Selecting a mission agency is one of the most important decisions missionaries make as they begin their missionary journey. “But wait,” you might interject, “doesn’t a mission agency just provide logistical support for the missionary, like making sure I get my support and making arrangements if I need to evacuate the country?” While that is true to an extent, there is much more that a mission agency does.

Many missionary biographies and stories mention the missionaries knowing since they were little children where they wanted to serve.

What if that doesn’t describe you? Can you still be a missionary?

Have you ever tried to learn a foreigner’s name? If you’ve tried to show kindness to someone who speaks a different language, you’ve probably struggled to learn their name. You can’t even visualize how it would be spelled. The same struggle would probably arise if you try to learn a Scripture verse in another language. It just doesn’t stick!

We live in a culture that overthinks everything. One of those things is discipleship.

Prayer is one of the hardest things in the Christian life because it is all about dependency. We’re saying to God, “I need you, and I need something from you.” It can be easier to ask other people to meet our needs than to admit our utter dependence on God. Jesus’ disciples once made an interesting request: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

BMM’s North America Administrator Steve Anderson is on a mission to bring vitality back to North America’s churches. He has detailed his passion and plan more in a past issue of Serve here.