What Can Ordinary Laypersons Do to Provide Member Care to Their Own Missionaries?
Short & Simple Summary
The short answer is, “Get Serving as Senders and put it into practice.” Serving as Senders was published in 1992 and revised as Serving as Senders Today in 2012. It has page after page of practical things everyone can do to provide care for missionaries they know. Here are the topics covered briefly in this chapter, the chapter titles of the core of the book.
Moral Support
Logistical Support
Financial Support
Prayer Support
Communication Support
Reentry Support
If you want more detail and links to other sources, read on.
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Of course, most Christians do not go as missionaries nor do they serve full-time caring for missionaries. Many Christians believe that there is not much else they need to do relative to world missions other than perhaps sending some money for their task and now and then praying for them, especially during times the church emphasizes missions.
Paul begins Romans 10 talking about his longing to see the people of Israel saved. Further into the chapter he notes that anyone who confesses and believes will be saved (vv. 10-11), noting that Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect—that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (vv 12-13). Then he asks a penetrating series of questions about this salvation (vv.14-15):
· How can they call on him if they do not believe in him?
· How can they believe in him if they have not heard of him?
· How can they hear about him if no one goes and tells them?
· How can anyone go and tell them if they are not sent?
Some people are “goers” and other people are “senders.” The goers are responsible to tell those who have not heard about Jesus. The senders are responsible to care for those who go. Some senders serve full-time in that position, but most senders do it out of concern for carrying out the great commission. In 1992 Neal Pirolo published his book, Serving As Senders:How to Care for Your Missionaries While They are Preparing to Go, While they are on the Field, and When They Return Home . Two decades later he revised it, publishing it with the slightly different title, Serving As Senders Today. Pirolo specifies six different kinds of support missionaries need, and these are the topics covered in this chapter. The books are valuable to anyone wanting to care for missionaries, and they are widely available both new and used.
Moral Support
Moral support is simply being there for your missionaries to encourage them whether they need a morale boost or a dose of reality. This is something anyone can do, and friends can probably do it better than any professionals. Here is how it happened with Paul and Barnabas as they prepared for their first term of missionary service.
After Stephen was killed, persecution of Christians increased, and they spread to many different places. Some of them wound up in Antioch (of Syria) where they spread the gospel to Jews who lived there. Some Christians from Cyprus and Cyrene also went to Antioch and began preaching to the Gentiles as well—and many of those Gentiles became believers. The church leaders in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to investigate what was going on. Barnabas was thrilled, so he found Saul (Paul) and brought him to Antioch. Both of them stayed there for a full year teaching the gospel, and soon believers there were called Christians. When the church in Antioch heard that there was going to be a food shortage in Jerusalem, they sent aid to the people there. It was a caring, supportive church. (Acts 11:19-30).
Saul and Barnabas were part of a small group with a Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen. These five men were fasting, seeking God, and open to what God had to say. God told the group to set Saul and Barnabas aside to do the work to which he had called them. After more fasting and prayer Simeon, Lucius and Manen laid hands on Saul and Barnabas and sent them on their first term of missionary service. Note what these ordinary people did in Acts 13:1-3.
· They fasted, sought God, and were open to God’s leading.
· They were a part of God’s call to missionary service.
· They fasted, prayed, and probably talked about what Jesus had said to the apostles when he sent them out (Matthew 10:5-42: Mark 6:7-11; and Luke 9:1-5).
· They probably also talked about what Jesus said to his disciples after his resurrection (Matthew 28:18-20).
· They commissioned them by the laying on of hands.
· They sent them off.
Another example of moral support is when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus visited Paul who said, “They refreshed my spirit” (1 Corinthians 16:17-18). Still another example is when Titus visited Paul who said that God “comforted us by the coming of Titus and….he told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever” (2 Corinthians 7:6-7).
Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen were just close friends who cared for Saul and Barnabas. Likewise, missionaries today need close friends to encourage them as they face difficult circumstances.
Logistical Support
Logistical support simply means the practical taking care of missionaries’ affairs at home and getting things they need to them on the field. It means helping them get their affairs in order and get the supplies they need to take with them before they go, continuing to care for them and supply them after they have left, and get what they need when they return.
Paul mentioned these things as well. He wrote, “I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you” (1 Corinthians 16:17-18). He also wrote to Timothy and said, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments” (2 Timothy 4:13). Who hasn’t forgotten to pack something when they went on a trip?
