{"id":38923,"date":"2013-05-12T19:36:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T00:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=38923"},"modified":"2021-10-22T19:39:07","modified_gmt":"2021-10-23T00:39:07","slug":"is-missionary-work-scriptural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-missionary-work-scriptural\/","title":{"rendered":"Is missionary work scriptural?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\nMr. Hamilton,\nWhat is “missionary work” and is that scriptural?\nDoes God call us to a particular occupation, such as God has “called me” to this career or that career? Is all this scripturally sound?\nThank you.\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

Missionary work has come to mean going to foreign countries to teach the gospel. Sometimes it is expanded to taking the gospel to areas of your own country where the gospel hasn’t been preached or hasn’t been well received.<\/p>\n

However, the origin of “missionary” is a reference to people sent on a mission. “Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away<\/em>” (Acts 13:1-3). In one sense the Holy Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas to teach the gospel, but also notice that the Spirit insisted that the church do the sending. The Spirit did not choose to do it directly. Thus, we conclude that the Holy Spirit was setting a precedence for the church to send laborers to the fields. The church gave these men missions to spread the Gospel. Thus, they are missionaries, even though that particular word is not used in the Bible. “And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” <\/em>” (Romans 10:15).<\/p>\n

God has called men in the past to specific duties. For instance, Paul was told he would be taking the Gospel to the Gentiles. “But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me<\/em>” (Acts 26:16-18). Thus Paul said, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God<\/em>” (Romans 1:1).<\/p>\n

The mistake people make is assuming that God does this for everyone and that is not so stated in the Bible. God calls all people to be saved through His Word, but God doesn’t say He assigns each person a particular task in life. See:\u00a0All in a Name<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Mr. Hamilton, What is “missionary work” and is that scriptural? Does God call us to a particular occupation, such as God has “called me” to this career or that career? Is all this scripturally sound? Thank you. Answer: Missionary work has come to mean going to foreign countries to teach the gospel. Sometimes it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-38923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27508,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-church-to-raise-money-for-a-preacher-school-or-to-have-leaders-instead-of-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":38923,"position":0},"title":"Is it right for a church to raise money for a preacher school or to have leaders instead of elders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a concern over a recent request from a brethren who is a church leader of the congregation where I was baptized years before. He was asking me to help financially support the church planting mission being undertaken by the missionary training academy established by the congregation over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33542,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-has-changed\/","url_meta":{"origin":38923,"position":1},"title":"Who Has Changed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Goforth Sentry Magazine, September 2000 Someone has indeed changed! It has sometimes been argued that \"The anti's have come up a new doctrine.\" Thomas B. Warren, in his book on \"Lectures on Church Cooperation and Orphan Homes,\" argues \"If you can find anyone who taught this before 1955,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24961,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/have-you-heard-of-the-christian-and-missionary-alliance\/","url_meta":{"origin":38923,"position":2},"title":"Have you heard of the Christian and Missionary Alliance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I respect and appreciate your spiritual and professional opinions and thank you all very much for your hard work. Have you ever heard of the C&MA -- Christian and Missionary Alliance? Answer: The Christian and Missionary Alliance started in the late 1800s as two societies dedicated to spreading Christianity.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88666,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/arguments-against-the-missionary-society\/","url_meta":{"origin":38923,"position":3},"title":"Arguments Against the Missionary Society","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via\u00a0Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 5 No. 3, July-September 2025 In a previous article, we discussed the Missionary Society, which was the source of the first major controversy and division among those associated with the Restoration Movement. What began as informal \"association\" meetings evolved into formal organizations to which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82749,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/division-in-the-restoration-movement\/","url_meta":{"origin":38923,"position":4},"title":"Division in the Restoration Movement","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 5, No. 1, January-March, 2025 As a reminder, when we talk about the Restoration Movement, we refer to the religious movement that began around the start of the nineteenth century in the United States and endeavored to restore the doctrines and practices of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9622,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-giving-to-the-church-optional\/","url_meta":{"origin":38923,"position":5},"title":"Is giving to the church optional?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: One of our members mentioned that he was not contributing monetarily to help support the local work. Upon hearing him make that statement I informed him that he was wrong, that his first responsibility is to help support the local work. As an individual, if he wanted to help\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}