The latest newsletter from The Body Builders talks about the importance of sending gifts to your supporters, not only to encourage better relationships with your financial partners but also to help maintain giving. I have to be honest; in our almost five years in the field, we never sent Christmas gifts. As much as we communicated and made sure to send letters, postcards and make phone calls to our supporters, we just couldn’t afford to buy and ship packages from our field. The cost was too high.

But not every missionary is in Western Europe. So I’m curious: do you give/send Christmas gifts to your supporters?

And here’s the link to the newsletter: ‘Tis the Season…For Giving!

Related posts:

1. Roll the Dice, Get a Prize, Give to Missions?
2. Staying Home For Christmas
3. Fundraising: The Extreme Edge of Faith

I’m rethinking a lot about missions these days while back in the States. Much, much more to come, but a friend recently sent us this:

“Girls Night Out – Bunko With a Mission”! Mark your calendars for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at [church]. Prizes and raffling off gift baskets from [Local Restaurant], Starbucks, Lacome, Mary Kay, [Tutoring], Bath & Body, [Football Team tickets] and much more. Suggested donation $10. Feel free to invite a friend…Please R.S.V.P.

There are so many ways to fundraise, I know. But in the case of missions, what are we conveying to people? This isn’t very important to you, so I’ll have to bait you with prizes and useful, fun items you receive in return. We’re so desperate, we’ll try anything. 

If they’re playing a game that had been originally used for gambling (I’ve never played it, so I’m not familiar with the method), isn’t this akin to having a “Casino Night for Missions”? I’m not fearful of cards or dice when playing a board game with the family, but it just seems to me like an odd method to use for mission fundraising.

We had been taught, mostly by being the audience in a church, that the missionary is to convince you with facts, figures, and photos why their mission needs our financial support. You might speak to the missionary afterwards to get more information, and then decide to give an amount freely, not expecting something tangible in return. We encouraged people to pray about this and a specific monetary figure, and I hope they did. It appears to me to be a more intellectual pursuit.

Of course, I realise that we sold off all our possessions years ago to go to our mission field; however, it was not presented in the classifieds as a “Help Missions Yard Sale”. It was just a yard sale, and it did benefit missions. Yet that was not why people showed up and bought my toaster. It was a simple transaction.

The church doesn’t seem to use these methods for regular Sunday tithes. Oh, I know there’s the year-end appeal when the church is in the red, but I’ve never been part of a church that ran, say, a Harvest Festival to Pay the Electric Bill. Tithing and stewardship has been addressed in the Sunday message in a rather straightforward way in my experience. Why the need to get money for missions in this way?

So, am I just a fossil who’s been out of the States for too long and needs to “get with the times”, or does this strike you as the wrong message to send about how to support missions?

Related posts:

1. Do You Give Christmas Gifts to Your Supporters?

This month’s fundraising newsletter from The Body Builders suggests raising support through the power of a community. Essentially, the concept is to meet regularly with a group of other missionaries that are fundraising to swap ideas and encourage one another. I think this is a brilliant idea and wish we’d had this opportunity when we were back in the States. You can read the entire newsletter here: “The Power of Community in Raising Support”.

I wonder, however, how this looks once you’re in the field. We view support raising as something that doesn’t stop, and while a meeting could be of great benefit while on furlough, I’m unfamiliar with the community concept while in the field. Has anyone else had experience of encouraging each other in a group setting while fundraising?

Related posts:

1. Top Five Fears in Fundraising
2. Transitioning From Fundraising to Tentmaking
3. Are You Using “Toxic Phrases” When Fundraising?

The first time I heard it, it went something like this:

“With our method, we hope to plant 200 churches in the mission field within four years.”

Since then, the number of churches, or years, or the method changes every time I hear it, but it’s the same intent: an astounding number in a very short amount of time. And it makes me wonder, do missionaries have to make projection promises just to get funding? Or maybe attention?

I wonder because, by those kind of numbers, we’re pretty pathetic. In our first four years (according to the example above), we’ve planted nothing. Not even one. We’re not even at the beginnings of a church plant. Though I’m not trying to compare or measure up (we’re in a different field, etc.), other Christians have encouraged me over the years to direct my interest to a certain leader or group because “they have this great plan to plant ___ churches in ___ years!”

