I love analogies. In my English classes, I’d provide 2 cups of words: one an abstract idea, the other a concrete noun. Students would draw one word from each and combine them into an analogy:

“(Abstract) is like (concrete), because…”

They’d then have to develop five reasonable conclusions why.

Over the years, we’ve hit on some good ones—“Love is like a fire engine” and “Women are like computers” were some favorites—but never did we come across “Missionaries are like underwear.”

This analogy crept into a recent conversation with my leadership about our Singapore visa woes. I mentioned:

“It’s to be expected in our line of ministry. We must be flexible. Of course, underwear is also flexible, but sometimes it rides up and ruins your day.”

And that got me thinking.

When I proffered this analogy-opener to some missionary friends, they gave me a slew of conclusions how missionaries are like underwear. I’m only sharing here the Top Ten, but with moderate explanation, because I’d hate to totally waste your day!

The Top 10 Reasons—Explained

#10: Styles May Change, but Their Purpose Remains the Same.

Self-explanatory. I’m not wearing some 18th-century gold-miner’s long-johns today, but I’m at least wearing something. I’m also not a pioneer missionary like Hudson Taylor—wearing traditional Chinese clothes and refusing financial support in favor of faith—but I am serving the Lord and spreading the Gospel in Asia in the ways God’s gifted and prepared me. Missionary styles and methods change, but our purpose (the Gospel and the spread of the Church) never will.

#9: Sometimes You Should Retire Even Your Favorites.

This one might hurt to hear, but it’s true. No one outlasts their value as people or ministers, but all missionaries—like all employees—need to recognize that their effectiveness in a particular ministry eventually expires. Of course, they can always transition to another ministry more suited to their life situation, but the truth is, some ministries require more agile ministers.

#8: Some Are Tighter Than Others.

It’s true: we’re all cut from a different cloth. We’ve all got our pet peeves and ministerial hobby horses, and we may never fully agree on every whim of doctrine. It’s easy to disagree when some missionaries on the field lean more towards “law” and others more towards “grace.” But as brothers and sisters in Christ, we do need to find our common ground and pursue unity. It’s 100% what Jesus desires (see John 17).

#7: They Go Where It’s Darkest.

“Around the Corner, around the World” is a good thought for all Christians, but missions as a system is focused more specifically on heading into places where Christ hasn’t yet been named or where the church hasn’t yet matured. These include some of the spiritually darkest places on Earth.

#6: They Sometimes Ride up Where They Don’t Belong.

This one from a friend made me laugh, but it’s true. We’ve all faced being “outed” as a missionary at the most inopportune time or place. My own experience was being called “a missionary and pastor” in front of government officials in a country that did not welcome missionaries. I was flabbergasted and figured my time in-country had drawn to a close. But that was 11 years ago now, yet I still travel regularly to that nation for ministry. Only by God’s grace!

#5: For Every Pair in Use, a Bunch More Lie Around Doing Nothing.

You know all about your own underwear drawer. Compare those undies to people in your church and ask why some are actively engaged and others get forgotten at the bottom of the drawer. I strongly believe that God gifts people differently—both naturally as humans and spiritually as believers—and that He does so for His own purposes. Yet I fear too many Christians blame their inaction in ministry not on a lack of gifting but on a lack of calling without really knowing what “calling” even means.

#4: They Draw Too Much Attention When They’re Obvious.

Whether you take that as someone’s boxers showing or as something else entirely, I don’t want to feed your imagination. But when it comes to mission work in “closed-access countries,” one’s role as missionary often has to be downplayed in favor of their more professional persona. Some enter countries as teachers, businessmen, or consultants—and if they do their secular job well, more power to them! But those missionaries who fake and lie their way into a country truly cause trouble for the rest of us. It’s an issue of wisdom and respect to the host culture as much as it is an issue of integrity.

#3: They’re Getting So Darn Expensive!

Because no one should ever get their drawers second-hand, we all know how expensive a new pair can be. Missionaries are the same, sadly, but be aware that it’s not due to greed! The cost of living has skyrocketed globally, and missionaries must add the cost of international travel on top of everything else. My family of four can barely go on furlough to the States for less than $10k, and that’s when someone loans us a car for 2 months! But since we bite our tongues and buy the underwear anyways as a necessary expenditure, it may be good to view the missionary’s cost-of-living increase similarly.

#2: They’re Especially Needed in the Tropics.

Again, this one made me laugh, and it’s a great segue into “The 10/40 Window” discussion. In the 1990s, missiologists recognized that the neediest nations (generally between 10° and 40° north latitude) received the least amount of missions funding (roughly 0.5%). This became a clarion call for missionaries to run towards “the unreached people groups” and to places where the Gospel is least accessible. While “the window” has morphed into “the region,” the need remains the same. The Church must strategically fund work in the neediest places—and this may not mean sending Americans as much as it means funding locals.

#1: Some Have Longer Streaks Than Others.

This describes one’s duration of ministry and nothing else, ok? Not all missionaries stick with it for the long haul. Whether they get kicked out of country, overstay their welcome, finish the work, or face issues back home, most missionaries eventually need to leave the foreign mission field. It’s not unlike our people in uniform. Whether they served 3 years in the military or 20, and whether they experienced multiple deployments or few, repatriation into civilian life brings many cultural/emotional challenges. The church needs to offer grace and patience to these oftentimes “wounded warriors”, but when the time is right, it also needs to utilize their vast hoards of experience.

Conclusion

I’ve still got 25 more unique reasons why missionaries are like underwear, but I’ll save those for the hamper. You get the idea.

Missionaries are special people, gifted in unique ways and usually more “flexible” than most. We have to be. Life is challenging enough, so when you throw new cultures and languages and ministry styles into the mix, it can stretch us pretty thin.

We thank God, though, for His grace and power through all the ups and downs of ministry (2Cor 12:9). And moving forward, I think it’s wise to take the Apostle Peter’s advice in this very loose interpretation of 1Peter 1:13:

It’s time to ‘straighten the boxers’ of your mind and get ready for action! Be clear-headed and hope entirely in the grace that Jesus Christ will bring at his revelation.

©2026 E.T.

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