Close

Don’t take it from us.

The idea of missions is everywhere in the Bible. Missionary opportunities pop out from both the Old and New Testament. Below are missions Scriptures and inspiration from people involved in missions.
Scriptures on Missions

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
–Psalm 96:3 (NIV)
Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
–Psalm 96:10 (NIV)

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
–Psalm 105:1 (NIV)

In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.”
–Isaiah 12:4 (NIV)

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
–Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
–Luke 10:2 (NIV)

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”
–John 20:21 (NIV)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
–Acts 1:8 (NIV)

For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 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?
–Romans 10:13-14 (NIV)

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest…
–Galatians 6:9

Quotes on the Bible and Missions

“If you take missions out of the Bible, you have nothing left but the covers.” -Nina Gunter

"The Bible is not the basis of missions; missions is the basis of the Bible" — Ralph Winter, missiologist

"People who don't believe in missions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said the field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East, West, North and South." — J. Howard Edington

Quotes on the Missionary Call

"'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. — William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

“If God calls you to be a missionary, don’t stoop to be a king.” -Jordan Grooms

"To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map." — William Carey, pioneer missionary to India

“Some seminarians seem unsettled about a missionary call. You have your call; it is to God. If you accepted that call, then you are at divine disposal. Stop making distinctions about home and abroad. Don’t let geography represent a roadblock….Let us eliminate every artificial understanding of the mission field. Simply say, ‘I am called to him. Where does he want me?’” -Phil Armstrong

Quotes on Missions and the Church

“The mission of the church is missions.” -Oswald J. Smith 

“The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity but its sending capacity.” -Mike Stachura

“A church which pitches its tents without constantly looking out for new horizons, which does not continually strike camp, is being untrue to its calling… [We must] play down our longing for certainty, accept what is risky, and live by improvisation and experiment.” Hans Kung, The Church as the People of God

"Any church that is not seriously involved in helping fulfill the Great Commission has forfeited its biblical right to exist." — Oswald J. Smith

"There is nothing in the world or the Church — except the church's disobedience — to render the evangelization of the world in this generation an impossibility." — Robert Speer

"If the Church is 'in Christ,' she is involved in mission. Her whole existence then has a missionary character. Her conduct as well as her words will convince the unbelievers and put their ignorance and stupidity to silence." — David Bosch

“It is the whole business of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world.”- Charles H. Spurgeon

"A congregation that is not deeply and earnestly involved in the worldwide proclamation of the gospel does not understand the nature of salvation." — Ted Engstrom, World Vision

“We need the whole gospel. We need to activate the whole church. And we need to engage the whole world.” -Howard Brant

“The challenge of the church is to be less of a destination and more of a training ground for Christians who want to change their world.” -Ari Rocklin

“We are committed to the church that sends, as well as to the church that receives. The church is both the means and the end of the Great Commission.” -Phil Armstrong

“The reason the apostles preached the message of Jesus Christ was not for individual conversion alone. The apostles did not preach so that there simply would be a new me, but so that there would be a new we.” ? Thabiti M. Anyabwile

“We are to see our church (any church, no matter the size) as a small part of God's enterprise of reaching all peoples. We are to remind people of the danger of wasting their life on that which has no lasting significance. Finally, we are to continually request of God what part we can have in His work. There are those sent and those who send. Let us pray, give, and serve!” –Steve Fernandez 

Quotes on Money and Missions

"God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply" — Hudson Taylor

"All the money needed to send and support an army of self-sacrificing, joy-spreading ambassadors is already in the church." — John Piper

“Handouts from well-meaning wealthy are just as hard to accept overseas as they are here at home. Biblically, we are ordered to share (II Corinthians 8:13-14), but can we give out of a sense of stewardship, not ownership? Can we, one of the most prosperous churches in history, rack our brains to find creative ways of giving so the blessing, instead of the burden, is on the recipient?” -Phil Armstrong

Quotes on God's Heart for the Nations

“Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.” -Bob Pierce

“World missions was on God’s mind from the beginning.” -Dave Davidson

“Lost people matter to God and so they must matter to us.” -Keith Wright

“If God’s love is for anybody, anywhere, it is for everybody, everywhere.” -Edward Lawlor

