Missions is not a spectator sport. Somewhere between the missionary on the field and the church that sent him, there is a place for every believer to serve. The question is not whether you can be involved in reaching the world for Christ; you can, but whether you will take the steps to find your place

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Start With Your Own Walk

Involvement in missions begins at home, not on the field. Be faithful in your service to the Lord in your own church. Get to church on time, tithe, attend the services, and find a place of service there. None of that public faithfulness means much, though, if it isn't built on something private. Guard your personal devotions, your prayer time, and your soul winning. Whatever you do for missions will only be as strong as your walk with God already is.

Pray With Purpose

Prayer is where every believer can start, regardless of age, income, or opportunity to travel. Pray for the ministry of your church and your pastor. Pray for souls to be saved. Pray that God would send forth laborers into His harvest. And pray for your missionaries by name, not in general terms, but specifically, as you would for a member of your own family.

Make It Personal

Missionaries are easy to forget. They live far away, they're rarely seen, and it is genuinely "out of sight, out of mind." You can change that.

Share your testimony of what you have seen, felt, and heard, whether on a mission trip or in a missions class. Write personal letters to missionaries and stay in touch. Learn their actual needs, not just their prayer requests, and carry those needs both personally and in prayer. Send them what they need, and also send care packages simply to say you love them and are thinking of them.

Consider adopting a missionary family for at least a year, and invite others to do the same. A Sunday school class or a family can do this well, especially if each family takes on one specific missionary so the relationship has room to grow. Keep track of birthdays and special days. Send a card, a small gift, and don't let Christmas pass without a word from home.

Get to know your missionaries not as a project, but as people. The goal is to know their lives well enough that you notice a need and meet it before they ever have to ask.

That same personal care matters most when the missionary is standing right in front of you. When a missionary visits your church, don't let him go unnoticed during the service. Talk with him about his work. Ask what you can do to help him get set up. Walk him to the pastor's office and make the introduction. Show him where the bathroom is. Be especially warm to his children. Going from church to church, feeling like an outsider with no friends, is hard on a family. And take a real look at his display. Most people walk past it, but he spent real time putting it together to show you his field. Ask questions. Learn something.

Stay Informed and Stay Involved

Study the countries where your missionaries serve. Learn what the needs are there, and keep up with that country in the news. Find out what projects your missionaries are working on and get involved however you can. Send your pastor's sermon recordings, and even video of services and special activities, along with a personal note or greeting, something that says, "we haven't forgotten you." When retired or furloughing missionaries are available, invite them into your youth camps and Sunday school classes. God can still use them to reach the next generation, even from a season of rest.

Get the Perspective Right

Some of this comes down to how you think about missions, not just what you do about it. Study the Scriptures that speak to the needs of missionaries; the burden is there in the text, not just in a sermon illustration. See the work of a missionary as equal to the work of a pastor, and say so. Don't picture him as someone who couldn't make it in the States; picture him as someone doing exactly what the pastor is doing, just somewhere else. Recognize that the world's deepest problems are not economic or political at their root; they are the result of sin and the absence of God's Word. A missions closet, kept stocked and ready, is a practical way for a church to act on that conviction at a moment's notice.

The One Step That Matters Most

All of this the praying, the letters, the care packages, the study is preparation for a single moment of honesty before God. Tell Him you are ready and available to serve Him anywhere in the world He desires. Give yourself to Him to carry His gospel to the world. It is not fair to ask someone else to go if you were never willing to go yourself.

Missions ministry has room for everyone: the one who prays, the one who writes, the one who gives, the one who welcomes, and the one who goes. Find where you fit, and start there.