For the sake of alleviating my already hectic Tuesday Schedule, the "How-To" segment of this blog will move to Thursday, thus creating "How-To Thursday."
Once the sponsoring church/missionary agreement has been reached, a structure for the administration of the mission needs to be set up. The sponsoring church becomes the lifeline for the missionary, and the administrative structure of that lifeline needs to be arranged to keep the lifeline connected to the missionary. If that lifeline from the sponsoring church ever gets severed due to bad communication, or disorganization, the results can be devastating for the missionary. The following are my recommendations.
1. Appoint a missions treasurer. The missions treasurer needs to be a responsible person who has a track record of keeping up with his position in the church. The missions treasurer will be responsible for depositing the support checks that come in to the sponsoring church, keeping up with the account balance, and making sure that the missionary gets the funds in a timely manner. The missions treasurer needs to be one that will be faithful in their attendance, and one who is accessible to the missionary. The missionary will need to be able to communicate with the missions treasurer frequently so he knows what financial resources he has, therefore making it easier to plan his work. Plus, the treasurer will have to be able to provide a report to the missionary at the end of the month so he can include it on his monthly report.
With Mission: Brownwood, I am blessed to have a good missions treasurer. She stays on top of the finances, deposits the checks as soon as she gets them, keeps a running balance of what is in the bank, reports to me consistently on what has come in and what we have, and makes the funds readily accessible. I can use those funds on a moment's notice if need be, and all I have to do is report back to her. It's a great set-up that has worked great.
2. Appoint a missions committee. If the sponsoring church is going to truly be behind the missionary, that missionary is going to have to be able to communicate with the sponsoring church. With that in mind, I think it is very important to have a missions committee. The missionary can communicate with each committee member via email and telephone, and the committee can then (a) meet and decide what needs to be done (if anything) to meet the missionary's need, or (b) tell as many people in the church of what is happening on the mission field so that the church can move to action under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. My experience tells me that an informed church will act to support the missionary's needs almost all the time if the missionary is truly carrying out the work of the Lord.
Some would rather not have a committee, choosing rather to make the pastor of the sponsoring church the mode of communication between the missionary and sponsoring church. This leaves the missionary vulnerable for a number of reasons.
(1) The pastor who is in the pulpit now may very well be a great missions-minded pastor who truly wants to support the missionary his church sponsors, however, if he leaves, the next pastor may be a jerk who sees the missionary as being a drain on church resources that could very well fund his salary and reimbursements. Or the next pastor may be more concerned with building a mega-church rather than supporting the missionary. As a mission-minded pastor, the right thing for you to do is put in a support structure around your missionary that another pastor can not easily undo.
(2) The sponsoring pastor, as great a man as he may be, is still human and may inadequately communicate the missionary's need to the congregation. More voices mean a better vision is being cast.
(3) The mission work needs to belong to the church. If the pastor is the go-between, then the work becomes something that belongs to the pastor and missionary and the church never truly gets involved outside of approving an expenditure or two.
I believe the missions committee should consist of the pastor, the missions treasurer, (if there is an associate pastor in charge of missions or outreach, he needs to be on the committee), the church treasurer (to advise on funds if they are needed from the general fund), and three-to-five laymen.
3. Encourage support to be sent through the sponsoring church. When it comes to state/interstate missions, there is not a whole lot of difference between getting money sent straight to the field and having it sent through the sponsoring church. For me, it is more convenient to have my support sent through Rocky Springs so that my missions treasurer can keep track of it, and all I have to worry about is the usual monthly expenditures and reporting. Plus, it makes it easier at the end of the year to calculate my taxes.
However, for a foreign missionary, especially one in hostile territory, the sponsoring church will be the best equipped to get the money to the field while minimizing "money handling charges" and "conversion fees." Plus, in some countries, putting the title "missionary" or "brother" on an envelope or check can result in that missionary being arrested and even killed. All it takes is one treasurer having an off day to cause problems. So, with that in mind, it's best to send the money to the sponsoring church and trust the sponsoring church to do what is right. (This paragraph is all opinion on my part, and I welcome input from foreign missionaries with more insight on this issue, even if it disagrees with what I have written. I am here to promote mission work, not push my agenda.)
Not all mission work has to be organized after this pattern. In fact, I am far from being an expert (I've only been a sponsoring pastor once, and a missionary once. Some of this information I've learned from my own mistakes. Other parts of this post I learned from a Macedonian Missions Seminar, other parts I've learned from my successes, and others from watching other successful missionaries.) Do what fits best for your situation and what God calls you to do. God bless you.
Next week, we'll talk deputation.
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