Forever a Foreigner

I recently returned to the United States after a year on the mission field. I grew up on that mission field, so it is coming to the U.S.A. that is always a bit of an adjustment. When people say, “Welcome home!” it usually doesn’t compute.

However, when I was standing in the main room of my church’s building, and a lady asked, “Are you glad to be home?” I said, “Yes,” with a ring of truth. If there is one place in the nation that feels like home, it is with my church family.

I was not consistently part of a church growing up. This might sound surprising, but as a missionary family we were usually in a place where A) there wasn’t a church at all, or, B) the existing church was tiny and in spiritual infancy. When I was preparing to leave home for the first time, I wasn’t convinced that church was a necessary component of a Christian’s life. After all, I had never truly experienced it, and I was a believer.

Godly counsel and honest discussions with the authorities in my life showed me that yes, the gathering together of believers is vital and commanded in Scripture. Convinced of this, I was prepared to commit to a church body during college, but I had no idea just how central that church would become to my life.

Yes, it was different at first, and often strange to my eyes–the music (pianos? organs? why can’t we just sing a cappella), the format (such a tight schedule), the setting (so much air conditioning), the red tape (background checks? for teaching Sunday School?)–but these things were not the church. The church is the people. As I worked in different ministries and got to know first one person and then another, I began to understand.

I am part of the body of Christ. I don’t just need to go to church services on weekends. I need to center my life as much as I can around building up and being built up by my fellow believers and serving God with them.

If I am a citizen of heaven, waiting on a city yet to come, then some of the most important people in my life should be my fellow citizens!

Adults and Seasoned Members of the Church

Get the young people involved! I would never have connected so strongly with my church family if it wasn’t for one special lady. On my first day she asked me to get involved in the children’s program, and from that day on I was a part of the ministry of the church. She and her husband continued to reach out to me, offering me rides and a place at their table.

When I arrived at the church I was a nervous, self-conscious teenager. I would never have volunteered on my own, and I had no idea how to reach out to the people around me. I needed other people to invite me in, into the work of the church, and into their homes and lives.

I strongly encourage you to do this, especially for missionary kids, who have additional insecurities and hesitations. The more personal, the better. Don’t make it a huge, special outing. Just have them over for dinner! Be human. Be real.

Young People and MKs

Stick with it. You will find yourself reluctant to attend church services. That’s your flesh attacking. Make yourself go as often as possible. It might be awkward and uncomfortable, especially at first. The only way to overcome that is to keep going.

Say yes if people offer you an opportunity to get involved in ministry activities. Don’t just be a church-goer, participate! You can’t stay an outsider if you are part of the family.

Give people time. Adults are awkward too, and sometimes they don’t know what to say to you, or how to reach out. Try to be easy to approach. Ask questions about their lives.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22