For Supporters
When someone mentions missionary support, what is the first thing that comes to mind? It is probably money. Money has been preached and discussed and written about so much that it is often viewed as the key factor. But while money is significant and the lack of it can be a problem, are there not other things that are even more important?
Think a moment. How many missionary works fail because of the lack of money (it is not as if God is short of it)? Compare that to the number of missionaries that leave the field because of cold hearts, broken spirits, failed morals, and weak faith. No amount of money can overcome those problems. Yet to a Christian whose heart is full of love for God and others and whose faith and spirit are strong, financial challenges are not catastrophic–they may even be instruments through which God provides direction.
Let’s go back to basics. To know how best to help missionaries, we need to think about who missionaries are.
First, they are people: human beings with ordinary human needs for food, shelter, and companionship. Missionaries need faithful Christian friends.
Second, they are “fishers of men.” They need to be salt and light in a world that ignores and even rejects God and His Word. They need boldness, courage to face that world, day after day. They need to be patient teachers as they disciple.
Third, they are typically church leaders. They need to be examples of the believer. They need to be faithful. Because of their positions and prominence, Satan desires to take them down and thus discourage others. Leadership is often lonely.
Fourth, they minister in foreign locations. Not being in their native areas has two related effects. Missionaries are typically in different cultures where they face varying degrees of culture shock, or at least culture stress. At they same time, they are separated from typical support structures of family and established friendships.
Much more could be written, and as you think on these things, even more things will occur to you (as they do, please contact us and share your ideas so that we, in turn, can share them with others). In following pages, we seek to build on these ideas through several basic sets of things that we can do for missionaries:
Let’s conclude here by circling back to the beginning. Missionaries are individuals. They each have their own gifts and abilities, their own strengths and weakness, and their own likes and dislikes. They live in different locations, working in different circumstances among different peoples, themselves individuals. As such, their needs differ. One size does not fit all. Consequently, to move beyond some basic support, you need to build relationships with them, talk to them, and find out what they need. Once you discover that, ask the Lord what He would have you to do, then go do it—your life will never be the same.