Reconceptualizing the Mission Field

Rikki Permenter, MAMFC, Th. M.

“Our relationship with God and relationship with others are two sides of the same coin.”

― Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

In a few days I’ll be headed off on a jet plane to an island in the ocean. When I arrive I’ll be shuttled off to an orphanage to care for people in a very specific way. This care I speak of is a specific way I have been trained and is also the way the Lord has gifted me with my personality, talents, and interest. While I’m headed somewhere to “do” this it is also part of who I am. If I’m here on the mainland, living my life or oversees in a third world country - I’m doing the same thing. It is my ministry and essentially my everyday life. I often hear people speak of their “ministry” or going to the mission field as something foreign from their everyday life. In psychology we call this compartmentalization. We see it as people having different versions of themselves they “are” in different areas of life. Do you compartmentalize Christianity or has it revolutionized your entire life?

Take a minute to survey yourself. Do you see any compartments? Do you have a part of your life that is “ministry” or a mission field? Or is your life a ministry and the world your mission field?

Author Bio

Rikki Permenter, MAMFC, Th.M., is the owner of Bent Tree Counseling in Clinton, La. She is currently a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in the state of Louisiana. She is the wife of Cole Permenter, pastor of Bluff Creek Baptist and a doctoral student at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Interested in counseling or have questions? Check out her website www.benttreecounseling.com.

This article can be found in print in the monthly Baptist Association of Southeast Louisiana newsletter.