Another angle on supporting our missionaries

We love missionaries. But it’s always been a challenge for the church to resolve its role in the financial support of missionaries. How should we respond to requests for support? Who should qualify for funding? Is financial support an obligation or an opportunity?

First, we need to ask the question, “What’s the business of the church?” Jesus commanded us to go into all the world, preach the gospel, make disciples, and baptize. So, we could say the business of the church is evangelism and discipleship, with a component of social care or mercy ministry.

The local church can “take care of business” at a community level through its regular activities. But our mandate doesn’t stop at the city limits. Jesus said go into all the world.

How can the local church be on multiple continents, speak different languages, live in numerous time zones, and use a variety of skills simultaneously?

Let’s consider a marketplace metaphor. Imagine you decide to build a house. What do you do? You find a qualified contractor. You detail your plans and the contractor tells you what it will cost and how long it will take. Given the go-ahead and a cheque, the professional gets the work done. It’s still your house, even though you don’t personally hammer nails or cut boards.

Could we consider the missionary enterprise in a similar fashion? We want to see the whole world reached for Jesus, but we can’t do it all at a local level. We need to outsource a portion of our “business” to a qualified “contractor.”

Here’s how it works: A missionary says, “It’s our corporate desire to see people brought to Jesus. I feel called and am willing to do that on our behalf.” The church decides if that missionary “contractor” is a good fit, then sends and financially supports them. As in hiring a building contractor, the church looks at experience, training, work habits, reputation, and positive rapport in making its funding decision about a missionary.

After deciding a particular missionary is a suitable “contractor” for a portion of its global “business,” the church commits to a percentage support, saying, “We’ll commit to 20, 30, 50, or even 100 percent of your support. We want you to be well-equipped and well-supplied, and that requires our financial investment.” Finally, in order to assess the “contractor’s” progress, to perform a “quality check,” and to encourage the worker, the church regularly sends members to visit the missionary.

This isn’t a perfect metaphor, of course. Our missionaries aren’t anonymous contractors, but close family members. However, in churches where folks are unfamiliar with the concept and purpose of mission-sending, business imagery could help. Why send and support missionaries? Because our mandate to disciple the whole world extends beyond our neighbourhood, and we can’t personally reach the whole globe from here. Communicating this concept using familiar marketplace terminology may help our people “get it.”

Brian Wiebe and his wife Becky were the founding pastor couple of Promontory Community Church, Chilliwack, B.C. The Wiebes spent 4 months in the Philippines earlier this year, where Brian volunteered with Wycliffe/SIL as a pastor-in-residence.