Why Your Call to Missions Matters + How to Find It

Jessica Hulbert • Apr 01, 2016

I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but when I see a tiny airplane on the cover of a journal, or a canvas that reads “Adventure is Waiting”, my heart starts to swell with longing. I immediately want to be on a plane or adding a stamp to my passport or in the middle of a busy European café, soaking in the sights and sounds.

When you pair a longing for adventure with a desire to share the hope of Jesus Christ with the world, missions seems like the natural next step.

I agree, you may be on to something. But while passion and excitement can be an indicator of a call to missions, it doesn’t always guarantee it.

So how can you discern whether your passion is leading you on the path to cross-cultural ministry work?

Why Does Calling Matter in Missions?

First, I think we need to ask ourselves, “Why does calling matter?” If our passions are leading us toward something good, like missions, discerning calling can seem somewhat irrelevant.

Here’s why making the distinction matters:

While passion often motivates us to do something, it waxes and wanes with time, and without a genuine calling, you’re left with an uncertainty when things get tough. Ultimately, we need to be sure we’re following God’s leading, not just our emotions. So, we let passion be an indicator of something God may be doing in us, but we still take it to him and ask where he is leading first. This helps us surrender our passion and make it about him rather than us.

It may very well be that he is speaking right into that passion. It may also be that he has other plans for us to wait on. Either way, we’ve given ourselves a chance to open our hearts up to the Creator and let him move. And we will not be disappointed in the plans he has for us.

How Do I Discern My Call to Missions?

Calling is a difficult topic to address and would probably take more than a blog post to really unpack it. But, from my own experience, I have found a few key things to be necessary when discerning next steps in my life.

1. Prayer

I don’t know if I’ve found anything more powerful than prayer in the area of discernment. My mind plays too many tricks on me, weaving in doubts and contradictory thoughts. It’s a tangled mess up there! Prayer has a way of cutting through the overgrown branches of my mind and paving a clear path.

Take your passion for missions to God in prayer. He wants to hear the desires of your heart, so let him into your thought process. And as you’re praying, make room for him to speak through his Spirit and scripture. When we set aside our worry and settle our minds, we open our hearts to hear from God. In doing so, we become more sensitive to his voice and his direction.

2. Wise Council

I’ve always been an extrovert who loves being around people. But surrounding myself with people and leaning on those who actually have a voice in my life are two different things. God never intended for us to be alone. Our church community is our godly family who sharpens us toward living better lives with Christ.

As you let people in to your decision making process, they are able to speak into areas you may have never thought of on your own. So, in times of discerning what to do next, your community may be one of the strongest tools you have.

I have had many close friends, mentors and co-workers speak into my life over the years. Their words and challenges have rooted themselves within me, not only bringing life to situations I felt hopeless in, but also reminding me that I’m not alone.

Let others into the process of discerning your call to missions. Talk to your missions pastor or connect with a missions coach at TEAM who will talk to you one-on-one about discovering your calling.

3. Time

This is a rough one. Anyone impatient like me? Go ahead, raise your hand! I won’t judge.

When we want to make a decision, we want to make it quick. Sitting in the unknown is so uncomfortable, and honestly, it’s frustrating! But when I’ve had big decisions to make in my life, sometimes I’ve tried to hurry them along when the process was just as important as the outcome.

Discerning your call to missions doesn’t always take a long time, but sometimes it does — and for our own good! So, if you’re struggling to find answers, give it more time.

In the meantime you can actively wait. Continue being faithful in pursuing God’s heart for your life. Continue talking to people and praying with people. Continue processing what you’ve heard from God and how you’ve seen him move. And let these things develop over time. It will grow you in ways that will only help as you live on the mission field.

Breathe deep, and trust that in the moments of unknown, God knows, and his plan is unfolding in your life even now.

What’s Next?

If you feel like your passion is leading you overseas, I am so excited for you! Consider taking the next step, and go on a short-term mission trip. If you’re still unsure, continue taking next steps in discerning your call to missions. Wherever your journey leads, you’re already on the greatest adventure of your life by walking with him.

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Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024

TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024

Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.