Long skirts with tennis shoes, shaggy, unkept hair, khaki cargo pants, don’t act like you’ve never pictured a missionary this way before.
We’ve all fallen prey to this stereotype. For so long, “missions” was just a department in the church where people who can’t fit in with their own culture try out a new one.
You hear a missionary lives in Africa and you immediately envision them cooking their dinner over an open flame in their tiny hut with their seven kids. You find out they work in Asia and you assume “dog” is their new favorite cuisine.
And while having seven kids may hold true in the missions world, there are plenty of myths people commonly hold as true about missionaries.
Samantha Conners with the International Mission Board exposes five lies that people believe about missionaries:
"Twenty years ago, if you had asked me what I pictured when I heard the word “missionary,” I would have described a modern-day John the Baptist. In my mind, missionaries were hairy and dirty, wore clothes that were outdated and odd, ate things that made my stomach turn, and lived a life so holy and different that I couldn’t possibly relate.
Fast-forward twenty years, and here I am, a missionary. And when I compare myself to the stereotypical missionary I pictured when I was a kid, I don’t come close to filling the part—thankfully, honestly. Come to think of it, none of my missionary friends do."
Read the full post here.
