A missionary is a person who is tasked with the work of spreading the gospel. They might live in a foreign nation or they might work in their home country. A missionary can be someone who is serving on a short-term missions or someone whose entire career and ministry is built upon being in the mission field.
You will often find missionaries hard at work in the communities they serve in a variety of ways: teaching, giving aid, and helping with community development programs. But their main objective is to always ensure that the gospel of Jesus is taught so that other might know of God’s love for them.
You may have found yourself wondering, “what does the average day in the life of a missionary really look like?” Well, friends, read on and and let’s discover what an average day might look like!
Morning
Many missionaries believe that the best way to start the day is through prayer. So they get up, early in the morning, and fall to their knees before the throne of God. They often do this before breakfast to ensure that they have quality time with the Lord before the busyness of the day sets in.
Next they will eat a nutritious breakfast, often with other missionaries with whom they are serving. The most important meal of the day done, they will then turn their attention to planning out their day. Will it involve evangelism? Manual labor? Something else?
The next part of the missionary’s day depends on what sort of work they do in their community. Many will be off to teach the community’s children. Many will be off to work in health clinics offering life-saving care to others. Many will be meeting with leaders in their community to strategize new plans and developments.
Afternoon
At the mid-point of the day, the missionary will stop to take a break to eat lunch, drink water, and rest. Taking a break is crucial for the missionary. Due to the nature of the work, it would be so easy to burnout or experience fatigue if rest time were not factored into each day’s plan.
This time of rest doesn’t necessarily mean that the missionary is disengaged, however. No, the missionary will use this break time to reflect on how the day is shaping up and what remains to be done before evening falls. Lunchtime is also a great to take a moment to spend time in the Word of God and to pursue personal reflection.
After lunch and rest, the missionary is back to work! They will return to the tasks they didn’t get to finish that morning. In addition to that, they may also prepare and participate in worship services held by the believers in their community. Fellowship with other Christians is one of the most precious parts of the missionary’s day; it refreshes the soul to be able to pray and worship with other children of God and brings them back to why they became a missionary in the first place: everyone should have a chance to worship the Lord!
Finally, if time permits, the missionary may spend time ministering to those in the community who are in need of food, healthcare, or just a kind ear.
No matter what work the missionary’s hands may find to do, they do it for the glory of God and with the hope of getting to introduce others to Christ!
Evening
Finally, the evening arrives and the missionary is ready for dinner with friends and team members. Dinnertime is an excellent moment to find refreshing fellowship with others doing similar work.
Following the evening meal, it is now time to debrief with team members. They will discuss how the day went, whatever issues or challenges showed up, and how to address them. They will also acknowledge the successes of the day and give thanks to God for allowing them to be part of it. The debriefing period will likely be followed by prayer for the rest of their time in that community and for whatever challenges the next day will bring.
Finally, the day comes to a close. The missionary can now retire to their personal space. This is an excellent time for the missionary to spend some private time in prayer and in the Bible, learning whatever The Spirit may want to teach them in that moment.
Finally, the day comes to a close. The missionary can now retire to their personal space. This is an excellent time for the missionary to spend some private time in prayer and in the Bible, learning whatever The Spirit may want to teach them in that moment.
The work of a missionary is not easy, by any means. It takes dedication and a heart for service to be a missionary. But the work that they do, every day and in every country in the world is desperately needed. Missionaries don’t just bring the good news of Jesus to those who may never have heard it before, they also bring hope in the form of education, healthcare, community development, clean water, and so much more.
Are you considering a ministry as a missionary? Consider joining Mission Partners For Christ on one of our short-term medical mission trips. You will get to experience, first-hand, on what it is like to go out into the field to bring the good news of Jesus AND to be part of making their physical lives healthier and happier.
We have two trips coming up, for which you can still apply!
We will be traveling to Burundi this July 14-23, 2023. Registration will be closing soon, so don’t delay!
Later in the year, we will also be travelling to Togo November 4-13, 2023.
We need everybody! Regardless of whether or not you have experience in the medical field, we have a spot for you.
And don’t forget! If you are a dental medical student, you can apply for a scholarship to have $1000 put towards the cost of your first trip with us.
Get all the information on upcoming trips here.