Missionaries today need people to help in many ways. If they own property at “home,” they need someone to mange it and maintain it. They need people to handle their financial affairs at home in such ways as depositing money and seeing that bills such as taxes and insurance are paid. If they send out mailings to supporters, they need someone to see that they are printed and posted. The needs are varied and depend on the missionaries’ ways of doing things.
Financial Support
This needs no explanation. Missionaries are very open about such things. They often tell supporters how much more money they need pledged for monthly financial support and how much extra they need when special needs arise. They also give praise when the needed funds are pledged or given.
Prayer Support
This also needs no explanation. Missionaries are very open about asking for prayer for themselves, their families, and their ministry. Many of them send periodic requests for prayer or post those requests on websites or blogs. When these prayers are answered, they let their supporters know as well.
Communication Support
Communicating with missionaries has been important since the beginning of Christian missions. Paul appreciated hearing from the church at Philippi through “Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger” (Philippians 2:25).
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, “The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house” (1 Corinthians 16:19).
Also consider how headquarters in Jerusalem communicated their decision to people on the field. “Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas…. With them they sent the following letter:…The men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message” (Acts 15:22-31).
Today most people are able to communicate encouragement directly to their missionaries, and they can do so much faster.
· Mail. Airmail takes only days rather than weeks or months.
· Telephone. Telephone conversations include audible conversations, and it makes instant replies possible.
· Email. Email is “free” and fast for those who have computers, tablets, and “smart phones.”
· Instant Messaging. IM is also free and fast for those who have computers and internet access.
· Skype. Skype is also free and fast for those who have computers, tablets, or smart phones and internet access. In addition to the audio, it includes video (if both people have good enough connections). In addition, “group” conversations can be arranged with people from different countries included in the conversations.
Reentry Support
Many supporters do not realize that it is often difficult for missionaries to come “home.” The problem is that the missionaries are often grieving, leaving the work to which God has called them, and they find that “home” no longer feels like home to them. At this time they need reentry support. Let us now look at what Jesus did when those he had sent on an evangelistic ministry returned, as well as what Paul and Barnabas did when they returned from their first term of missionary service.
In Luke 9:1-10 (also found in Matthew 10-14 and in Mark 6), we have a summary of the first “reentry” after an evangelistic campaign. When the disciples returned, they reported to Jesus, telling him what they had done (v. 10). Of course, they did not report to Jesus because he needed to know. They reported to him because it was good for them to review for themselves what had happened, and it was good for all of them to hear from each other what had happened while they were gone. Then Jesus took them with him to a remote place near Bethsaida, the beginning of the first “reentry retreat” or “transition workshop,” a time to talk about what had happened to them, how they had changed (v. 10).
The first cross-cultural reentry by Christian missionaries is recorded at the end of Acts 14. There we read about Paul and Barnabas returning to their “home church” in Antioch where they had been commissioned. They had completed their work during their first term, and they gathered their local church together to report what had happened. They reported two things (v. 27).
· First, they reported all that God had done with them. Note that they did the same thing when they arrived at headquarters in Jerusalem and met with the apostles and elders there for the first time (15:4). It was good for them to report to their supporters and those to whom they were responsible what God had done with them.
· Second, they reported how God had converted those of other cultures. Again note that they did this same thing when they visited from congregation to congregation as they traveled (15:3). It was good to report what God had done for others.
Likewise, it is good for returning missionaries to have people who really listen to them as they tell what God has done within them as they served him in another culture and what God did in the people to whom they ministered. Too often missionaries find that people back “home” have no real interest in what God has done either in them or in the people they served—instead the people at “home” would rather talk about the football game last night or the new movie being released next week.
One of the best supports people can give to a reentering missionary is their genuine interest and full attention. They do not need a professional counselor; rather they need someone who will listen as they share.
In addition to Serving as Senders, Neal Pirolo has written an entire book expanding this last point. The book is titled The Reentry Team: Caring for Your Returning Missionaries, and it is filled with great information about helping your missionary come “home.”
Note to the reader: If you have suggestions about other things that would better answer this chapter’s question, please email those to me at ron@missionarycare.com. In that email please tell me three things: (1) what you believe needs to be included, (2) links to relevant websites if available, and (3) how it better answers the question “What can ordinary laypersons do to provide member care to their own missionaries?” I plan to periodically update and expand the book with these suggestions.