“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” — Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia.

One-Way Missionaries

There was an era of missionary zeal around the turn of the 20th century that bred a group who became known as “one-way” missionaries. When they departed for the mission field they packed all of their belongings into a coffin and bought one-way tickets because they knew they’d never return home.

Peter Milne was one of those missionaries. He felt called to a tribe of headhunters in the New Hebrides. All the other missionaries to this tribe had been martyred, but Milne didn’t shrink back into safe Christianity. He served in the New Hebrides for more than fifty years. The tribe buried him and wrote the following words on his tombstone, “When he came there was no light. When he left there was no darkness.”

What an incredible inscription of someone’s life. Imagine what the church would look like today if every single follower of Christ returned to this spirit of missional living: the spirit of Jesus, Himself.

What if we intentionally sought out to love our neighbors, invite them to our dinner tables, live in missional community with others, serve the marginalized, and follow God wherever He may lead us for His glory? What might the world see in us if we became one-way missionaries where we live right now, in our neighborhoods and in our communities?

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
(Revelation 2:4-5 ESV)

It’s time for the church to return to the spirit of Christ… the Spirit of being ‘sent’.