EMQ » April – July 2025 » Volume 61 Issue 2
Topic: Personal Reflections
Summary: It can cost a lot of money to be a missionary or to support missions. Other costs include loss of time with family and the stress of adjusting to unfamiliar places. These are the costs of being present with people so they can meet Jesus. Learning to appreciate Jesus’ presence that others bring to us, and the costs others pay, can help us in what we do.
By Cherry Gunther
Seven years ago, we landed in Lviv, Ukraine. This was our first mission assignment as a family of four. Now we are in Alabama, almost a year after we ended our second mission assignment in the Philippines.
Looking back, I can’t help but notice that the cost of airline tickets is not getting cheaper. I have a friend who travels to Europe almost yearly because he can travel hack. Travel hacking is the art of using credit card points to earn mileage towards free or cheap tickets. I tried to learn this but have not been successful in scoring a good deal for all our past travels. God has always provided through our partnership team and, occasionally, my in-laws. However, every trip we managed to do in the past seven years has its own story. Each has been worth the cost. This is the cost of being present which God lovingly revealed to me.
Some might say that we would be in a better financial state now if we had just invested all the money we spent on mission work towards our own house or retirement. But to be honest, even before our ministry in Ukraine, we have always put our money where our heart is. That’s the norm for us regardless of our annual income. Going through the boxes of our belongings kept at my in-laws’ house, I found a year-end report I had written. This one highlighted several of the missionaries that we have supported that year. That year, with the little extra money we had then, we had sown in seven nations. For the last seven years, friends have been partnering with us so we can be the field workers in the nations of Eastern Europe. But our work also led us to sow beyond Europe. It rippled even into Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Humbly, I’m reminded of the greatest missionary of all time who came to love and serve. He had to pay such a high cost to be present, to dwell among humans, to be human himself. his name was Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). He didn’t go through a cheap route. Rather, he paid the full price to be present among us. Today and eternally, we reap the value of his presence. His sinless life paid the cost of our forgiveness. This would not have been possible if he had not been present. I am reminded of Philippians 2:5–11 which exhorts us to have the same mind as Jesus.
Being present or not being present is an all too familiar theme for many families today. This is especially the case among those who are from nations like the Philippines. The Philippine’s greatest export is its labor force. Many families know the struggle between being able to economically provide for and being present while their children are growing. Many memories are not made for the sake of the opportunity to put food on the table. In economics, this is called opportunity cost.[1] It’s what one is willing to sacrifice versus what one is willing to gain.
I remember a conversation I had with an older Ukrainian couple. We were acquainted through a common friend. They’re not from my church. They were intrigued when I mentioned that I was a missionary and that I left my family in the Philippines. At that time, I could slowly converse in Ukrainian, but I made a very rookie mistake. I used the word sim-ya for family. In Ukrainian, sim-ya refers to husband, wife, and kids. But I was trying to say that I left my parents and relatives. In Filipino culture, this is also family, although linguistically I could have used another word. It’s just that in Filipino culture we do not exclude our parents and relatives from our family. So, this older couple got confused and thought I left my husband and kids to serve as a missionary in Ukraine. Thankfully, we had another chance to talk. I was able to clarify what I meant, and they were relieved.
Being away from my parents, and even from my in-laws, while my husband and I are fulfilling our calling as missionaries, is also costly for us. We paid for the time that we lost. Time did not stand still for us. Our parents grew older, just as we did. We were not there for them, nor they for us during times that we both wished we could have been.
This missing out on being with family is an opportunity cost that we have paid. I’m Filipino and my husband is American, so our families live many miles apart. We cannot be with both of our parents at the same time. When our parents are going through something difficult and we cannot be there for them, we feel the pain of the cost of being present where we are called. Sometimes we are tempted to question our decision to be in a foreign land.
Making a home away from home isn’t really a walk in the park. It’s not always romantic to live abroad. We get homesick and we get tired too. Our mentor warned us that little issues can be amplified multiple times if they happen in unfamiliar places. Stress is often magnified on the mission field. That’s the cost of being present.
Why do we do it? Because Jesus did it. He came. He suffered. He also got tired and hungry. He was misunderstood. What kind of culture shock would beat coming from heaven and living on earth? He left us with the task of continuing His mission. And how lavish is his love that He did not leave us alone. He is with us. He is still present in the person of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19–20). So, his presence is with us, always. He sees our effort of being present among the people that he wants to draw close to him. He understands when our presence is not welcomed and enables us to stand strong despite resistance or opposition. He gives wisdom as we minister in his name.
What can we do to appreciate the value of being present and bearing the cost? Pray for awareness of Jesus’ daily presence. Ask the Lord to enable us to be present where he wants us to be, recognizing his presence before and with us. Appreciate those who choose to be present in our lives and those who’ve also paid the cost so that we can be present somewhere far from them. Be grateful to those people who invest their time in our well-being and growth so that we can be present wherever the Lord wants us to be. Wherever we are, let’s use our time wisely to be present with those God is calling us to love and serve. There’s a reason why we are where we are now and why we are with the people we are with now. Let’s not miss the opportunity of bringing God’s presence into other’s lives. Be encouraged because Jesus is present with you.
Cherry Gunther was a full-time cross-cultural missionary along with her husband and two boys. She became a Christian at her university campus. Her desire is to embody the spirit of an everyday missionary and for God to be honored in her life wherever he brings her.
[1] Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, s.v. “opportunity cost,” accessed March 7, 2025, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/opportunity-cost.
EMQ, Volume 61, Issue 2. Copyright © 2025 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
