Do I have to be a pastor to be a missionary?

One common misconception that we've found is that most people believe that in order to be a missionary you either have to be a pastor, a teacher, or a Bible translator — or some combination of those.

Even if those three things are not your gift, God can use you. And no matter what your skills are, no matter what your gifts are, no matter where your talents are, the Lord has given you those for a reason, and for a purpose. And above all He wants us to honor Him and glorify Him in the things that He has made us to do.

Obviously, if you are going, or if you're trying to go to and be a missionary in area that does require a specific skill, yeah, you need to have that skill. However, if you are not a Bible translator, or if you're not a preacher, of if you're not a church planter, don't feel bad because the Lord can use you. And there are other ministries and there are other options within those ministries even, where they can use other skills, that you may not feel are necessarily stereotypical.

For example, in our office, we use engineers. We use software engineers, we use mechanical engineers, we have a machine shop where we have professional machinists. We have teachers working for us, we have people in finance, graphic design, media, all sorts of different types of skills, that most people don't necessarily think of as Oh, I'm going into communications, I'm going to be a missionary! Well, generally that may not be paired together, but, whatever it is, whatever you do, use your skills for Christ. And don't believe that He can't use you, because He can.


Credits:
Produced by Mission Data International
Video Editor: Paul Nielsen
Cameraman: Peter Armstrong

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2011 Mission Data International