Written by Cafe 1040 Staff

Romans 10:14-15

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!

Consider the word, “missionary.” What images come to mind? An evangelist in an urban center? A church planter living in a rural village? A medical doctor using their skills to show the love of Christ? 

I will tell you what comes to my mind. 

I see, surrounding each of these missionaries, dozens of family members, prayer warriors, financial investors, and faithful friends who hold the responsibility for sending these missionaries. 

When we send out a missionary from our churches, they are making the choice to forsake the “American dream,” say “goodbye” to what is familiar, leave behind parents, siblings, or grandchildren, and they must re-learn how to communicate the message of the Gospel in a new language and cultural context. 

We could spend days brainstorming ways we can support, encourage, equip, prepare, love, care for, and send missionaries well. It is so important for each one of us in the church to ask ourselves the question posed in Romans 10, verse 15: And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? 

Here is the beautiful thing about being the Body of Christ: the manner in which we love and serve one another can itself be a witness to the Gospel (see John 13 and 17 for Jesus’s teaching here). This includes how we send out brothers and sisters to be witnesses to the Gospel where stories of Jesus are not yet told.

This verse in Romans, and the truth behind it, is a deeply personal one to me and my husband in this season of our lives. We have just signed a contract to be sent by our church through Cafe 1040 to mentor young adults and serve a primarily Muslim population in northern Europe. While most people our age are making retirement plans, we are realizing with greater clarity than ever how much we need our community as we support-raise, prepare to sell nearly everything we own, and begin to say goodbye to family – including our two daughters, one son-in-law, and two beautiful grandchildren. 

As we consider with fresh perspective how we want to be sent out, I hope you will let Romans 10:15 show you how you can send well, support well, and remember well those you know who have counted the cost and followed Christ to the nations. 

This is PART 4/5 of a devotional series written based on the key passage for Cafe 1040’s Annual Giving Campaign. A new devotional will be published every week, and we hope you will be blessed by them and pray alongside us.