Page 11 - Contact Autumn 2019.indd

Money & Missions

Written by Paul Todd imagining a discussion between someone from
Global Connections and a couple of church leaders plus several missionary candidates.

Setting the Scene:

Alan Smith, a regional coordinator with the UK missions’ body Global Connections, has
occasionally been meeting with some prospective missionaries and church leaders. As well as
Alan, there are John and Brian, who are the mission elders in their respective churches. There are
Andrew & Melanie, who, along with their three children, plan to go as medical missionaries to
South Sudan. Jean, hopes to work with street children and help with traffi cking issues in Nigeria.
Finally, there are Patrick & Maggie who are heading off to work in theological education in Brazil,
and Bill, who feels called to evangelism in the Middle East.

The topic for today is supporting missionaries.

Alan: “We often look at missionary support as just being about money. Building a team of
prayer supporters, people who will regularly pray for you & your work is more important. SIM, for
instance, asks for 30 prayer partners. These partners are committed to your work. In many ways,
you are as accountable to them as you are to your church or the mission.”

John: “Our church regularly prays for our missionaries at Sunday services and in our house
groups. Is that not enough?”

Alan: “You can never have too much prayer. Churches and house groups sometimes forget about
missionaries. Other issues crowd in on worship time, or the Bible study overruns and so prayer
time is cut short or doesn’t happen at all. And often missionaries need people praying about
specifi c situations that can’t be publicised or are happening during the week. It helps when
dealing with obstructive governments, travelling on a dangerous road, or in medical
emergencies when people back home are praying specifi cally about that situation.”

Brian: “That is true: it is hard to remember our missionaries when they are not around. But let’s
discuss the fi nancial side of things. I thought missions paid salaries and as long as the sending
church sent some funds to the mission, they would source enough money from elsewhere to pay
for everything.”