Though my official job title is church planting catalyst, at heart, I am simply a missionary. The calling to be a missionary is similar in some ways to the calling to pastoral ministry, but the focus is different. People called to the pastoral ministry have a focus on building up the church. Though pastors do many things, they typically focus on preaching good sermons, discipling church members through one on one counseling and small groups, and provide pastoral care in times of difficulty or life change.

Though missionaries may also do some of that, their focus is more on laying the foundation on which the church is built. Missionaries tend to be drawn to those who have not yet come to faith in Christ. While pastors focus on the people inside the church, missionaries focus on those outside the church. Missionaries feel comfortable engaging those outside the church in Gospel oriented conversations and pointing them toward faith. Though missionaries have great respect for organizational structure, they tend to keep it simple. Knowing that one day someone else will come build on top of the foundation they lay, missionaries focus on sharing the Gospel and grounding new believers in the basic principles of the Christian faith.

Depending on our perspective, we sometimes lift up either pastors or missionaries as being the most important. In reality, the church needs both in order to be healthy. It is not either/or, instead it should be both/and. What role is God calling us to fill? Are we obeying His calling?

Dr. Terry Dorsett