Earlier I wrote about the requirement and roles of sending churches. Today, I want to speak to the sent.
Each international missionary needs to be sent from a church. At the risk of sounding like a song on repeat–the importance of having a sending church is vital to the success of cross-cultural workers.
I often speak about this because I do not want to see people coming overseas without a strong relationship and affirmation from their sending churches, and I do not want to see that stop once they go on the field. The church’s involvement and responsibility does not cease to exist once the workers physically leave churches and go on their missions.
Nor does the responsibility of the worker.
Having on-going—not one-time—communication with the church is key. As overseas workers we need to find ways to create advocacy with our churches. We cannot afford to be out of touch with them. We definitely do not want to only speak up when we need something.
I think it is very wise to find ways to get to know your support churches, pray for and serve them, so when you talk to them they are not immediately wondering what your “ask” is this time. Since it takes money to survive on the field, often the missionary lives in a tension between reporting about and raising support for his/her work.
Yet if the only time the church hears from its missionaries is during a point of financial need, that message can get old. It also can put the missionary in a position of needing to have something spectacular to report on. Quite frankly, this can be hard if you are serving in a new area, a non-harvest region or if you work in more of a “support” role. We sometimes tend to elevate certain types of workers above others. However, second-class missionaries do not exist.
The Great Commission was given to the church and we need to help the church in this venture.
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Next: Larry offers suggestions on how cross-cultural workers can stay connected with their 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.
My husband and I feel so strongly about needing to be sent, and desire to be sent by our home church. Our dilemma is that our church is focusing on Muslims in a specific country and won’t send missionaries anywhere else. We have spoken to our pastor and he’s given us his full support, the church just won’t support us financially, and in reality, there is no “plan” for missionaries anywhere other than that specific area. The financial support is not the issue for us, not that we don’t need it, it just seems minor compared w/not really feeling sent by our home church. It is just a very confusing place to be. We have prayed and prayed about going to that area, and our hearts haven’t yet changed. Western Europe is where we feel a burden for and we don’t care who we reach, Muslims, whoever- just anyone who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus. I guess my question would be, do we find a new home church, do we go being kind of partially sent from our church? We are starting to feel very discouraged and have been struggling with this for about 3 years now. Are we totally wrong? We have not made an issue with anyone at our church. We love them, and we know they love us. It just gets difficult to keep hearing that our physical family supports “us”, just doesn’t understand the need for missionaries in Europe, and then getting the same thing from our church. We are so close to being done. There are lots more details, of course, and this is not the only reason we are not gone yet and we have to believe the Lord has all of this in control. Maybe we’re not supposed to go? It just won’t go away though.
Sorry this is so long. We’d really appreciate your insight, as I know we can’t be the only ones out there dealing with this.
Thanks so much.
Stephanie,
I’m truly sorry to hear about your situation. I believe I might be able to relate to your situation. The church that “sent” us to Western Europe nine years ago had a similar focus on the “unreached” world and therefore practiced a similarly passive “support” of us as missionaries. I’m not bitter. Anymore. (I don’t think…)
I imagine your situation is actually quite common. Missions agencies and organizations have long sought to focus the church’s attention and resources on certain parts of the world, at the expense of others. While I do understand the logic of this mentality, I don’t agree with it. Need and opportunity are everywhere, and poor indicators of God’s direction for our work. I believe you’re on the right track to go where God leads you, even if others don’t “get it.”
That said, you NEED a sending church. Not just a “home church,” but one that will take the responsibility (privilege!) of providing ongoing spiritual support, guidance, and accountability. Without it, I’m afraid you won’t be of much good in Western Europe (or anywhere, for that matter.) You obviously understand this, and thus your heartbreak with the disconnect you’re experiencing with your church.
Some advice, for what it’s worth:
I know you’ve tried to convince your church leaders of your calling to Europe and the great need there. You need to continue to make that effort. Most churches aren’t quite sure why they’ve chosen to get involved in a certain area of the world, but need a compelling reason to engage elsewhere.
Don’t worry so much about convincing official church leadership of your need. Rather, focus on people who know and love you (whether they’re in “leadership” positions or not. These are the people who will pray for you and write you and can provide honest accountability. If they have a vision for your calling and work, they can help spread that to the rest of the church. (and beyond!)
If all else fails, don’t “leave” your church, but find one that will support you. (You call it being “partially sent.”). Believe it or not, there are lots of churches that are not engaged in missions but would love to have a person connection to the field. Many are deterred by the (perceived) lack of resources. Others are daunted buy the enormity of the task. Who knows? You may find a Sunday School class of little old ladies who would be willing to “adopt” you. We’d love to promote your story here at the Upstream site if it would help you connect with senders.
Finally, (you mention this in your comment), you may want to consider that maybe the lack of support is an indication that this isn’t God’s time for you to go. The church is the context for affirmation of calling and sending of missionaries. If you don’t have that, maybe it’s because you’re not ready. Maybe the church isn’t ready yet. Either way, don’t just head off Lone Ranger style. You’ll certainly be able to find an organization or national church that would love to work with you, but I’m convinced that doing so without a sending church would be bypassing God’s mechanism for going.
Finally, don’t be discouraged. Developing the sending “ties” is a big part of what it means to be a missionary. Unfortunately, it’s an aspect of going that is seldom talked about. But trust me, God will not call you without also providing you with everything you need to be fully obedient to that calling.
Please keep us updated on how things are going. We’d love to pray with you along the way, and help wherever we can.