BY: Dr. John David Smith
Executive Director
BMA Missions

It was an ominous moment for the young missionary as he sat with his wife asleep with her head in his lap. They had arrived in the middle of the night at the international airport on one island as they awaited their morning flight to another island where they had come to live and serve. The airport was dark and almost lifeless as they found a plain cement bench as the most comfortable resting spot for their prolonged wait. As his wife slept, the reality of the moment began to sink in as he thought about what it meant to have left all that was known in order to step into all that was unknown. 

Their journey had not started when they boarded the flight that had arrived a short time earlier. Oh no! They had been processing toward this moment of arriving in their country of service for a number of years. There had been that sense of God leading them to serve in His global mission well before they were ever married. Then came marriage, visiting their potential field, going through the process of being sent, studying language for a year in Europe, returning to the U.S. to ready their belongings for shipment to the island, and now this moment was in many ways the inauspicious culmination of multiple years of preparation. 

In that moment the young man continued to process what indeed it meant to be sent in God’s mission. In the stillness of those morning hours, Satan made it very clear that he would not be a passive participant in this endeavor. Deep, serious doubts invaded the thoughts of the missionary. His chest tightened, his heart raced, there was sweat on his brow and in his hands as he considered this reality of being sent. As the anxiety intensified and the confusing thoughts railed, the missionary had never felt such spiritual oppression in his life…(to be continued). 

The words mission or missions do not appear in certain translations of the Bible (KJV). How then do we begin to formulate our beliefs and practices related to mission? The most common word in current usage that most closely conveys the biblical mandate of mission is the word sent. There are two prominent words in the original language that mean sent. The first one (apostello) has to do with sending in the sense of a commission…our commission is that we are sent. The other word (pempo) stresses the act of sending. 

John 20:21 says, So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” Jesus’ first usage of the word sent in this verse is apostello and His second use is the word pempo. Jesus said that just as I was sent (commissioned) you are also. And just as I literally and physically came, you must literally and physically go, because you are sent (pempo). 

To read the rest of this article click on the image above.