Imagine You Had to Write a Christmas Letter Like a Missionary

Imagine you got this December newsletter from a missionary:

Hey friends!

It’s been a great year! We’re really thankful for the amazing vacation we took in Thailand. We also got to attend a really fantastic conference for the whole family in South Korea. We got to go skiing!

Our eldest daughter is excelling in soccer and hoping for a college scholarship, while our youngest continues to spend most of her time playing the violin. She even was invited to play in an elite quartet this year.

Please enjoy the attached pictures of our favorite furry friends, Max and Buddy, who bring our family so much joy!

Love,

Your missionaries

If we would feel uneasy reading this newsletter, we need to ask ourselves a few questions: Are we upset that these missionaries took nice vacations, bragged about their kids, or showed us pictures of something as mundane as their dogs? If so, why should missionaries be on such a higher spiritual plane that they aren’t allowed to write about these things? 

But that’s not my point today. I’ve written about that elsewhere.

The bigger concern with this newsletter–and rightly so–is that we expect missionaries to not just talk about vacations and kids and dogs, but to give some kind of report on their ministry. For people who have been called, sent, and supported, you expect to hear about how they are reaching people with the gospel. 

And this is where I see a double-standard: Why do we expect missionaries to give an account of how they have spent their time and money in ministry, but we don’t expect it of “normal people?” Why don’t we have that assumption for every Christian? For ourselves?

Somehow we have concluded that there are two categories of Christians: Those in full-time ministry, who are expected to showcase their work in evangelism, church planting, and helping the poor, and everyone else, who is not.   

This really isn’t about Christmas letters. I love reading people’s newsy news at Christmas time, and I’m not trying to give anyone a guilt trip about what they write. But what if? What if all Christians were expected to write a letter to believing friends or pastors, giving an account of how we shared the gospel this year? Or built up the church? What if there was a supposition that we would give actual names of people we are investing in with the hope of pointing them to Christ? What if we all were required to explain how we are playing a part in fulfilling the Great Commission–not just reaching the people around us, but looking towards reaching the nations as well?  

Honestly, accountability is one of the best parts of being a missionary. My time is not my own. My money is not my own. People are expecting me to show them some kind of fruit for their investment in me, so I’d better get on it. It used to feel like pressure, and would make me anxious. Now it just feels like accountability, and I’m thankful for it. 

I’m not challenging you to re-write your Christmas letter this year–at least, not the one you send out to all your friends and family. (Like I said, this really isn’t about Christmas letters.) But I will challenge you to ask yourself: What if? What if you were required to write a missionary report letter every December? Have you considered what would it say? This has been a healthy discipline for me. Maybe you might benefit too.