Two Illinois Baptists open doors for the gospel during overseas service as IMB Journeymen.
Emily
Emily and Mackenzie have a lot in common. Both are from Southern Illinois. Both experienced childhood as pastors’ kids. Both grew up in mission-minded Southern Baptist churches. Both studied French. And now, both are alumnae of the International Mission Board’s Journeyman program.
Journeymen are young women and men, ages 21-29, who are sent by their local churches as fully funded IMB missionaries. They join an international missionary team for a two-year commitment to share the gospel, make disciples, and help plant churches. Founded in 1965, the Journeyman program has sent thousands of young adults overseas.
For Emily, who returned to Illinois earlier this year after completing her two-year term, it was an eye-opening experience.
“I went in not really sure what to expect. I served in France and there are definitely stereotypes there. But I found [the stereotypes] to be very untrue” she said. “They were some of the most loving people. Initially, once you get past that barrier, that slight coldness, they ended up being the warmest, loving people, and my heart opened to them very, very quickly.”
Mackenzie
Living missionally in a country that is less than two percent evangelical and often referred to as “post-Christian” meant she had to think differently about daily interactions and people’s spiritual openness. “You have [talk about faith] gradually, because if you do it too soon, they shut you out immediately,” she said.
“It takes time meeting with people over and over and over again. Eventually those walls come down and they are open to spiritual conversations. I found a lot of them have a lot of questions. They just don’t know who to ask or feel that freedom to ask. So, there’s potential. You just have to work to get there.”
Emily urges anyone feeling the pull to missions to go. “Just take the leap. Give it all to God and do it, because it is incredible,” she said.
These are lessons Mackenzie is just beginning to learn. She arrived in France late last year. “The people here are very diverse,” she said. “The French put a great emphasis on art, science, and philosophy. Many people choose to believe in science itself, instead of the Creator, God.”
France is very diverse, but the people have chosen to believe in science over God.
Over time, that erosion of a belief in God has left the country’s great cathedrals and churches mostly empty. It also means there is a wider gap to bridge to begin spiritual conversations. Missionaries such as Mackenzie and her team work with small but dedicated gatherings of national believers to share the gospel and plant new evangelical churches. It all begins with a heart for people.
“God loves the people I am here trying to reach, which means I need to as well,” she said. “The best way I can love them is by sharing the gospel. If I truly care about these people, I should care where they are going to spend eternity.”
Some days are hard, being far from family and friends and learning a new culture. But for the most part, Mackenzie said. “It is a joy to be here with these people.”
From its skyline to its cuisine, France is known for many things, but evangelical faith is not among them as only 2% of the population professes belief in Jesus as their Savior.
Both women credit growing up in mission-focused, Cooperative Program-supporting churches for cultivating their hearts to hear God’s call to the mission field.
Emily’s church “had a mission house where missionaries would come and stay on stateside. So, I literally grew up at the feet of missionaries. There was something about their faith—the joy they had in Christ—that was just different than anyone else I had ever met.”
Later visits to those same missionaries overseas prepared her to respond to God’s call during an IMB sending ceremony at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting when she was 17.
Mackenzie doesn’t point to a moment of hearing a call, but to a lifetime of hearing it. “I was able to go on more mission trips than I can count,” she said. “As I got older, God changed my love for those trips into a heart for missions.”
She credited her first trip with changing the way she sees the world.
Two young women from Illinois committed two years’ service as IMB Journeyman missionaries in Paris, sharing Christ’s love among people who rarely discuss faith.
“All over the world, there are people with serious needs, but as I learned, their biggest need is Christ. I learned at 13 years old that I have the ability to share the gospel no matter where I am in the world.”
The faithful mission giving of Illinois Baptist churches through the Cooperative Program, when joined with CP giving from thousands of other SBC churches, enables every church to send, support, and pray for missionaries.
These young missionaries don’t take that support lightly. “I wouldn’t be here without the prayers and support from churches across the IBSA and SBC,” Mackenzie said.
“These churches are crucial to our work in France and other missionaries around the world. I am beyond thankful for all the churches that help support me from halfway across the world.”