One of my favorite recurring events in the life of our church is something we call “Stories from the Field.” Just as Paul and Barnabas gathered their sending church to report “all that God had done with them” among the Gentiles (Acts 14:27), our church gathers every year to hear directly from our visiting missionaries about what God is doing among the nations. Face-to-face reports like these can fuel a congregation’s prayer life and ongoing care for missionaries.
But often, our missionaries are not here, but out there. What might pastors do to keep their congregations attentive to their missionaries while they are thousands of miles away for years at a time?
My initial encouragement is to find and designate a “missionary mediator” — a person (or group) who serves as a proactive middleman between the missionary and the church. Some churches may be able to hire a full-time missions pastor to do this work. Others may need to assign this role to one of their associate pastors. In some circumstances, a deacon or a volunteer committee could carry out this responsibility. Whoever it is, a church would do well to consider assigning an intermediary who bridges the gap between the sent ones and the senders.
But how might this mediator keep missionaries on the minds of church members?
1. Keep the closest active.
As missionaries live and serve elsewhere, they often lose touch with members of the congregation that sent them out. Some of our church’s missionaries were sent out four decades ago! Very few of our members have been around that long. In the midst of congregational turnover, the missionary mediator can find and encourage those members who are closest to the missionary.
For example, as the main missionary mediator at our church, I try to keep in touch with those in the flock who have long-standing relationships with our sent ones. As I ask about the missionaries they know and love, I find that my touchpoints encourage them to keep their own touchpoint with their missionary friend, staying actively connected. If these relationships stay close, they will channel mutual encouragement between the sending church and the sent ones.
At our church, we have tried to keep the closest active by mobilizing two main teams of people. First, we strongly recommend that our missionaries have a committed support team. This is a group of six to twelve people with whom the missionary can be open and honest and who are eager to provide long-term care for the missionary in a variety of ways. Second, we have a committee of members (with cross-cultural experience) who meet regularly to debrief, encourage, and pray for our missionaries every time they come back on home assignment. Some of the members on our team have served for decades in this way. They have known most of our missionaries from before they ever went to the field and have been committed to reading their updates and praying regularly for them for years.
If the members closest to a missionary remain actively engaged, they will greatly help the church remain tethered to the missionary despite congregational turnover.
2. Keep the leadership acquainted.
Along with keeping the closest active, missionary mediators aim to keep the leadership informed and praying for their global ministers. As they do this, however, mediators do well to remember that the elders of a church have many other important needs to attend to in the life of the congregation. If the elders are bombarded with communication, their eyes may begin to glaze over when they receive another forwarded newsletter. Wise mediators seek to understand the limitations of their church’s leadership so they can strategically curate the updates that will best keep the elders abreast of the missionary’s life and ministry.
Though electronic communication has some benefits, face-to-face reports go a lot further in keeping leaders engaged. As our staff gathers weekly to pray for congregational needs, I have plenty of opportunities to give updates on the joys and challenges our missionaries are experiencing. A few times a year, we have a missionary join us in person to share directly with our staff about the work God is doing. Every month at our elders meeting, I highlight one of our missionaries in greater depth to keep these leaders familiar with our global ministries.
If the pastors and elders of a church are passionate about and praying for their missionaries, this will trickle down into the passions and prayers of the saints. As pastors disciple their people in all of life, the flock will increasingly be characterized by the same aims and loves (2 Timothy 3:10). If the shepherds show deep concern for those who go out for the sake of the name, so too will the flock.
3. Keep the congregation alert.
Finally, a missionary mediator would do well to find regular, creative means of keeping the entire congregation alert to the church’s global investment. My goal as a missions pastor is to make it impossible for our people to forget that we are “holding the ropes” for gospel workers around the globe.
One simple yet effective way we do this at our church is by praying for a missionary every week in our worship services. When missionaries return for visits, we also seek to welcome them publicly in corporate gatherings and to provide our congregation with opportunities to connect with them. As is fitting, we recognize important milestones in the careers of our missionaries — from commissioning all the way to retirement. We also regularly call our congregation to help meet specific personal needs that a missionary might have, like finding a vehicle or a place to stay during their home assignment.
This is just a sampling of some of the ways a missionary mediator might keep the entire congregation attentive to the global workers they support.
Depth, Not Breadth
In the end, missionary mediators aim to build robust relationships so that global gospel laborers feel known, loved, and supported by their senders. But a mediator can only do so much. Churches can easily spread themselves too thin — seeking the supposed glories of breadth instead of the strength of depth. It is possible to financially support more missionaries than a congregation can responsibly know and care for. It serves both the missionary and the congregation when a church’s leadership recognizes their own limitations, selectively chooses a reasonable number of partnerships, and seeks to invest deeply in each one.
Even as the primary missionary mediator at my church, I am frequently surprised by how others in our congregation have caught a vision for loving, serving, and knowing our missionaries. I’ve recently been encouraged by one of our preschool Sunday school teachers who has led the charge in loving and encouraging the four-year-old son of one of our missionaries in North Africa. As a result, these prekindergarten kids have sent off their friend with a party, learned about where he lives, sent him care packages and messages, prayed regularly for him, and even pulled him into Sunday school class via video call.
This globally minded teacher has been such an encouragement to these long-term workers just by keeping a group of three- and four-year-olds remembering. My prayer is that more congregants in our churches would take up this mediator mantle and help us remember our missionaries.
Desiring God