Getting rid of "missionary..."

Mike Lamson is wondering about the appropriateness of the term "missionary":

However, Ryan said that the term itself is not very loving. He said that saying that he was a missionary to the neighborhood he was in were making people into "projects." That the reason he was there so they could be his "mission." He asked questions on if we would like to be treated that way with some other way of life.

I haven't stopped thinking about it since. Actually it was so good that I'm just getting rid of the term altogether. I'm not going to use it anymore.

While I know we care about people encountering Jesus, I don't think the point is to go live in a particular place, call it your "mission," and try to get them to get on board. I think what Jesus would want us to do is to be the best neighbor and friend we could be, with no intention of trying to "convert" people to anything.

Emphasis added. I disagree. I think that it's pretty clear that Jesus intended that his followers seek the conversion of non-believers, as most clearly expressed in the Great Commission:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

The Apostolic church also engaged in evangelism with the objective of converting others. After Peter's first sermon:

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!" So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

This text indicates that Peter regarded regarded conversion as a desirable goal for his own activity -- and one that he achieved.

After he was converted, Paul went:

"...and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."

And others, too, preached in Antioch:

But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus.

But Paul and Barnabas were directed by the Holy Spirit to be missionaries further away:

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper.

Apparently the Holy Spirit did not regard it as demeaning to designate Salamis as a mission field. After leaving Antioch, Paul and Barnabas went to Pisidian Antioch and preached:

"And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.' As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: 'I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.' Therefore He also says in another Psalm, 'YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.' For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; but He whom God raised did not undergo decay. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:
'BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.' "

Emphasis added. In this passage, Paul and Barnabas have traveled to a distant community to quite deliberately preach the Gospel and to preach with a specific aim in mind from their audience. Paul is engaging in the form of missionary activity extending beyond what Mike considers appropriate:

I think what Jesus would want us to do is to be the best neighbor and friend we could be, with no intention of trying to "convert" people to anything.

And all of this is just from a cursory glance at the first thirteen chapters of Acts. I don't see how one can read from the Gospels or the experience of the Apostolic church that missionary efforts are improper for the people of God, nor that conversion is a laudable goal.