What constitutes a missionary call? A deep inner feeling? A burning bush experience? Something just for the spiritual elite? Popular but misguided notions can confuse and hinder your discernment for God’s call. A missionary is someone whose purpose and vocation takes him or her across cultures to make disciples.

Christians who happen to live and work cross-culturally but do not have a driving intent to make disciples are not missionaries. Conversely, professionals and business people, who look nothing like traditional missionaries but live cross- culturally to make disciples through the work that they do, are. We call them bi-vocational missionaries or tentmakers after Paul, who made good tents and preached the gospel.

Missionaries are ordinary people. The missionary calling is not so high and holy that unless God splits the sky to speak from heaven you have not been called. Christians can aspire to be a missionary. You can learn about missions and pre- pare yourself for missionary work. But the missionary call is God’s initiative. It is His call.