“We must be global Christians with a global mission because our God is a global God.” -John Stott

"The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become." — Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia

"To belong to Jesus is to embrace the nations with Him." — John Piper

"God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose." — John Piper

"God is a God of missions. He wills missions. He commands missions. He demands missions. He made missions possible through His Son. He made missions actual in sending the Holy Spirit." — George W. Peters

“God had only one Son and He made Him a missionary.” -David Livingstone

"Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God" — William Carey, who is called the father of modern missions

Quotes on the Great Commission

“The great commission is not an option to be considered. It is a command to be obeyed.” -Hudson Taylor

“If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?” -David Livingstone

"The command has been to 'go,' but we have stayed — in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth ... but 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland." — Robert Savage, Latin American Mission

"If the Great Commission is true, our plans are not too big; they are too small." — Pat Morley

“The Great Commission is not a command waiting to be obeyed but a promise waiting to be tested.” –Chad Wiebe

Quotes on the Need for Missions

"As long as there are millions destitute of the Word of God and knowledge of Jesus Christ, it will be impossible for me to devote time and energy to those who have both." — J. L. Ewen

"Believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story." — K.P. Yohannan

"Today five out of six non-Christians in our world have no hope unless missionaries come to them and plant the church among them." -David Bryant

“We talk of the second coming. Half the world has never heard of the first.” -Oswald J. Smith

"No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once." — Oswald J. Smith

"Sympathy is no substitute for action." — David Livingstone, missionary to Africa

"I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light" — John Keith Falconer

Quotes on Overcoming Challenges in Missions

“If we desire our faith to be strengthened, we should not shrink from opportunities where our faith may be tried, and therefore, through trial, be strengthened.” -George Mueller

“We never test the resources of God until we attempt the impossible.” -F.B.Meyer

"Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible." — C.T. Studd

"The more obstacles you have, the more opportunities there are for God to do something." -Clarence W. Jones

“Trials, obstacles, difficulties and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith.” -George Mueller

"We have a God who delights in impossibilities.” -Andrew Murray

Quotes on Prayer and Missions

"In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God's work, especially the work of world evangelism, as in intercessory prayer." — Dick Eastman

"We can reach our world, if we will. The greatest lack today is not people or funds. The greatest need is prayer." — Wesley Duewel, head of OMS International

"Prayer is the mighty engine that is to move the missionary work." — A.B. Simpson

"The history of missions is the history of answered prayer." — Samuel Zwemer

“Just a word of warning. Passionate prayers not only change the world, they have a way of transforming the people who pray….God’s goal is to recruit every one of us for His search and rescue team.” —Debbie Meroff

“I never knew before how much is dependent upon a full cooperation with the Lord in prayer. He has, in some sense, limited himself to the scope of the prayers of his people, as taught them by his Spirit. What a partnership prayer is!” -Phil Armstrong

"Prayer needs no passport, visa or work permit. There is no such thing as a 'closed country' as far as prayer is concerned...much of the history of mission could be written in terms of God moving in response to persistent prayer." -Stephan Gaukroger

Quotes on Missionary Qualifications

“God isn’t looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow him.” -Hudson Taylor

“The greatest need in mission is not more activity, but more men and women of godly character.” -George Miley, Loving the Church…Blessings the Nations

"God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him." — Hudson Taylor, missionary to China

"It is possible for the most obscure person in a church, with a heart right toward God, to exercise as much power for the evangelization of the world, as it is for those who stand in the most prominent positions." — John R. Mott

The primary qualification for a missionary is not love for souls, as we so often hear, but love for Christ. -Vance Hayner

“In encouraging other young men to come out as missionaries, do use a word of caution. One wrong-headed, conscientiously-obstinate fellow would ruin us. Humble, quiet, persevering men; men of sound, sterling talents (though, perhaps, not brilliant), of decent accomplishments, and some natural aptitude to acquire a language; men of an amiable temper, willing to take the lowest place, to be the least of all and the servants of all; men who enjoy closet religion, who live near to God, and are willing to suffer all things for Christ’s sake, without being proud of it, these are the men. But O, how unlike to this description is the writer of it.” —Adoniram Judson

