not a matter of the call. The Bible does not distinguish between a call for the home field and a call for the foreign field. (A Biblical Theology of Missions, Chicago: Moody Press, 1972, p 276)
The training of every believer as a missionary who is sent to their neighborhoods and workplaces is the responsibility of every church leader. Every Christian must adopt a “missionary mindset”—knowing that they have been sent with the gospel in community to the culture.
