Five Ways for the Local Church to Support Its Missionaries (a.k.a. “Their Peeps Living Overseas”)

Since Matt is not here with a specific missions organization {rather, he is working for a Christian NGO}, our church in Woodland Park, Colorado {where he has worked for the past four years}, has become the group that has sent us out into the wide world.  And, as it turns out, they are doing a brilliant job of it. Regardless of the title claimed {missionary, expat-mom, humanitarian, etc}, here are some ideas for how the local church {or you as an individual} can become more vested into sharing the love of Jesus to the global community.

Five Way for the Church to Support Missionaries

1. Give them money. You invest your money into what you value.  That’s just true.  Since most families overseas are there solely by donations, the church needs to put its money where its mouth is.  Give big.  Give consistently.  {Ask yourself if you would rather support many missionaries a little bit, or a few missionaries a lot? A good question for thought.}
2. Keep the family overseas in front of the family at home. Our church has done a fantastic job of this by praying for us specifically at meetings, by showing our videos in Sunday services, by writing letters of encouragement to our family.  The leaders at their summer vacation Bible camp in Colorado even had all the children write notes to our kids with pictures and jokes, which our children simply adored.  Another idea is to schedule a Skype-visit with the person overseas on a Sunday morning.  People in the States need reminders of “their people” overseas—in a variety of forms.
3. Give them stuff. Care packages.  Christmas gifts.  Birthday presents.  Our church absolutely blew us away recently when they asked for a list of things we wanted {and things we had a hard time getting in Thailand}.  For several weeks, they set up a booth in the back of the church and people signed up for items on our list.  Books, medicines, razors, toys for the kids.  When we opened the suitcases tonight, it was seriously like Christmas in July.

4.  Assemble Accountability.  Individuals hacking out life overseas desperately need a small safe place where they can speak and be heard.  Get together a small group of people to pray for, email consistently, and encourage the family on the field.  It doesn’t replace face-to-face accountability, but it helps.  I promise, people that live overseas check their emails all the time.

5.  Send your people to them.  Short-term trips.  Longer-term internships.  The more people from the local church that can see firsthand and invest personally in the ministry overseas, the more excited and connected they will be about it Stateside.  It provides the missionary family with a real sense of home and the gift of letting others taste their worlds, and it gives the people visiting a life-changing experience forever tied to the ministry –birthed locally, gone globally. You advocate what you know.

To my Family there in Woodland, we cannot thank you enough for the ways you have loved and supported these five of your own in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Thank you for remembering us.

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Tagged as: church, ministry, missions, ways to encourage missionaries, ways to support missionaries