This post is written by David McLemore as a companion for Unit 33, Session 2 of The Gospel Project for Adults, Volume 11: From One Nation to All Nations (Spring 2024).

Have you ever considered how gracious and kind it is for God to give missionaries in this world? They are real heroes walking the earth today. They boldly go to hard places for glorious purposes. They don’t complain. They don’t waffle in tough conversations. They trust God and follow Him courageously.

I know missionaries don’t feel that way all the time. They’re human. But they have supernatural strength carrying them along day in and day out. They have the original Missionary—the Holy Spirit—with them, inspiring them to just keep going, even when it gets hard.

We are all inheritors of the grace of God found through missionary work. The gospel was not carried throughout the world by the wind. It was taken by men and women who forsook all else and risked their lives to share the gospel with people they did not know, often in languages they did not speak. They translated the Bible so we could read it. They planted churches so the mission could continue. They helped feed and clothe the needy. They started schools so children could learn to read and write. They built houses and moved into the neighborhood to love their neighbor. They faced hardship after hardship and considered it a light thing compared to the glory that was to come (2 Corinthians 4:17). The history of Christian missions is absolutely astounding in every way.

What inspires such people to risk it all? It is the truth of the gospel. It is the deep trust that God’s Word is true and that His grace is real. Only the gospel can carry a missionary for a lifetime. Only the gospel can compel such boldness. Only the gospel can accomplish so much.

We all owe so much to the humble and obedient missionaries of the past. Too many of us, however, are ignorant of their names. Maybe it’s time we changed that. Why not study up on who brought the gospel to your land? Why not learn the names of the people who planted your church? Why not thank God for them and ask Him to do it again?

Who knows? Maybe this time He’ll use you.

David McLemore serves as an elder at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He is a regular contributor to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s For the Church website and a staff writer at Gospel-Centered Discipleship.