Your turn to edit me

Okay, I'm looking for some constructive feedback. I'm writing an article for our denominational magazine, it's due on Monday. I'm going to paste it below and ask for your feedback. You readers are a fair mix of missionaries and supporters-of-missionaries. Do you think the tone of this is suitable? Do you think I've missed anything? Is there something there that I should reword? Is the structure okay (it's pretty loose)? How do you feel about the conclusion? Here's your chance to edit my work!

What missionaries want from their supporting churches

The whole issue of supporting missionaries is a tricky one. What does it actually mean? How does a church go about doing it? And you know I’m talking about more than finance.

I’m not going to tell you what you should do and I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, but I’m going to tell you rather how missionaries love to be supported.

We want to know what you're thinking

We love to know that we’re remembered. And because we aren’t there, it is hard to know unless we’re told or shown. Emails, letters, postcards, Facebook messages etc., are always welcome. Phone calls or Skype calls are sometimes difficult to fit into busy lives, but they can be especially encouraging.

We love to know that you’re praying for us. Again, we don’t know whether you are or aren’t praying for us and sometimes when you’re lonely, and haven’t heard from anyone in a while it is easy to believe you’ve been forgotten, even when you haven’t.

Support beyond words

Love isn’t just words, it comes in care packages too, especially ones that have been thoughtfully put together. A surprise is good, but a care package is even better if it contains items that we especially want, so it is good to ask your missionary what they’d like.

We love to receive practical care when we’re transitioning in and out of the country. A full pantry speaks volumes when you’ve just landed back in your home country and cannot face grocery shopping yet. Finding accommodation and transport, setting up telecommunications, and finding local services are ways that you can help your missionary when they’re coming back from overseas.

Pay attention to details

We love it when we find out people actually read and remember our prayer letters.  And believe me, we can tell when we talk to people whether they have. There’s a joke in missionary circles about the people who come up to us and enquire about X country, when we’re actually serving in Y and have never been to X. We joke about it, but it really isn’t funny.

We love it when we’re received back at the church as if we haven’t left. That’s hard to do, of course, especially when the church has gone through changes since the missionary left, but we love to be welcomed as a local who’s been away for a while.

We love it when we’re included, whether we’re in the country or not. That takes creativity, but can range from just being informed of what is going on in the church to actually being asked for input to a Bible study or for some photos to show at church while a missionary spot is being conducted.

We love it when we’re given a reasonable amount of time to talk about what we’ve been doing in front of the whole church.

Thoughtful conversations

We love to have one-on-one conversations with you, be that on Skype while we’re overseas or over coffee when we’re home. We love to visit you in your homes, and reacquaint ourselves with members of the church.

We love it when you ask us thoughtful questions and stick around for the answer, even if it is a bit lengthy.

And inconvenient pastoral care 

And here’s a way-out-there idea: we love it when we get visitors from home, particularly people who are praying for us. Consider sending one or more members of your church or leadership team to visit a missionary your church supports, particularly if they are members of your church.

It's up to you

How you manage all this as a church is up to you. You can have a missionary committee, you can have one person dedicated to missionary care. You can have a mission-minded pastor who promotes mission as a matter of course. You can have, as we do, a small group dedicated particularly to helping and advocating for each missionary family. You can have regular missionary “Spots”, a missions night, or weekend, or month. You can have mission displays around the church. You can distribute literature or summaries of prayer letters.  Missions prayer meetings.

There are many ways to go about it. However we've found that it really needs to come from the top. Unless the leadership of a church is mission-minded, it is difficult for a church to be mission-minded. We ourselves have lots of individual supporters, but not so many mission-minded churches.

 It is easy for missionaries to feel that we're out of sight, out of mind. But missionaries are still a part of the body of Christ, we're the hands that are overseas. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:25 "There should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other."


____________


So, what do you think? Can you suggest ways to make it better?