I saw this article recently and thought it was worth sharing and commenting on. It focuses on the relationships that develop between missionaries and their financial supporters. But I think it applies to more relationships than just financial supporters.
People who pray faithfully for missionaries develop a closeness to them that defies understanding. They often only see us a couple of times a decade, yet when we see them it seems like no time has passed—and that's not just a couple of close friends. As is evidenced by the number of private social engagements we end up doing when we're home. During the six months of home assignment in 2018 we had meals or coffee with more than 20 individuals/families who pray for us, most of whom it was hard to say goodbye to when our time was up. And we didn't see everyone we would have liked to, we saw quite a lot more than that last time we did a one-year home assignment!
Of course, we do what we can to foster those friendships and prayer partnerships by providing regular prayer letters that inform them of what we're up to. I'm a lucky missionary in that I enjoy writing and designing these, so our prayer team gets them regularly.
I know that the process of support raising is not just a fearsome one for potential missionaries, but also a rather mysterious one for people in general (I wrote a post a couple of years ago about it here). For us, in a mission that doesn't allow solicitation of funds (i.e. asking for money), it mostly means:
1. Building up relationships that we already have,
2. Developing new relationships as the Lord leads people to us, and
3. Doing our best to tell people about what we do—which usually amounts to writing prayer letters and answering their questions when we see them. But I extend that by using social media and my blog.
One of our boys asked me a few years ago how we had so many friends (we were on home assignment at the time and he was a bit tired of visiting with lots of people). I basically told him it was our job. On top of the work we do in Japan, our job includes staying in touch with supporters in Australia and that includes periodically visiting them.
The whole thing, though, is counterintuitive. It doesn't make good sense in many ways, this model of mission. For example, looking at things from a worldly perspective:
- prayer doesn't make sense in a non-transcendental worldview (I've been working on my vocabulary today in my editorial work and had an article to read about this subject)
- sending people who don't understand the culture or language of a country to work there doesn't make much sense
- after they've gotten a bit of understanding and proficiency, then pulling them out to go back to their home country to meet people and talk about their work also doesn't make good sense in terms of productivity and levels of stress, especially if they have a paying job on the field (as David does)
- working as a volunteer, dependent on the financial gifts of others isn't the most secure way to do anything.
No wonder people don't understand what we do and how we do it. Especially if they don't know the God who sends us on this crazy journey.
I've run out of words. I love the way the article ends:
When he wants to reach a nation, he rarely sends a company of glorious angels. Instead he sends a team of fallible humans. And when he wants to use an individual, he rarely chooses the most gifted, but the most ordinary—propped up by the quiet prayers and tangible love of her friends.Thank you to all of you who we have astonishing friendships with, born out of what we do. We love you and thank God regularly for you.
The prayer support is critical.
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