Why Go Overseas?

By: Christian

"Why go overseas? Isn't there plenty of "work" to do right here in America?"

This is a popular question that is asked of me by many believers. The answer is quite simple, but quite complex as well.

The simple answer: Because God tells us to go overseas (to all "nations" or "people groups"). Matthew 28:19

If that commission is not for us as Americans (and all believers), then who is it for exactly? Koreans believers only? Jewish believers? Russian believers?

Going Further with My Answer...

A man by the name of Jim Elliot was a missionary who was martyred (murdered while trying to share Christ) in 1956 by the Auca/Quichuas Indians of Ecuador. Despite their savage reputation, Jim and his wife Elizabeth had a passion for these people and reaching them with the message of Christ. Few believers thought it was a good or "safe" idea to go to such a ruthless people group, to include Jim's own father. In a letter to his dad (before he left for Ecuador), Jim defended his decision to put his life on the line and go to them by stating this: 

"Impelled then by these voices, I dare not stay home while Quichuas perish. So what if the well-fed church in the homeland needs stirring? They have the Scriptures, Moses, and the Prophets, and a whole lot more. Their condemnation is written on their bank books and in the dust on their Bible covers. American believers have sold their lives to the service of Mammon, and God has His rightful way of dealing with those who succumb to the Spirit of Laodicea." (Laodicea is a reference to the lukewarm Church in Laodicea - the Lukewarm Church - in Revelation 3:15-22)

*Bolded emphasis is mine.

The part bolded is what really struck my heart. People's condemnation in America, in a lot of ways, is on them. There are more churches per square mile here then any where else in the world. There are more Bibles than one knows what to do with (all shapes, colors, devotional types - fireman, policeman, teacher, military man, family, kids, teens, etc.). The Gospel is on radios, televisions, billboards, t-shirts, bumperstickers, school campuses (clubs and through believing students), church signs and in almost every workplace (surely there is at least one in most offices/companies who proclaim Christ). Many parts of the world would be blessed to have one of these surpluses (churches, Bibles, believers, mass communication, etc.). Americans are so calloused or numb or self-seeking that they walk by the Gospel daily (or should be, if believers weren't playing the part of the Church in Laodicea) and ignore it outright.

I'm not saying we are to stop local missions, by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just saying that I believe Scripture compels and impels us to have both/and (not either/or) local and global missions (and that EVERY believer is called to both/and!). 3 John 1:3-8 is fantastic evidence of that!

To those who say we need not go overseas, but instead say "stay at home and minister here first", I say: "I agree there is much to be done here! Let me know what I can do to join you in your ministry to our people, but please also join with me as we seek to be witnesses also to the 'outer ends of the earth.'"

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