Rickly Christian, in Alive, tells the story of one of America’s earliest missionaries to China, Henry Poppen. One day Dr. Poppen made an extended trek to a remote village he had not visited before. Though he had lived in China for more than 40 years, he knew of no Christian who had ever visited the secluded little town with its unadorned huts and simple people.
Thinking that they had never heard the story of God’s love, Dr. Poppen began to tell them the story of God’s love as revealed through Jesus Christ, His Son. The villagers listened patiently as he began trying to explain who Jesus was. He talked about Christ’s gentleness, His truthfulness, His all-encompassing love. The villagers nodded their heads and smiled. Some had moist eyes. He described how Jesus bore no grudges when wronged, how He lived for what He could give rather than for what He could get. He spoke about how Christ was selfless to the point of death.
The grizzled old villagers glanced back and forth with knowing eyes. Finally one of them spoke. “We know this man. Your ‘Jesus’ lived here in our village.”
Dr. Poppen smiled, but shook his head. Feeling that there was some misunderstanding, he explained that Christ had actually lived on earth two thousand years ago and many thousand miles away.
“No, no. He lived and died right here,” the old villager insisted strongly. Rising to his feet, he pointed off in the distance down a rutted dirt path. “Follow me. I’ll show you his grave.”
Dr. Poppen shrugged his shoulders and followed. He trudged along behind the pack of men and women as they guided him away from the huts to a Chinese cemetery. There they stopped at a headstone carved with the name of a Christian medical missionary – a man who felt God had led him to that secluded corner of the world to minister to human need and share the story of His love. He had lived and died there – his existence unknown even to other missionaries. Yet he was so Christ-like that Jesus of Nazareth was mistaken for “Jesus” of China.
The popular conception many Christians have is that a missionary is someone whom God has called in a unique way to go to a faraway place to tell the story of God’s love. Many have said to such people, “Why in the world would you consider burying yourself in China or Africa?” Actually, missionaries do not think of themselves as being “buried” in the places to which God calls them. Rather, they believe they have been “planted” by God for the purpose of bearing fruit for His glory.
This may be a new concept for you, but it is true: every Christian is a missionary – God’s representative or ambassador – to his or her corner of the world. The medical missionary in the story above had lived such a Christ-like life in serving the people in this remote Chinese village that when they heard a description of Jesus of Nazareth they were totally convinced He had lived among them.
If you are a Christian, you are a missionary. God wants you to be a missionary where you are — in your home, on your job, at your school, and in all the places where you have relationships. In each of these places you will meet and have the opportunity to influence people whom no other Christian can. That is why Christ, after He had washed His disciples’ feet, said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15).
Christ said that His life is an example for us. If we will be faithful to the pattern He has set for us, others are bound to see Christ in our lives . . . and that is what being a missionary is all about.
Based on your commitment to live daily as a Christian, could those with whom you come in contact recognize that they have been in the presence of Christ?
The Paper Pulpit 
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