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Don’t Leave Your Career—Leverage It!
This post by Chris Anderson is from a new publication called More Gospel Meditations for Missions. Coming soon!
I used to think of “closed” or “restricted-access” countries primarily as Muslim strongholds. You’re not getting a missionary visa to Afghanistan or Iraq, for example. But it’s not just the Middle East anymore—other parts of the world are also now closing their doors to religious workers. Communist China. North Africa. Even Western Europe. Missionaries in countries like Sweden have been sent home for lack of a legitimate career.
The truth is, there are a ton of places where I can’t serve. My degrees are in Bible or Christian ministry. If they don’t count for employment, I have the equivalent of a high school diploma.
The Reality of a Changing World
But Christians with non-religious, marketable skills can go just about anywhere. In Patrick Lai’s words, “No country is closed to business” (“The Business of Building Bridges” in Discovering the Mission of God: Supplement, IVP Academic; see also Andrew Scott’s book, Scatter: Go Therefore and Take Your Job with You, Moody Publishers, 2016).
Missions is changing. I used to hear sermons urging Christians to leave their careers and head to the mission field. But a better option may be to leverage your career and head to the mission field. You’re a computer programmer? A nurse? A lawyer? An entrepreneur? Awesome! Take your passions, skills, and experience abroad, and take the gospel with you!
A New Testament Example
We first meet Aquila and Priscilla in Acts 18:1–4. They were exiled from Rome because they were Jews, and they settled in Corinth where they providentially met the apostle Paul. He worked with them for a time. It’s unclear whether they were saved before they met Paul or if he led them to Christ. But by the end of his time in Corinth, this couple was an indispensable part of his ministry team.
Aquila and Priscilla then relocated with Paul from Corinth to Ephesus—from Europe to Asia (Acts 18:18–21). Their tentmaking business could thrive anywhere, so they took it abroad for the sake of the gospel. When Paul left Ephesus after a very short stay, they remained, eventually mentoring a new Christian and promising evangelist, Apollo (Acts 18:24–28).
Priscilla and Aquila moved back to Rome once their exile had been lifted (Romans 16:3–5). They were leaders in the Rome church, which met in their home. Eventually, they moved yet again. The last time we hear of them, they’re back in Ephesus, helping Timothy in his pastoral ministry just prior to Paul’s martyrdom (2 Timothy 4:19). For nearly two decades, their career provided them with a platform for missions. And they used it.
The Future of Global Missions
The future of missions doesn’t depend on finding another apostle Paul. There was only one. What we need is an army of Priscillas and Aquilas. The people sent out from Killian Hill Baptist Church during my pastorate were mostly tentmakers, not seminary grads. Several of them attended “AWANA Theological Seminary”—learning the Bible, really well, by growing up in a Bible-teaching church. We sent a firefighter to the mission field. And a couple teachers. And a principal. And a computer guy. And a bookkeeper. And a stay-at-home mom. And a man who tricked out high-end executive airplanes.
Some left their careers to shift to full-time mission work. But some leveraged their vocational capabilities to get to an otherwise closed mission field. And you could do the same.
Let the gospel drive you to leverage your career around the world for gospel advance.
COMING SOON!
More Gospel Meditations for Missions
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