I have to say that I’ve never had someone suggest I go hear the exciting presentation from missionary who’s still slogging on for decades with perhaps a convert or two and a group of ten in church attendance.

If projection promises are the only way we feel we can gain support or interest, then are we shooting ourselves in the foot when it becomes apparent that the original promise may not be fulfilled on time? Or at all? In my experience, the group that made the above promise is the one that crumbled, with the missionaries spinning out so badly that they left evangelicalism altogether.

I see so much focus on numbers, whether it be how many years to accomplish something or how many are filling the seats of your meeting, yet I see so little focus on discipleship or spending time with people. Were I to be given a demand to projection promise, all that I can promise is that I will be faithful to and do my best to follow God’s will for the ministry in which He has placed me. If He chooses to cause our ministry to birth ___ churches in ___ years, He is most certainly able, but I don’t have that kind of information at the moment. And I’m not sure that we Christians need that information, either.

No related posts.

The latest Newsletter from The Body Builders/Support Raising Solutions has a great article about “toxic phrases” that may be inadvertently stopping people from becoming regular financial partners in your ministry.  I especially appreciated the thought behind not using the phrase “Give to me/us”.  In last Thursday’s post, I linked to an article that essentially asked about possible misuse of money when giving to a charity or church (I think missionaries would fall into this category). The author, Maurilio Amorim had a great take on this: “No matter the size of the gift, my donation is to God first and foremost. Whether I’m giving to my church, to a ministry or to a stranger holding up a sign on the side of the road, I’m ultimately giving my money to God.” If we make it clear to our possible supporters that this is about ultimately giving to God, not just to our pet project, I believe there would be less apprehension about how and why the money is used.

Here’s the newsletter link: “Three Toxic Phrases Good Fundraisers Never Use”

Related posts:

1. Fundraising: The Extreme Edge of Faith
2. Transitioning From Fundraising to Tentmaking

We’re finally at the fork in the road that we’d always suspected was ahead.  After several years in the mission field, the fundraised portion of our finances are starting to dry up.  It would be easy to blame it on the economy, and for a few supporters I believe it is the case.  However, despite our best efforts to communicate, I’m afraid we’re becoming uninteresting.  Most all of our possible support contacts have been tapped at several points throughout our time here, just a few remain that have not been contacted and we haven’t made any new contacts in the States since we’ve been in the field the entire time.

We were well-prepared for this reality by several former missionaries, so it’s no surprise.  Though we’re not sent from a mission board, a lot of our Christian friends expect us to return around now to begin a year-long fundraising tour.  But, like most aspects of ministry, we’re rethinking traditional wisdom on how to proceed.

Considering all that would go into a long trip back, the financial cost would be difficult, especially to maintain our home here.  We’d have to generate funds just to travel back to the States…so we could generate funds to return here.  Meanwhile, we’ve heard firsthand from quite a few missionaries that the economy is making churches understandably hesitant to commit to new missionary support.  Several have told us that their mission agencies have instructed those in early fundraising stages to stand down for at least a year or more; other agencies that fully fund their missionaries have had to request some to return due to lack of funds.  I fear that an intended short return would end up in a long cycle of trying to generate enough to get back here, and it would end up that we couldn’t return at all.

Secondly, our ministry here is at a tender stage.  In no way am I trying to say that we’re so special or indispensable, but our extended (and possibly open-ended) absence would mean that there’s no one available to handle even pulpit supply more than once a month.  The Christians here, already few and far between in this country, are still at the “milk” stage and cannot yet understand Christian service or ministry participation.  While it is our goal to encourage as many nationals as possible to take over increasing ministry responsibility, this is a very slow and long-term process.

Add to all of that our field’s deep skepticism about missionary commitment (due to unfortunate history), some American churches’ focus turning solely to short-term missions, some Christian attitudes that we’ve “done enough” in the foreign field, and the popularity of the 10/40 window, fundraising successfully doesn’t look good.  Initially I feared that I was compiling all of this to justify that I don’t enjoy fundraising (I’ve met few who do), but after much prayer and consideration I’m confident that this isn’t just an excuse.

