I was challenged a while ago by a guest speaker at our church who was a finance advisor to missionaries. He made a point to encourage the congregation that supporting missionaries is more than just writing a check each month or setting up direct debit. As their brothers and sisters who have sent them out, we need to be there to support their emotional and relational needs as well as financial. It is so easy to fall into the "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome and even more so when we can't relate to or imagine their foreign lifestyles. From my personal experience living overseas, I have felt both the love of generous people giving of their time and resources on my behalf as well as the discouragement of feeling 'alone' or out of touch.
For the next couple of weeks, I will be giving five suggestions for simple ways that we can support missionaries beyond giving our tithe.
A couple points I would like to encourage:
- Commit to do this as a family and involve your children in it.
- Don't try to support everyone you know, or you will probably end up supporting none. Choose a family or two to focus on and bless in this ministry.
Just to clarify, in this series, I'm predominately focusing on missionaries who are living outside their "home" countries. If you are a missionary reading this, I would love to hear how you would feel most blessed in our support. If you are someone who already supports missionaries, I want to know your suggestions on how we can better encourage these fellow laborers. If you are neither, then I hope we can encourage you to consider finding a way to be involved.
6:07 AM |
Category:
Missions
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