Motivations Matter
Alan Howell
Director of Church Relations
One of the key ingredients in a calling to participate in missions is motivation. Not all motivations are created equal, though. Some are bad right from the start and will quickly spoil a calling. Others may be deficient or weak and lack the power to sustain a Christ-centered mission. But, when someone has a good and strong motivational source to draw on, this supports their ability to fulfill their calling well. Let’s briefly look at examples from each of these categories.
Bad reasons: Some people want to serve in missions because of feelings like guilt or pressure. They may incorrectly believe that they will only have value in God’s eyes if they do something that some would see as dramatic. The truth we need to remember though is that we don’t minister or serve in order to be accepted by God, instead we minister from a place of acceptance by God. Guilt or pressure about mission service may be a voice from the evil one or it could be from unhealthy community or family influence. Some people who grow up on the mission field feel like they “have to” or “should” serve in missions – but that isn’t the same thing as a calling. And while third-culture kids can make good cross-cultural kingdom servants, leaning merely on that type of background as the primary motivator isn’t nearly enough to make up a calling.
Weak reasons: Others may misinterpret some potentially helpful secondary factors as the basis for a calling. For example, things like frustration with churches or with life in the U.S.A., desires to travel, etc. Those can all be nudges to consider opportunities that could take us to new places. But dissatisfaction with the status quo or wanting to see the world can’t be a main ingredient in your calling. Those are too weak and will not sustain a kingdom worker over the long haul.
Good reasons: Here are just a few good reasons to “go” that can sustain a ministry over the long haul. Often these motivations (and others) will weave together in ways that strengthen each other.
Obedience – This word may not be a popular one these days in many Christian circles. This sense, though, that you need to submit to the Lordship of Christ and go wherever he leads can be powerful. A countercultural motive like this can be a renewable energy source for us as it keeps drawing us back to Christ as the source of mission and calling.
Community – While we may typically think of calling as an individual thing, God often calls people to serve together. And a sense that “whatever we’re called to do, we’re called to do it as a team,” can be a powerful anchor point. It also can be connected to a way to discern collectively what following that calling looks like by incorporating the wisdom of multiple people.
Anger – Okay, this one might surprise you… And certainly, it is best when this is paired with the other good reasons, but a godly anger, a longing for and an emotional investment in seeing God’s justice realized in the here and now can be a powerful reason to go serve the last, the lost, and the least of the world. When you look at a situation and realize it is just wrong, it needs to change, and something must be done. This can be the espresso or energy drink to give you power to go and serve. Alone, anger as your reason probably will not sustain you over the long haul, but when this comes from a mature place and is paired with both empathy and wise action – it transforms anger into a passion that looks less like being jaded and more like acting and interacting with joy.
Choice – Calling often involves a choice and when we can “own” that we have had agency and have chosen this path there can be real advantages to that. For example, a clear sense of calling doesn’t mean that we get to “blame God” when the going gets tough. Instead, reckoning with the fact that we answered this call, “we chose this,” and are partnering with God in whatever we are doing – that allows us to “own it” appropriately.
Home – The most powerful motivator for me “to go and stay” for the long haul in Mozambique (ironically) was my longing for home. One way I like to talk about this comes from a scene where I found myself identifying with Bilbo Baggins. At one point in the film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Bilbo is missing, and the dwarves expect that he’s run off. In fact, our main character has considered abandoning his companions but thinks better of it. When Bilbo suddenly reappears, the Dwarf King questions his motives for returning.
Here’s how Bilbo responds, “I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you’re right, I often think of Bag End - I miss my books… and my armchair… my garden. See, that’s where I belong. That’s home. And that’s why I came back, ‘cause you don’t have one… a home. It was taken from you. But, I will help you take it back if I can.”
Instead of finding their home in the Kingdom of God, many of the people you may feel called to serve may have found themselves home-less, wandering through a land dominated by the forces of a different kingdom – one ruled by sin, death and Satan. Like the dwarves in Tolkien’s story, their true home has been taken from them. They may have been spiritually oppressed and homeless in a sense… And that’s what can make us want to “go” and “stay”… and, to borrow a phrase from Bilbo, do our best “to help them take it back if I can.” This is a way to leverage the best elements of homesickness and longing and apply it to working towards people finding wholeness and home-ness in the Kingdom of God.
Living and ministering from a mature sense of calling provides courage and is life-sustaining. Reggie McNeal says this, "A leader with a clear sense of call represents a formidable force. The sense of destiny emboldens, energizes and empowers the leader as well as those who are part of a leader's (group) of followers. Leaders convinced of their call do not easily succumb to disappointments and discouragements. Nor do they calculate odds in the same way as those who are not operating from a call basis. Leaders secure in their call will charge hell with a water pistol. A divine (drive) fuels their determination." (A Work of Heart, 96).
Cultivating a robust calling that is made up of good ingredients is crucial for mission success. Our motivations matter and when we can draw on them appropriately, we can serve Christ in ways that faithfully honor what matters most to God.
If you want to talk more about developing your calling, I’d love to connect with you about that. Send me an email at alan.howell@mrnet.org.