“The missionary of tomorrow must be able to play contradictory roles. He is simultaneously a guest, a servant, an apostle, and a disciple. He must be able to find his place of service with every appearance of stability and contentment, yet hold lightly to his position so he can build up others and back off at the same time.” -Phil Armstrong

“The kingdom of God throughout the world will not be established by “Lone Rangers” but by the people of God working together.” —Jerry Rankin

"Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love." — Roland Allen

"I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ." — Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf

“The highest of missionary motive is neither obedience to the Great Commission (important as that is), nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we contemplate the wrath of God), but rather zeal — burning and passionate zeal — for the glory of Jesus Christ. . . . Only one imperialism is Christian . . . and that is concern for His Imperial Majesty Jesus Christ, and for the glory of his empire.” – John Stott

Quotes on Responsibility for Missions

"We are debtors to every man to give him the gospel in the same measure in which we have received it" — P.F. Bresee, founder of the Church of the Nazarene

"This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth!" — Keith Green

"If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn't it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death." — Dave Davidson

"Someone asked ‘Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved?’ It is more a question with me whether we — who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not — can be saved." — Charles Spurgeon

"Go, send, or disobey." — John Piper

"The concern for world evangelization is not something tacked on to a man's personal Christianity, which he may take or leave as he chooses. It is rooted in the character of the God who has come to us in Christ Jesus. Thus, it can never be the province of a few enthusiasts, a sideline or a specialty of those who happen to have a bent that way. It is the distinctive mark of being a Christian." — James S. Stewart

"The Christian is not obedient unless he is doing all in his power to send the Gospel to the heathen world." — A. B. Simpson

"'Go ye' is as much a part of Christ's Gospel as 'Come unto Me.' You are not even a Christian until you have honestly faced your responsibility in regard to the carrying of the Gospel to the ends of the earth." — J. Stuart Holden

"I believe that in each generation God has called enough men and women to evangelize all the yet unreached tribes of the earth. It is not God who does not call. It is man who will not respond!" — Isobel Kuhn, missionary to China and Thailand

"To stay here and disobey God — I can't afford to take the consequence. I would rather go and obey God than to stay here and know that I disobeyed." — Amanda Berry Smith

“No other generation but ours can evangelize the present generation.” - John R. Mott

"We are not responsible for conversion, but we are for contact." -A. T. Pierson

"Making disciples in all nations must be our most urgent and ultimate goal." –Patrick Fung

Quotes on Risk and Sacrifice in Missions

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” -C.T. Studd

“No reserves, no retreats, no regrets.” -William Bordon

"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" — Jim Elliot, missionary martyr

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, "You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages." To that, Calvert replied, "We died before we came here."

"Love is the root of missions; sacrifice is the fruit of missions" — Roderick Davis

“No sacrifice is too great for the King of kings and Lord of lords.” - Jack Baskin

“The missionary heart: Care more than some think is wise. Risk more than some think is safe. Dream more than some think is practical. Expect more than some think is possible. I was called not to comfort or success but to obedience….There is no joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving him.” —Karen Watson, martyr, March 15, 2004

“But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.” ? Francis Chan

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” -Amy Carmichael

“What are you doing right now that requires faith?” ? Francis Chan

“Just one life. This is all any one of us has to offer. How can it be used for the greatest glory of God and the greatest blessing to men? How can we be as useful as possible and as effective as possible as Christians?” —Michael Griffiths

"From my many years’ experience I can unhesitatingly say that the cross bears those who bear the cross." -Sadhu Sundar Singh

Quotes on Urgency for Missions

“Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a mission within a yard of hell.” -C.T. Studd

“Would that God would make hell so real to us that we cannot rest, heaven so real that we must have men there.” -Hudson Taylor

"The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time." — Carl F. H. Henry

"Our God of Grace often gives us a second chance, but there is no second chance to harvest a ripe crop." — Kurt von Schleicher [ Apple pickers' parable ]

“God’s mission does not stop in the face of global crises. In fact the urgency is magnified as we look around us at a world desperately in need of the gospel and God’s saving grace.” –Dr. Michael Oh, Executive Director/CEO of Lausanne Movement

"If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for." -Charles Spurgeon

"Go for souls. Go straight for souls, and go for the worst." - William Booth