Supporting a Missionary - 101

 

  You’ve been approached by a fellow worker in the Kingdom of God who has felt the call to share the good Good News of Jesus’ saving Grace - either locally or overseas – somewhere not in your neighborhood.  

 They have shared with you their mission calling and their excitement for the work they will be doing in their chosen location. Now…..How will they get there? – they need senders:

 Luke 8:1-3: "After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, an Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means."

  Your fellow worker asks if you would like to be not only a prayer partner, but also a financial partner with them in God’s work. 

What do you do now?  What questions should you ask?

How do you actually go about giving them the money they need?

Let us share our experience with you in a condensed version so you will be able to answer those questions.

   God gave us a clear calling to go into missions after doors kept opening.  We were invited to join a team already working in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, after we had visited the work there, and we accepted their invitation to work with First Nations people there.

   We went to a week of intense and very helpful training by Mission to the World at their headquarters in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

 We were given many helpful tools that would make it easier for us to raise the support we need to get to Canada and do our work there.  We found out why MTW requires their missionaries to raise 100% of their funds before leaving for the field: they want us to be able to do the work we are called to, instead of continually working to raise support while we are in Canada.

We then officially began our itineration* phase of mission work – go get supporters. ROAD TRIPS!

Support from churches, family, friends and possibly even businesses who caught the vision along with us and want to partner with us. A process that can take months or years depending on our work and our supporters.

*Itineration – a time of visiting new churches and allowing new churches and friends to join in prayer and financial partnership.

   So we came to you – letting you know that we will be bringing the Good News of Jesus into the lives of the Blackfoot people in Alberta. We are glad you ask us questions. We want to help you understand what our ministry will look like and how we plan to share.

   Some of you jumped right in and said –

YES, how do we send you support? (Thank you so much!) and we explained. 

   Some people we have had to ask them to consider supporting us both financially and prayerfully – and most of you did! (The first time we heard this during our training, we realized that we ourselves had never been asked by friends who were going into missions to support them, we just started doing it – it gave us a boldness to know that many people have just never been asked!)

Now – the nuts and bolts.

   Did you know that you can begin supporting us immediately - or you can wait until we arrive in Lethbridge?  

   Did you know that we also have one time costs that we need to raise before we get there? The money we get from those who begin supporting us immediately is being built up in our one-time costs account.

The different ways to send your financial support:

1. You can send in the prayer/support card tear-off section we should have given you and fill out the appropriate boxes.  MTW will then contact you with the next steps you will take, and they notify us that you have joined our team!!! Go Team Lethbridge!!  

2. You can log on to the Mission to the World website mtw.org and follow the DONATE NOW instructions.  You will create an account with MTW and then choose either the Donate Now, or the Intent to Give sections and follow the instructions.  They notify us that you have joined our team!!! Go Team Lethbridge!!

3. You can send us an email telling us that you want to support us financially and how much you want to send each month/quarter/year, including your contact information; and we will forward your email on to the Partner Financial Services division of MTW.   MTW will then contact you with the next steps you will take, and they notify us that you have joined our team!!! Go Team Lethbridge!!

4. You can randomly send in money to support us directly to MTW with our name and account number on it (#17971) and we will be notified and we will send you an AWESOME THANK YOU CARD!! 

   I hope this not-to-short, not-to-long Supporting a Missionary 101 guide has been helpful. 

BUT – feel free to ask questions if you need more clarification or want more detail!!

And please call us to come and visit you! 

We love road trips where we can share.

   We are still looking for more Partners and would like your help. If you are involved in a Bible study, church, or know anyone who wants to hear about what the Lord is doing in Lethbridge - let us know! We would love to meet with them, especially before the holidays get here!