Sending church: Roles of the church

I have a couple questions for churches sending people out as missionaries. How do you plan on staying in touch with them, and how do you plan on supporting them in ways other than financially?

The truth is, cross-cultural workers need more than money from churches in America.

As I wrote about last week, Acts 13 and following indicates Paul was connected to his sending church in Antioch. They had an on-going relationship, which is vital to the life of the worker. Most missionaries want your involvement after they are on the field. I would add that we all need your involvement.

However, the activities of a sending church begin long before a cross-cultural worker touches the soil of a foreign location. A sending church …

• Confirms the gifting and calling of the missionary (and family, if married). The sending church should be a vital part of the process of a person going on the field. Who better should know the candidate or future missionary than his/her sending church?
• Finds ways to prepare and equip the worker to go out.
• Prays over the missionary and sends him/her out. In Acts 13 we read about the “laying on of hands.” I think this came once the church knew the Holy Spirit was sending Saul and Barnabas, and the body confirmed this calling and blessed them.
• Maintains contact with the worker while on the field, even after the newness of the task wears off.
• Holds the missionary accountable while he/she is on the field. I believe this accountability deals with the spiritual, character and strategic aspects of the worker.
• Financially supports the worker as needed. I say this knowing some missionaries do not need much or any monetary assistance from their churches, as they work jobs in their new contexts. (For more on this, check out the Skybridge Community.) However, they still need these other aspects of support.
• Finds ways to be involved in the work and strategic ministry of the missionary.

I believe a church commits to supporting an individual’s ministry when it sends out a missionary. One way this can be manifested is for the church to build its mission strategies around its people whom God has called to service. Although this may not always be a possibility, it facilitates a long-term connection with the missionary (team) and meaningful missions involvement for the church.

For example, if a church has a couple or individual moving overseas to serve in a church-planting role, it may also engage in the city through a variety of ways.

• International businesspeople from the church can look into taking jobs with their companies in that city.
• International businesspeople who make trips to that city can think missionally while doing business abroad.
• An athlete from the church can try out for a professional team in that city or country.
• The church can rent an apartment in the city and send short-term workers for three months at a time.
• College students from the church can look into studying abroad in that city.

I would like to see pastors encourage these possibly unconventional missionary models. A person does not need to leave his/her job and go with a mission organization to work cross-culturally. Pastors and church leaders can encourage their church bodies to think in these directions when they, as leadership, see these as viable missionary expressions, and thus promote or lift them up as such in the church. “Tentmakers” or people doing business internationally are not second-class missionaries, but can make a huge impact for the kingdom in their marketplaces all over the world.

A body of believers can begin taking small steps toward being a sending church on an international level before it has its own community’s missionary activity figured out. It doesn’t have to wait. These steps may include taking a vision trip or a few short trips to work on a specific project. It may also involve taking a “reverse mission trip” by finding ways to minister to international students in its own city.

If no one from your church currently feels as though he/she is ready to dive into cross-cultural missions and be sent, you can adopt missionaries who need churches to provide this type of support. Every missionary deserves a loving and caring church they can call home.

You would not believe how often I hear from people who say they rarely hear from their home churches unless they (the workers) initiate conversation. While both parties need to actively communicate (more on the missionary’s role next week), I can’t stress how important it is for every cross-cultural worker to have a sending church. I believe this one factor is paramount to the success of international missionaries.

Sending agencies use the term “member care” to identify how they seek the overall well-being of their workers. Churches should also function in the roles of helping, praying and caring for, encouraging, holding accountable, providing resources for and being strategically involved with their missionaries.

Pray for them specifically, hold them accountable spiritually and strategically, support them financially, be actively involved with their ministry on the field or simply talk to them and be interested in their work. These things can make such a difference in the life and total health of a missionary and his/her family.

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Next: Larry speaks to the sent about their roles with sending churches.

Written by Larry McCrary. Larry and his family have lived in Europe since 2001, and have been involved in church planting both in the United States and in Europe. Larry is co-founder of The Upstream Collective, and is passionate about seeing the church think and act as a missionary both in its community and internationally. Larry blogs and tweets as part of an effort to influence the conversation of missions.