After much prayer and consideration, to remain in the field uninterrupted it is clear that the tentmaking must increase as our support declines.  We are very, very blessed to already own a low-maintenance business in the States.  Because our part of Western Europe is so very expensive (and that exchange rate doesn’t help), this business has supported up to half of our financial needs over our entire time here.  We had suspected that over time the business would pick up where the support left off, and this appears to be the case.  I have to admit that I’m encouraged about eventually stepping off of fundraised support completely.

I think we’ve given traditional fundraising a very thorough effort over the years, especially in the “maintaining communication” arena.  But it’s become increasingly clear that supporter expectation of both lifestyle and results within an assumed timeline is disappointingly unrealistic in Western Europe.  Our field requires a long-term approach with the realisation that paid church staff is a strange concept to the small congregations of Western Europe.  When some of our stateside supporting churches tell us they expect our church here to pay full time in a few years, these Americans are coming from churches that can afford to pay at minimum a secretary, janitor, and worship/youth pastor in addition to the main pastor.  The reality here is that the pastor does everything, and he usually isn’t paid much; he must tentmake to fill in the difference.  This mindset can be redirected, but this culture is slow in adopting change.  Putting an arbitrary two- or three-year expectation on these Christians will inevitably fail.

If we’re eventually supported by our business and Christians here, it means we don’t have to work so hard to maintain contact or be in a constant state of explaining ourselves to supporters who are 5,000 miles away.  Please know that I wholeheartedly welcome accountability to supporters.  I would one-hundred-percent welcome any supporter to review my finances, spending habits, and even walk an entire week with us through each and every one of our commitments.  But that’s the problem; if you’re not here you can’t fully understand how ministry works in this culture and why using the American-style of ministry expectations won’t get you big or amazing results.

So for the moment we’re still supported by both fundraising and tentmaking.  We find that God has granted us a specialised business to develop on the tentmaking side, and I am encouraged to see it through.  This may not be the way God chooses to provide for other missionaries in other situations, but I am thankful for this opportunity to continue on in our field.

Related posts:

1. Question Week: Tentmaking v. Fundraising?

As I recently listened to a sermon on the Parable of the Vineyard Labourers (Matthew 20:1-16) the focus was obviously on the aspect of some being rewarded unequally compared to the efforts of others.  However, it was in the middle of the sermon (and the passage) that I realised a parallel between the workers hired later and the fundraised missionary: working without knowing exactly what you will be paid.

If you notice, Jesus explains that the first set of workers had an agreed wage.  The second, third and fourth set of workers are told they will receive “whatever was right at the end of the day” in verse 4.  The fifth set of workers are told to join the others in the vineyard with no description of an agreed amount.  Essentially, they are working without a contract.  And so are we.

I’ve mentioned before some of the things we’ve learned about living on fundraised support (we’re also tentmakers for two-thirds of it, thanks to the unfavourable exchange rate and the ridiculous cost of living).  The biggest thing I’ve learned is that fundraised living is an extreme exercise of faith and probably one of the biggest reminders of our immediate dependence on God.

Here are a couple of concepts I see in the parable:

We can’t dictate (or even predict) God’s provision
God gives according to how He sees fit.  It may not adhere to earthly standards or our ideas of what is fair.  By the way, just where do we get this concept of “fair” from?  Kids seem to understand it from such an early age.  We cry “unfair” all the time.  If you look at it, He owes us nothing.  We owe Him everything.  Yet He provides abundantly for us.  Seems pretty “unfair” by our definition.

It’s rough when your support drops the next month after a major catastrophe or when a supporter has decided to fund another missionary in another field.  But we’ve found that new or surprise financial gifts have often, but not always, shown around that time to make up the difference.  At no point has it put us in extreme jeopardy.

We must have faith despite appearances
Those hired last possibly expected a lesser wage for less of the day’s work.  By the reaction of the earlier hires, it appeared to them that they would receive more if the late workers received so much.  Though a cultural norm was present (and, indeed, wouldn’t we expect similar treatment today?), provision ignored the rules going both ways.  And the first workers still received what they were promised; their wage was not reduced from the original agreement.

