I’ve been meditating a lot about how we can serve God in our current situation. A video Carl Schuster shared on Facebook today was one of the most inspirational videos that I’ve seen in a long time. It’s of a young black woman named Blair who decided to dedicate her entire summer to being a full-time street missionary. I encourage you to watch the video, then read three tips for people God hasn’t called to ministry in the traditional sense.

1. Do research

Researching is one of the most underrated activities in today’s church. Why? Because it doesn’t give you spotlight or recognition from men. It doesn’t provide instant gratification. And this is great because recognition from men and instant gratification are two things we must shun immediately. As shown, Blair WIngo chose to research a very particular thing, become a subject-matter expert on it, and allow God to use her to minister to people affected by this group: Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Her knowledge of the history of the Watchtower and Jehovah’s Witnesses is something to behold within itself. But moreso, it should inspire those of us who God hasn’t positioned to travel abroad to seek out which group Jesus wants us to minister to in our hometowns. As Blair showed us, you may not even have to leave your house. If we have access to the internet to check Facebook, it means we have what it takes to do research.

2. Work with what you have

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much” – Luke 16:10

One of the mental roadblocks to being a missionary is the idea that you don’t have the money to fund a trip overseas, or you can’t afford to take the time off from work. Blair decided to dedicate her summer to becoming a street missionary. For God’s children who are full-time students, this is totally feasible. And for professionals, consider weekends or weeknights. The whole point is that God will honor us working with what we have to serve Him. More than honor it, he thinks its the best.

3. Be bold

“And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, ” – Ephesians 6:19

As Paul asked for the church at Ephesus to pray for him, I pray that those reading this would have the boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel as Blair did. Its one of the parts of being a missionary that is underrated. But if we can’t muster up the boldness to preach the gospel to a people that speak the same language as we do, in a city or town that we’re familiar with, who probably share our race or economic status, how can we expect to go to a foreign land, where people don’t speak our language, don’t look like us, and can’t relate to us culturally or socially?

Clearly God will give us grace to preach His Word in either situation. But taking advantage of the characteristics God gave us to minister to like people’s is a great opportunity to explore the mission field. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the Lord burdening us to explore the field of missionary work. If He is, I pray that these three takeaways give you courage, and a real life example that makes the task seem more realistic for you to accomplish.