Growing up, I knew I was going to be a missionary. Did I know what that actually meant? Absolutely not.

In my small midwestern town, my primary source of missional learning was biographies. My bookshelf was filled with stories of missionaries from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their dedication and pioneering spirit continue to inspire me. But as I took steps in my own missionary journey, I began to learn that God equipped me for a different type of ministry.

My childhood idea of a missionary included mud huts, canoes, and malaria. I earned the rank of Eagle Scout to prepare myself for such a rugged environment. If backcountry skills were needed to reach the lost with the Gospel, I was fully prepared.

Upon arriving at Missionary Training School, I quickly learned that my concept of missions was incredibly narrow. Remote villages without access to the Gospel are abundant, but even more so are globalized cities home to millions of souls lacking that same access. Rugged, pioneering spirits are still needed, but in our modern world that is far from the only skillset valuable in missions.

I received this revelation with mixed emotions. The more I pursued that pioneering idea of missions, the more my temperament clashed with the demands of such a lifestyle. Blazing a new trail and pressing forward without a playbook are not skills I possess. I’m much better suited to crafting emails and ordering napkins in bulk. Want me to plant a church in a tribal setting? Give me a few years to study and prepare. Need detailed documentation of missional strategy? Nothing would make me happier.

Maybe you have an idea of what makes a “good missionary”. Outgoing, probably independent and ambitious. Caring, tender, sensitive. Bold or passive, wise or hot-headed. Rarely do we think of computer nerds, socially “eclectic” introverts, or nervous overthinkers as missionaries. Yet God uses every member of the body of Christ. Without the whole spectrum of the church represented in missions, we’re missing something. Many things, really. Coding, marketing, statistics, counseling. Your skills are valuable to the cause of Christ.