Watching others in ministry get a regular paycheck or receive considerable project funding can be discouraging at the time.  But that’s the result of comparing ourselves to others.  It’s not for me to question these things, and God is well aware of any needs I or my ministry have.  I must keep myself to the task He’s set before me, trusting that His timing is perfect.

A friend once said, “God is never early.  He’s never late, but He’s definitely never early.”

No related posts.

Over at TheBodyBuilders.net, the latest newsletter focuses on the Top Five Mistakes in Support Raising.  I really identified with #5 “Jumped in Without Preparation” on the aspect of thinking I just knew who would give.  Just because someone is a wealthy Christian who adores missions doesn’t mean God will provide financial support for me through them, and I’m wrong to pre-judge anyone’s desire to give—or not.  #3 “I Asked Too Timidly” resonates more with me and God than with me and financial supporters.  I think that our mission field is such a tough one both spiritually and financially, and I didn’t want to “get my hopes up”, so I’d ask God that just a few people would show for worship.  Or I expected to not get access to the tools I needed for ministry or even day-to-day living, and God provided it anyway.  I’m not suggesting the Prosperity Path, but I think sometimes we can get dejected and swing very far the other way as if God can’t do anything and won’t provide at all.

As always, would love to hear in the comments your input on this and additional mistakes you’ve learned from your fundraising experience.

Related posts:

1. Top Five Myths in Support Raising

“Reverse Furlough, Part 1: The Good Stuff” is available here.

Yet, like all things, there are some not-so-great things to consider about the Reverse Furlough:
Adapting to Different Expectations
Some sponsors just wanted a “look-see” and really didn’t need much in-depth information.  Others wanted all the info, background and history we could provide.  One group was more motivated to do repair work on our building than anything else.  The difficult part of adapting was that it was almost impossible to tell what each of these groups wanted before they arrived, so we were learning on the fly as to what they wanted to see or experience.

Mission Field Also a Popular Tourist Destination
We didn’t realise with the first couple of guests how much this played into their expectation of the trip.  You start figuring out quickly who came here to actually see/do ministry and who came on a vacation under the guise of a “mission trip”.  Everyone seemed to suffer from the misconception that we were only engaged in ministry on Sunday for an hour, so we would certainly have the rest of the week to play tourist with them.  “What sights do you want to see?” they’d ask.  It was really, really hard not to have a snarky reply like, “This is your trip, not mine.  I’ve already seen [tourist attraction], and I don’t spend my days wanting to see it week after week.  I thought you were interested in ministry, not tourism.”  Because no one wanted to drive or rent a car over here, it fell to us to chauffeur people around which took a huge chunk out of our days.  I’m cool with people taking a couple of days out to see our country; just be upfront and tell us this, and don’t expect the entire “mission trip” to run like a tour package when you said you wanted to see/participate in ministry.

Costing Us More Than Planned
While a trip back to the States for a year would cost us considerably more cash, the earlier supporter visits quickly taught us to be upfront with our visitors about how much our budget could support them, too.  The food, electric, petrol and heating bills all increase when we’re accommodating a visitor and, while we welcome visitors, it’s necessary to plan for these increases, asking for assistance from the visitor if necessary. We had a supporter surprise us with a visit a year and a half ago, who hadn’t understood the exchange rate or the high cost of basic living here, so he attempted to get us to pay for everything.  We simply could not afford to do what he asked, and it ended up losing us his support.  Had we known he (and his group of five) were coming over, we could have communicated and planned much better.

Alternating Between Two Cultures at the Same Time
I’ve written before about the paradox of being part of two different cultures in “The Double Life of the Missionary”, but that referenced the separation between the two.  I currently live in one and am originally from the other.  What I wasn’t prepared for was the dissonance in having people from my former life in the States temporarily become part of my very different life here in the mission field.  There were times that my mind felt off-balance when I would hear a voice or see a face that I had last seen in the States; it was an odd state of confusion that felt like, “Wait, you’re not supposed to be here…where am I?”  Having to remember the American word for something or trying to explain cultural context to our American friends was much more difficult than I had anticipated.

