By Joyce Meyer

Perhaps greater than any other time in history, we live in a world that is desperately crying out for help.

It’s a world where more than 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day…a world where diseases such as AIDS are taking the lives of young and old alike at an alarming rate…a world where nearly 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes every day.

We live in a world that needs Jesus.

And because we do, we are more passionate and committed than ever to help as many people as possible. Through Hand of Hope, Joyce Meyer Ministries world missions, we want to relieve as much human suffering as we can with the time and resources available to us.


Is Missions Mentioned in the Bible?
We use the term missions quite a bit, but this word is never actually mentioned in the Bible.

Missions comes from a Medieval Latin word meaning “a task assigned; an act of sending.” And this is exactly what Jesus did before His ascension into heaven. One of His last instructions to His disciples was this: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15 NKJV).

We commonly call this the “Great Commission.”

The Great Commission isn’t just for these disciples or for the early church—it is for all those who would ever know Christ and accept Him as their Savior.

And we, the church, have been given an incredible assignment: To spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the world by caring for the lost, lonely and dying.

The Apostle Paul says that we are Christ’s personal representatives and that God is literally making His appeal to the world through us. Paul goes on to say, in 2 Corinthians 5 that we should beg people to be reconciled to God and take hold of the divine favor being offered to them.

When I read this scripture, it grips my heart. I want to make sure that I am doing all I can to fulfill this high call and take advantage of every opportunity. I believe each one of us should regularly ask ourselves, “What am I doing to help someone else? What am I doing to help people find a relationship with God through Jesus Christ?”

So how do we go about it? Do we all need to be preachers, aggressively sharing the Gospel message?


Every Christians Responsibility
I do believe we should always be ready to give a logical defense for the hope that is within us (see 1 Peter 3:15)…but I also believe we can and should “model” the message.

Paul says we should be living letters that can be read by all men (see 2 Corinthians 3:2,3) In other words, you and I are meant to be living messages.

I believe St. Francis of Assisi captured the heart of this so well when he said, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” This means we need to make sure people can see Christ shining through our lives. Our attitudes, our actions and how we treat people always speak much louder than anything we say. Some people preach to others all the time, but they never actually do anything for anyone.

I believe the church as a whole has preached too much and shown too little. Many people have so much pain in their lives that they can’t hear what we say until we help relieve their suffering. That’s why I am firmly convinced that we must go armed and ready to help hurting people. When we meet people’s physical needs, it opens the door wide for us to address their spiritual needs.

Some are called to send, and some are called to go—but both are equally important.

I firmly believe that every church and every Christian should be involved in world missions, helping the poor and needy. It is a vital part of the Christian lifestyle we are called to live. As we join together and each of us does what we can, multitudes will be helped and will come to the saving knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. It’s true—together we are better.

So, I challenge you: Will you get involved in world missions and commit yourself to bring help and justice to the poor and oppressed?