Missionary Description

My final blog about a specific job's description is that of a missionary. According to dictionary.com, a missionary is defined as

"a person sent by a church into an area to carry on evangelism or other activities, as educational or hospital work." 

Job Description

It is the job of a missionary to spread the gospel to those who have not been exposed to it. This may mean moving to another city to start a small church (which relates back to my second blog post about becoming a pastor), or moving to another country and telling people who have never even seen anything relating to Christianity and spreading the love of God to them.

This is an incredibly unique job because it can involve so many different things. It is very difficult describe the exact job description so I answer the most basic questions about the job in order to explain it in the best way possible. These questions are answered according to gotquestions.org

• WHO is a missionary
• Many people picture a missionary as a middle-aged man who leaves his job in America to evangelize and plant churches in Africa, but today African Christians reach out to Muslims in the Middle East, college students spend their summer teaching English in Asia, families in America witness to international students. All these people are missionaries because they are evangelizing to those in a specific area that they feel called to.
• WHAT is a missionary
•  As I said earlier, a missionary is someone sent by the church, and God, to spread the gospel to an area that they feel called. The ultimate goal of a missionary is to bring someone closer to Christ and create disciples of all nations.
• WHERE are there missionaries
• Missionaries are everywhere. A missionary is not just a man in a foreign country, such as Africa. It is also someone who dedicates their life for God in any area that needs it.

Salary

The salary of a missionary is one that is seemingly impossible to determine. There are so many different aspects of the job, that the group of people within the job are vastly different. According to work.chron.com, "The amount you can expect to earn really depends on the organization funding the mission." The same website states that the average salary was about $31,600 in 2011 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. after that it follows the statistic with the statement:

" But high salaries — and low ones, for that matter — can skew the average, and median wage is often a better indication of earnings. Half of all religious workers earned less than $26,150 a year. Neither number, however, accounts for a worker's position."

Personal Experience

I have never been on an out of country mission trip, but I have gone on a few in the country. The main mission trip I have taken is the Memphis Mission Trip. This trip is for middle schoolers at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville. We go to one of the more "ghetto" parts of Memphis and work with an organization called Street Reach. Our job is to hold bible clubs for the kids and do service projects within the community. This has always been a learning experience for me and is my fondest memories from middle school.

This year I was able to go on the Memphis trip as a leader. That is what my next blog will be about if you want to learn more information about my experiences on that trip. I also plan on going on my first out of country mission trip this summer. I will go to Haiti with my church, The Fellowship. I am very excited to go and be a missionary for a few weeks in Haiti and learning what it truly means to become one.

Sources

1. "Dictionary." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2015. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/missionary>. 
2. "What Is a Christian Missionary." Gotquestions.org. GotQuestions.org, 2015. Web. 5 Apr. 2015. <http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-missionary.html>.
3. Severson, Dana. "How Much Money Do Missionaries Make?" Work. Chron, 2015. Web. 06 Apr. 2015. <http://work.chron.com/much-money-missionaries-make-17368.html>.