Always a Potential “Loose Cannon”
We noticed that less-travelled individuals had a harder time adapting to the temporary change in surroundings.  It was with our unexpected supporter visit that we quickly learned why some visitors should not be immediately introduced to our nationals until we can evaluate the situation; he seemed intent on insulting anyone or anything that was unlike his way of life back in the States.  And I remember witnessing an American mission team that was working at another church here.  A man dressed in a garish rainbow-striped shirt and suspenders walked up to a national in the church and said in a slow, deep Southern drawl: “Ya know, y’all tawk funn-ay he-ah.”  I wish I was making this up, but I’m not.  Even though we better knew the supporters we hosted this year and spent time prepping them for better cultural sensitivity, there was always a fear in the back of our minds that they’d say something innocently outlandish and/or insulting to those we minister to—and it could kill our ministry in this area of the field.

Despite the potential problems, these Reverse Furloughs have strengthened our bond with most of those who visited this year.  Two of the pastors of supporting churches have not only committed to longer financial support but have been interested in greater interaction between their churches and ours, planning future mission trips in a couple of years and informing their congregation about the spiritual need in our mission field.  I believe everyone has left with a greater and more complete understanding of just what it is we do here and why it will take so long to see a harvest of souls in such a spiritually dark nation.  Praise God for their faithfulness to continue the journey with us!

Related posts:

1. Reverse Furlough, Part 1: The Good Stuff

A few weeks ago another set of our supporters visited us for a week, making them the fifth group to visit us this year alone.  Because they’ve somehow stacked within a few weeks of each other, most of this has happened over just a few months and has made for a lot of repetition in explaining what we do here.  I’ve honestly forgotten who hadn’t heard which ministry story before—and who graciously heard it again for the second (or third) time.

I like to think of these as “Reverse Furloughs”.  As long-time readers of this blog know, we are not sent by a mission agency and so do not have a required time that we must return to the States.  We have chosen to remain in our field the entire time since entering the country for various reasons.  So this means that, though we communicate exhaustively via online and print sources, the best way to find out about what we do in ministry here is to come and see it for yourself.

I’m not discounting any missionary’s need to return to the States for fundraising, training or even simple refreshing.  It should be between you and God when/why you need to return and for how long.  For a great article dealing with redefining the traditional furlough back to the States, check it out here at MissioMishmash.  That being said, there are some great aspects to the Reverse Furlough:

Transparency
You can fool people in short bursts, but if we weren’t really doing what we’ve said we’re doing this whole time it would have become very obvious after about a day or so.  It’s also helpful for pastors of supporting churches to see a ministry item in use that their church has donated.

Clarity
Study and observation from a distance, while helpful, is no substitute for direct immersion in a culture.  As our visitors got to interact with and question those to whom we minister, you could see the understanding of the spiritual climate here starting to sink into our visitors.  Actual experience of the culture appeared to reinforce what we’ve been reporting all along and, though our supporters certainly believed our reports, you can tell that they “get it” now.  No amount of videos, writing or photos can replace experience.

Minimal Time Loss to Ministry
While each of these interactions interrupted some minor ministry details, overall we were not absent from regular church and ministry functions.  It’s not that we think we’re super-special, but our ministry is in too tender a stage at this time to deal with a 6 month to a year departure from us; it would only serve to reinforce the nationals’ suspicion that, like many others before us, we may not be fully committed here (which we are).  We don’t rule out a short-term (2-3 month) visit back to the States at some point in the future, but it’s very clear that now would not be the right time.

Demonstrate Accountability to Nationals
This point would have to be considered whether helpful within your mission field’s culture, but our nationals are typically suspicious of a Christian worker/missionary/pastor who shows up in their country, seemingly out of nowhere and unknown to anyone.  If they don’t have a prior relationship with your sending agency or church it takes much, much longer to establish trust.  Some unknown church donating equipment, through our nationals’ cultural lens, appears that something may be demanded of them later.  Since our nationals have been able to meet most of our visiting sponsors, it’s put faces and personalities to those who pay for us to be here, and it’s defused suspicion about perceived obligation over material donations.

Next Post: “Reverse Furlough, Part 2: The Not-So-Great Stuff”

Related posts:

1. Reverse Furlough, Part 2: The Not-So-Great Stuff
2. A Good Reminder For Those in Ministry
3. Interested in Short-Term Missions? Some Good Thoughts