Are Western Missionaries Still Needed? A Global Missions Perspective

Summary:

In this episode of the Mission Matters Podcast, Sarah Breuel shares her experience as a Brazilian missionary serving in Rome and leading a university student movement across Europe. With nearly 20 years in cross-cultural missions, she discusses the growth of the Global South in missions, the rise of Brazilian missionaries, and what it looks like to reach secular, post-Christian contexts like Italy. Sarah also shares her personal calling story and how the gospel reached her family through earlier missionaries, highlighting the ongoing importance of sending and going.

The conversation addresses key questions many church and missions leaders are asking today: Are Western missionaries still needed? Has missions become outdated or harmful? Sarah offers a clear, biblical perspective on the continued need for cross-cultural missions and challenges leaders to call the next generation to sacrificial obedience. Drawing from her work with university students, she explains why Gen Z is more open to missions than many assume and why churches must raise the bar in discipleship, calling, and global engagement.

The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.