Today is Missions Wednesday. You can find an archive of my missions posts here: <robsorbo.com/p/missions-and-me.html>. If you want to receive my Missions Wednesday posts by e-mail, please subscribe by using the form to the right.
Also, I’m pleased to announce that I will be writing another missions post every week on TabersTruths.com. My first post went up this past weekend: <taberstruths.com/why-missions-is-needed-in-this-broken-world-15043/>
Every few years my family packed our stuff and made the two-day trip from Indonesia to America. During our time in the States, we spent many weekends going from church to church across the Central Plains of Texas.
My dad would preach and share about the seminary he taught at, my mom promote her ministry in the slums of Jakarta, and I answered a barrage of questions in Sunday School classes. For my family of introverts, this time was always a challenge; however, getting the support of churches was crucial to my parents’ ministry.
 |
| Missionaries spend a lot of time on the road. How can you help them? |
In missions, there are goers and senders. Since I write so often about missions and missionaries (i.e. the “goers”) allow me to focus on the senders.
The Missions Ministry of the Senders
Financial. When a missionary family is visiting, churches will often take an offering for the missionary. Unless the church is large, this offering will likely not even cover the fuel and lodging costs that the missionary incurred while travelling to that church.
One of the most beneficial ways that a sender can financially benefit a missionary is by pledging monthly support--a monthly gift that is sent to the missionary’s ministry and personal accounts. So that the missionary can appropriately budget, this monthly gift will ideally be the same amount each month.
Hospitality. While missionaries are travelling between meetings with senders, they incur enormous costs. Even the cheapest motel will cost $20-30 dollars, and missionaries will sometimes spend months on the road at a time. Without even considering the cost of gas and food, the missionary will need to raise at least $600 per month just to cover the cost of fundraising.
Hospitality is a larger gift than just offering a guest room for a night. It saves the missionary a large amount of money on lodging and meals for the time they are with you, but other than a few extra groceries, it is inexpensive for the sender to offer this gift. Hosting a missionary will also give you a first-hand opportunity to hear some great stories that you won’t hear from the pulpit.
Loyal Support. Part of this is obvious--if you commit to send $25 dollars each month to the missionary, be faithful to that. If you need to cancel the gift because your financial position has changed, then give the missionary a few months notice so they can adjust their budget.
The not-so-obvious part of loyal support is the commitment to stand behind the missionary as an ally and a friend. Missionaries receive a personal stipend--if they choose to spend part of this stipend on a nice dinner, a vacation, or a drink from Starbucks, don’t condemn them for wasting your support money. Missionaries need faithful friends, not critics. Imagine if your employer got angry at you for spending some of your paycheck--you would be frustrated and hurt.
Prayer. Prayer is crucial. It benefits the missionaries and it helps grow the faith of the senders. Miracles still happen. If you don’t believe me, just Google it. You’ll be amazed at the stories you can find.
Be a Sender
If your church doesn’t support missionaries, talk to your pastor about it. If you want to start supporting missionaries independently, feel free to contact me and I can let you know about reputable missionaries and organizations who won’t waste your money. Commit yourself to pray and support a missionary; consider opening your house to them when they visit your church.
What is a specific way that you think you can help a missionary? Does your church support missionaries?
Photo credit: http://www.creationswap.com/mgruber
