By Anna McShane — I caught just a thread of a conversation across the table at a board meeting. “We just raised $2.5 million for that hospital project in Africa.”
$2.5 MILLION? That sounds like real money for missions; yet, raising individual support is one of the most daunting tasks a missionary faces. It is a life-long task that never quits, never gets easier, never goes away. It is right up there on the fear meter with martyrdom.
Somehow, raising money for hospitals in Africa captures hearts faster than supporting John or Jane Missionary at $100 a month, and asking for that $100 is torture to most missionaries.
Has anyone ever said to you, “Oh, I could never be a missionary and go around begging people for money.” I’ve got a standard answer for that one. I look them in the eye and say, “Do you give to any missionaries?” If the answer is yes, and it typically is, I ask, “Did they beg you?” Well, actually, no. Then, “Why do you give?”
“Because I want to. Because I believe in what they are doing. Because I feel part of something God is doing that is bigger than me and my life.” God’s people love to give and not just for tax deductions. But, as a group of missionary women shared with me, support discovery requires relationships, trust, prayer, diligence, creativity, and communication.
Joyce writes, “One of our more effective strategies over the years has been simply to build relationships with people by inviting them to our home or meeting at a coffee shop. Taking a personal interest in their lives, plus sharing our hearts and food = prayer and financial supporters.”
“When I am on home service, time spent with people is what has been effective,” Lois says. “People notice that I care about them and their families and am willing to spend time with them — hanging out with moms and their kids, especially.”
“I just finished going through last year’s support figures,” Dorothy writes, “And I am again blessed with all the donors that have been SO faithful over the last 26 years of our ministry. I would say that anyone who has ‘stuck with us’ is definitely because we have had personal relationship with them through the years.”
Relationships begin long before support raising, notes Dawn, “My best advice for someone considering missions: Connect with people, churches, businesses where you are — college, home, working a job, wherever. Get involved where you are before delving into support.”
Jill says, “It is not about us. It’s about God. We are all called to be part of sharing the Kingdom. Because we are a fallen people, we have to keep realigning to be on track. Missionaries need to understand they aren’t asking for John’s money. They are asking John to partner with God for His Kingdom. You ask and leave the rest to God. When you follow up you are simply seeing how God led them.”
“Over the last two decades we have averaged 101% per month despite a strong local currency and weak dollar. This is NOT us,” Martie writes, “It is the LORD.”
“Support-raising is an adventure of building TRUST in the One who has all of the resources,” echoes Jayne. “When I landed in the US last January, I reminded God of those I knew to have the resources I needed to return on time. God reminded me that my job was to TRUST. I prayed for two more churches. God gave me four. There is no financial crisis in God’s economy!”
Trusting God means that if you are raising support you need to be actively praying about your support and your supporters, and engaging others to pray with you. Sonia reiterates that, “Prayer is such an important thing. The missionary must have a disciplined prayer life — praying for their contacts, all of them, not just the ones they are contacting. They need to pray over the list and see who God lays on their heart. They need to pray before every contact with a potential donor.”
Diligence means making phone calls, leaving messages, writing emails, texting, connecting on Facebook, and following up, following up, following up. At times missionaries in support discovery may feel they are being pests, but people are busy and getting a chance to talk takes diligence.
The support landscape is changing. Like many large churches, that church that raised $2.5 million for a hospital in Africa does not support any individual missionaries. Mercy ministries trump church planting. One woman says, “We sense a lessening in the church’s attention span. The whole idea of career or 35-40 years that was modeled to us is no longer applicable. A career may be five years.”
There are other trends. Churches are sending their own teams to an area they chose, and they do it all on their own. Or, they only want to support those from their own church – but rarely support them 100%. Large churches may require new appointees to go through levels of reading and mentoring, which is excellent preparation, but this takes time that can’t be given to raising support. Some churches invite a missionary to come and talk to individuals but do not pledge support from the church. Some churches only support missionaries to specific people groups. Others look at five-year commitments.
Missions 101 says that if the culture is different, it is not wrong. The culture of support is different today and especially the long-term missionary on home service needs to understand the culture, flex with it, and be creative.
Beth wrote, “We held a dinner where we asked supporters to sponsor a ‘table’ and we used the high school kids from our home church as waiters. We served food from the country where we planned to serve and presented our work. This was 11 years ago and we still have many of those table host supporters as part of our team.”
“We put out short term goals for our support,” said Cindy, “giving people a reason to start supporting now. For every 10% we posted something else we would begin. There were obvious ones — at 50% we started the visa process — but there were milestones that people wouldn’t think about: at 30% we cleaned out the attic, at 40% we began to mark our ‘last times to’, at 60% we registered our daughter for the MK school, at 70% we gave official notice to my employer. People bought into the process because it was moving forward, not just a financial number. We have one supporting church, 115 individuals, and six businesses. We met with almost every supporting family one on one.”
Terri and her husband asked the Lord for anchor donors. “An anchor donor is a person or church who gives $500+ a month. Since we didn’t have a lot of churches, we approached three people who had the means to do this and they said yes. In light of many churches cutting back on supporting missionaries, some individuals have the means and the willingness when asked.”
“We knocked on the doors of many churches, but they were either not interested because there was no connection, or they were cutting back, or only supporting specific regions of the world,” said Marcia. “Our biggest gifts toward the end of two years of support raising came from Christian businessmen. We asked companies if they would like to support us.”
For those who can be open about their ministry, social media tools can help with raising support. Facebook is a great place to post newsletters, tell donors when you have reached milestones, and celebrate every new supporter. It builds a team spirit. Few missionaries in today’s climate send only paper letters. Email saves hundreds of dollars each mailing. Email services like Mail Chimp help track who opens your letters; those people can be followed up with a phone call. There is NO substitute for face-to-face meetings, but social media helps determine who is interested.
The communication piece is closely tied to support. Missionaries need to understand how each individual church handles communication. Which donors want email? A reliable mantra for email communication is: one good story, one good picture, once a month – with all email addresses hidden. But, there may be some donors who still want a paper letter, and they need to be identified.
There is no way around the fact that raising support is rewarding looking in the rearview mirror, but when you are in the trenches, it is just plain hard work.
“When you’re in the midst of it, it sometimes feels like you DEPEND on people donating,” writes Daniella. “1 Corinthians 7:23
challenged me: ‘You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.’ God has bought us, we belong to HIM, nobody else is paying for our ministry but HIM. We don’t depend on people, donors, prayer warriors — even though God chooses to use them — but we depend on the Almighty.”
“Think of the theater,” adds Martie. “For every actor on stage there are usually four people who have worked behind the scenes. Just think of movie credits! The cast may have 30, but there are hundreds of people who roll with the end credits. Our support team is just same — lots and lots of people in the background.”
“We can’t do this alone,” Dorothy says. “Our supporters get notes from us and we want to make sure they feel like they are a part of the team.”
God may never drop $2.5 million into your support. You may not have support from the mega-churches. But the amazing part of having a support team is that those people who partner with us over a lifetime of service give, and give, and give again. A missionary who serves for 30 years will likely have raised well over a million dollars! That is real money, God’s money, God’s bounty from people who stand with us, stand behind us, and go with us in their hearts to the end of the earth.
Originally posted on The Thrive Connection. Thanks to the many women of SEND International who wrote from their experience.
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