A Message of Hope

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28: 19, 20
Why do we support missionaries?  Where do we find in Scripture the authorization to send money to Christians working around the world?  How do we justify using God’s resources in this way?
These questions continue to be asked among conscientious Christians.  Jesus in the Great Commission says go.  He doesn’t say find someone else to go out into the world to spread the gospel.  Paul conducted several mission trips himself.  He didn’t sit back and send others out to fulfill this command.  So why is it okay to support others in the mission fields and not go ourselves?
The first century pattern seems to be that churches were formed where there were people.  Paul established churches and in his letters to Timothy and Titus instructed them to ensure local leadership was in place wherever there were churches (Titus 1:5).  The churches were established where people were and they did not move (Revelation 2,3).  People like Paul and Barnabas were actually sent to places like Antioch to teach the good news there by the elders in Jerusalem (Acts 11).  So the gospel was spread in the first century by people sent by local churches out into the world to make disciples of the lost and dying in the world.  In fact, our perfect example Jesus tells us that he was sent into the world “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
Therefore isn’t Jesus God’s missionary to the world?  Didn’t he send a part of Himself to save us?  To bring us the good news?  To make disciples of each one of us?  It seems we have a divine duty to follow this example by sending a part of ourselves across the world to help teach others about Jesus our Savior.  In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us we are all “Christ’s ambassadors” with a message of reconciliation for the world (2 Corinthians 5: 20,21). 
The messengers God sends out into the world represent Him.  We represent Christ here in Albany.  Andrew and his family represent Jesus in the Ukraine to the most vulnerable of populations.  The unwanted children in the Ukraine flock to the message of love and salvation.  They eagerly desire the Word of the gospel.  How do we justify spending God’s resources on missionaries?  Just look at the faces of the souls that the Kelly’s touch.  How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news? (Romans 10: 15)
Scripture:  Romans 10: 14, 15