This is a copy of a guest post I did for the On Mission blog for the Christian and Missionary Alliance. To subscribe to that blog Click Here

Either we are called to go or we are called to send. That’s it.

Consider for a moment how your life would be different if you felt called to go. Your whole world would fundamentally change.

You would have to learn a new language, eat strange food and learn to love a new people group. You would need to sell most of your stuff and put the things you aren’t selling into storage. You would have to travel halfway around the world, find a new place to live….and that’s just for starters.

And while all this seems like a bit much we’ve watched it happen time and time again in the Alliance as we’ve sent individuals and families across the world for the sake of the Gospel.

Now, every single individual who has not been called to go has been called to send. As I write this I need to ask myself to consider…how has my life changed. It has changed some…for sure…but certainly not like my friends in distant lands.

Is that ok? Is my call any different?

This is not a guilt trip it’s a request to reflect. You see I need the one who is called to go to go with everything they’ve got. The one called to go needs me to stay behind with a passionate calling to never never never forget that I am their partner in their ministry.

So who are you sending? How are you sending them? More poignantly how are you changing your everyday routine to send like they changed their everyday routine to go? If my everyday routine hasn’t really changed…have I really sent at all? We certainly would say that one who is called to go who has not gone is not living out their call.

Let’s make sure we send just as visibly as they go. Either I go or I send. That’s it. Let’s live out our calling!

Community Questions:
Describe how you experienced your call to stay? How do you know that it was God calling you to do so?

Describe how you and your family have changed your everyday routine in order to send?