Our role in missions

Tentmakers are persons who use their skills to make enough money to finance their ministry and then minister “on the side.” This is a very good and effective model. In fact, it is the only model possible in some places in the world. There are countries in the world today that are closed to traditional missionaries; however a medical doctor or an engineer or even an English teacher might be able to go in, get a job, and be paid a very livable wage.

The proper role and vocation of the laity is found in their universal call to holiness, their state in life, and their vocation within the temporal order. "This is especially true in the primary areas of evangelization and sanctification" where laity provide "consistent witness in their personal, family, and social lives by proclaiming and sharing the Gospel of Christ in every situation they find themselves, and by their involvement with the task of explaining, defending, and correctly applying Christian principles to the problems of today's world" (Instruction Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest, Premise).

The history of humanity has known many major turning points which have encouraged missionary outreach, and the Church, guided by the Spirit, has always responded to them with generosity and farsightedness. Results have not been lacking. Not long ago we celebrated the millennium of the evangelization of Rus' and the Slav peoples, and we are now preparing to celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of the evangelization of the Americas. Similarly, there have been recent commemorations of the centenaries of the first missions in various countries of Asia, Africa and Oceania. Today the Church must face other challenges and push forward to new frontiers, both in the initial mission ad gentes and in the new evangelization of those peoples who have already heard Christ proclaimed. Today all Christians, the particular churches and the universal Church, are called to have the same courage that inspired the missionaries of the past, and the same readiness to listen to the voice of the Spirit.

God’s Mission, Your Role