50 ways to live on mission at home

When summertime hits, I’m excited for no school, travel, missions, and consuming tubs of ice cream under the sun. With no short term mission trip in sight, and several weeks to offer, I resolved to commit my summer to living on mission at home. The vision for global missions in Matthew 28:16-20 looks like sharing the gospel in conversation and with our actions. So how do we apply the call for global missions at home? How do seek to make disciples and make God’s name known in our hometowns?

Seek faith-based conversations

1. Get to know your neighbours. Invite them out to dinner or plan an outing at a gallery, concert, or park. As you grow in relationship, look for opportunities to incorporate your faith in conversations. This can often feel intimidating because they live right next door. Here, we need to seek courage through prayer. Trust God to provide you with words, and know that whatever happens is according to his will. Our hope is to show God’s love to them for their best interest.
2. Grab coffee (or ice cream!) with your classmates outside of the school year. Spend time investing in friendships with non-believers and believers.
3. Ask God to open doors at your summer job. Love the people you work with by showing an interest in them, asking questions, and engaging in dialogue with them. Get to know them as a friend and let the Lord guide you in sharing what’s special to you.
4. Travel to the closest big city with copies of the Gospel of John and sandwiches; focus on loving the less privileged.
5. Plan a Jesus Film movie night at home or school.
6. Host a summer Bible study. Check out our Small Group Resources for gospel-focused curricula.
7. Pray over reading the Bible with someone, and get ready to do so!

Show hospitality

8. Invite your friends with different backgrounds, views, and values over to your house for a potluck.
9. Bless the meal you share with your friends. That’s right, saying a prayer over the meal allows you to worship God and express his love to others.
10. Plan, host, and invite people to celebrate holidays together, such as Easter and Christmas.
11. Host a Compassion Canada ministry event to raise awareness for their work with children in undeveloped nations.
12. Invite a missionary into your home for lunch.

Do life together

13. Ask a friend to go to church with you and your family.
14. Plan a picnic at a nearby park or on campus. Invite all your friends.
15. Gather your friends, family, and church to host a fundraiser for a missionary.
16. Celebrating a holiday? Ask guests to bring a non-perishable food item to your party instead of gifts, then give the collection to a local food bank or shelter.
17. Grab Soularium and a partner. Head to the mall, cafe, or campus to share the gospel!

Support the local church

18. Volunteer at a Vacation Bible School (VBS). What better way to come alongside your local church?
19. Serve as a camp counsellor or volunteer at your church’s summer camp. You’ll have tons of opportunities to show unity, love, and kindness!
20. Offer to help the church with set up or tear down for summer events.
21. Donate food to your church’s food drive/cabinet for the less privileged.
22. Does your church need help with seasonal work? Ask about any gardening, painting, or cleaning that needs to be done and donate a couple of hours towards it.
23. Does your church offer after-service prayer? Ask your pastor if you could serve after the service by praying for anyone in need.

Serve your community

24. Volunteer time at a soup kitchen.
25. Come alongside women at your local pregnancy care centre with friendship and help.
26. Offer an extra hand to an elderly couple.
27. Know someone battling an illness? Visit them with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Better yet, ask them what kind of food they would like and bring that!
28. On your way to work, to church, or into the city you can serve those in need (e.g. offer a cup of water, bread, or clementines). The opportunities to give to those who ask are endless.
29. Gather your family, friends, and garbage bags to do a “Community Clean Up.”
30. Offer to mow your neighbour’s lawn, or help them carry their groceries to their front door.
31. Have you noticed someone’s fence in need of paint? Or weeds in someone else’s lawn? Volunteer to do some yard work around the neighbourhood.

Give

32. Treat the people who serve you with kindness (e.g. leave a tip for your server/barista, say thank-you to the janitor at school, and call your parents).
33. Donate clothes to the Salvation Army or a nearby homeless shelter.
34. Bake cookies for your neighbour.
35. Give time to a young family you know at church. Help them with cleaning up the kitchen, babysitting, or making a meal for the family.
36. Fill an Operation Christmas Child shoebox for Samaritan’s Purse! Yep, you can make these year-round.
37. Send a missionary! You can support local and global missionaries through Power to Change, The Evangelical Alliance Mission (Team), Wycliffe Bible Translators, your local church, etc.
38. Sign up as a volunteer writer for Compassion children. You get to write to those who don’t receive communication from their sponsors often.
39. Create a care package for a missionary, or for a friend that’s moving away or in a hard season. Fill the box with things they love, like candy, a book/magazine, an letter of encouragement, nail polish, headphones, etc.
40. If you have extra money for shopping, head to your local mall, and pick up goodies for those in need. Think essentials and add some items that you won’t find at the grocery store. Ask your church if there’s a family in need of a gift.

Pursue the Kingdom Daily

41. Share a verse on social media, and write about how it has impacted your life.
42. Pray for the lost, and for unreached people groups. Download the “Unreached of the Day” app for daily reminders and different people groups to intercede for.
43. Pray for a mentor, and once you’ve got one, pray for someone to mentor.
44. Write a blog post for a ministry.
45. Write a letter of encouragement to a missionary. Global missions organizations offer tons of chances to encourage long term missionaries. This is a great way to build a relationship with them and remind them that they’re loved back home. They get a dose of comfort and joy.
46. Text an encouraging verse to your friends and family!
47. Introduce yourself to someone at church, get to know them, and pray with them.
48. Make dinner for your family or housemates.
49. Find ways to help your family, from helping your siblings finish their homework, to washing the dishes.
50. Volunteer at your local library! Offer to read stories, organize the shelves, and assist visitors.

As you can see, there are many ways you can maximize your potential of advancing God’s kingdom at home. I invite you to make the most of your summer by tackling some of these ideas!