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Why Missionaries Need Support
“Can’t a missionary just get a job in another country instead of asking for support?” “Shouldn’t a missionary have enough faith to go without raising money?” “I understand a little help, but why can’t they just get a little money and head out with that?”
We understand there are many questions or concerns regarding a missionary’s support and we want to address some of those concerns. As we better understand how support helps not just a missionary but also the ministry, we are better equipped to enable the missionary to do the ministry God has led him to do.
One major reason a missionary needs support is that he is there to start a ministry not to take over one. It is a given that he will need money to rent a house, eat, and live a normal life. Church-planting missionaries moved to their country specifically and principally to start a church and ministry. When he starts a church, it will be him, the missionary, who will be paying to rent the building and pay the utility bills. He will be the one to purchase the chairs, tracts, and all the basic items needed for a ministry to begin. The missionary’s end goal is to train young men to take the leadership of the church, allowing the church to become indigenous, so that he can begin other churches. However, until the church becomes indigenous, every church plant, Bible college, radio or other type of ministry the Lord allows will Continue reading “Why Missionaries Need Support”
Should I go on a Missions Trip?
By Austin Gardner
You should not go on a trip if the following is true in your life:
- Your personal comfort is a priority for you.
- You are unable to be flexible.
- You do not have a true desire & attitude of service.
- You will not be able to focus on the culture & those around you instead of yourself.
- You are unwilling to submit to the leadership of someone else.
- You are afraid to try new things.
- You do not have a vital growing spiritual life.
How To Pray For Your Missionary
By Will Cosby, Veteran missionary of 40 years.
- Pray for him to understand the people he is working with, and for him to know why they do the things they do.
- Pray for him to have great patience in dealing with delay.
- Pray that God will give him wisdom in making daily decisions. Even a small mistake will magnify in days to come.
- Pray that God will garrison his mind against evil thoughts.
- Pray for him to have Holy Spirit power and a good influence on others.
- Pray that others will de-magnify his imperfections.
- Pray for his spiritual health to be good and his physical health to keep pace with it.
- Pray for him to receive much benefit from his Bible study; first for himself, and then for others.
- Pray that God will help him to be flexible without compromise, and steadfast without being rigid.
- Pray for him to be able to deliver his sermons with great satisfaction to God, the people, and himself.
- Pray that God will keep him from believing false information and to be able to discern it as such.
- Pray that he will know how to arrange his daily schedule with proper spiritual priorities.
- Pray for him to give the proper attention to his wife and family and not to neglect them for the work.
- Pay for him to be ever conscious of souls in need and to be aware of opportunities to win them.
- Pray for him to have an ever increasing and widening vision of his work.
- Pray for him to love his people as a shepherd does his sheep and to know their individual needs and be able to administrate his work for the benefit of the whole body.
- Pray that he will have great faith in God to achieve the impossible.
- Pray for him not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think and that God will shrink his ego.
- Pray for him to have great boldness to preach the Word without fear or favor of man.
- Pray for him to have good convictions and not to compromise.
- Pray for him that most of all, he will love God supremely with all his heart, mind and soul.
How to not become a missionary or get 100% involved in world evangelism!
- Do not look at the harvest fields John 4:35
- Do what everybody else is doing. Get a bigger salary, a better job, a better car and house, a better retirement
- Get married to someone who has no idea what it means to serve God, the Great Commission, or world evangelism. Get settled down, get a good job, and raise a beautiful family
- Stay away from missionaries. Their testimonies and lifestyles will only make you uncomfortable and may cause you to think of living for someone besides yourself
- If you happen to think of missions think only of the very difficult places so you can feel good about not going. Don’t listen to what they tell you about how to get even into closed countries.
- Think about how bad a missionary you would make because of your past failures and lack of ability
- Think only about missionaries as super talented, super spiritual people that sit on a pedestal otherwise you might even feel guilty
- Believe that you are indispensable where you are
- Worry constantly about money
- If you still feel like you must go then do so without the proper preparation that way you can fail and come home soon and no one will blame you for trying!
How To Help your Missionaries
I once heard this quote, “The true greatness of any church in not how many it seats but how many it sends!” A completely full church is encouraging, but how much more encouraging it is when a church sends out a missionary… one of it’s own. This brief article is to share with you a few ideas of what you can do to help, love and stand behind the missionary that your church sends out. The ideas come from what I have heard or seen while traveling. I hope they will be a blessing and help to you. Continue reading “How To Help your Missionaries”
How to give your testimony in the service on the mission field:
(Austin Gardner wrote this when he served as a missionary in Peru, South America)
- Write out your testimony. It will surprise you how easy it is to get sidetracked by all the commotion and translating.
- Keep it brief, maybe about 3 minutes! With translation 3 minutes will turn into 5!
- Open with a greeting in Spanish. The folks like it when you try to speak their language and show a genuine interest in them.
- Tell who you are and a little bit about you, married, work, something about your family, etc.
- Add a couple of positive statements about the country, the church, and the people!
- Do not talk about the poverty of the area, the currency as funny money, how sorry you feel for them, etc.
- Tell what Christ has done for you, how did you get saved, how did you realize your need of a Savior, how has your life changed, how has Christ helped you lately.
- Give a verse and make sure and give the application.
- Do not give graphic details about your sin or your past life.
- Avoid slang and idioms in your testimony. They can be very difficult to translate and may have no meaning in the other language.
- Do not use very long sentences or very short either. Give a good thought that can be easily remembered by the translator!
- Avoid stressing your material success or blessings and especially making any comparisons to what the people have in the country you are visiting!
- Avoid speaking of the sacrifice that you made to get to the field. Remember what it cost you to get to the country may be several months of a workingman’s income. You may share with them the blessing of being able to come and how good God was to answer your prayers and make it possible to be there!
- Don’t tell jokes, etc. without prior approval to make sure that they translate, etc.
- Thank the folks again and ask them to pray for you. Be excited about the country and the opportunity to be there.
How to get more people involved in your Church’s Mission Conference
One of the poorest attended meetings in the local church each year is the Church Mission’s Conference. This is a sad indictment upon our churches and our concern for lost souls around the world. However it also indicates poor planning and preparation on the part of the pastor and the church. Someone said; “Everything rises and falls on leadership!” That is certainly the truth! Here are a few ideas that you might consider that might help your next conference. Continue reading “How to get more people involved in your Church’s Mission Conference”