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July 15, 2005

Creative Support of Missionaries

Not long ago we had a church ask us about ways to help missionaries other than through direct financial contributions. Having been missionaries for a number of years now and having lived in Central America for eight years being supported by a number of churches we thought back over the kinds of things that have been helpful to us and came up with several suggestions. Another church took our list and added several things to it. After thinking about it we felt that this would be worth sharing with you and would be valuable to others as they think about creative ways they can support missionaries. Most of these suggestions do involve some expense (time and perhaps a little inconvenience) but are not direct financial contributions. For what its worth here follow our suggestions augmented by some suggestions from others.

  • We always appreciate receiving a copy of the bulletin or monthly newsletter/calendar. It generally doesn’t affect us but it is helpful to see what is going on at the church (activities, special events, Bible studies, sermon series, etc) and it helps keep us connected so that when we visit we are not totally in the dark as to what has been happening at the church. (Electronic copies are great and much cheaper to send.)

  • Having a small group/support team that we are in contact with regularly and who prays regularly can be helpful and encouraging.

  • We really appreciate having a work team come down and would love to do it again. This is a real encouragement to us, it is a help to the ministry and it allows people to actually see the work that is being done. It has been our experience that the people who come to visit on the field connect more with the missionary (and with missionaries in general) and pray more consistently and tend to give more to missions and the church in general. [Although we are not currently living in Guatemala, we are still working for SETECA and would love to host a short term work team at the seminary.]

  • If someone would like to take on a ministry of sending prayer letters for one or some missionaries, that would save a lot of money. We personally have about 350 letters that go out quarterly. (350 x .37 = $129.50 + paper and envelopes and copying costs)

  • One church that supports us has Christmas in September and sends out a request for a "wish list" in the summer. Individuals and families at the church can choose to give to missionaries or children of missionaries. That is always a blessing.

  • Technical support is always helpful. It would be helpful to have a list of names of people who would love to be on call and available either for phone or email consultations or help when missionaries are on home assignment.

  • Are there people in the church that would be willing to donate the services of their expertise (medical, dental, computer, artistic, automotive, haircuts, etc.) for the missionaries, when they are in town, or would be willing to go to the field with their expertise?
    Some suggestions:
    *A dentist in the church could provide free or greatly reduced dental services (cleaning, fillings, etc.)
    *Medical checkups
    *An optometrist could provide eye exams and glasses (greatly discounted or free)
    *Help with putting together a presentation of family and ministry (PowerPoint/CD)
    *Baby-sitting service so the parents can have a romantic night out
    *Auto repair
    *Haircuts
    *Help them put up a web-site and maintain it for them or show them how to maintain it. Be available for emergency help.
    *Provide tutoring for the children
    *Music lessons for children
    *Computer repairs, upgrades instruction
    *The list could go on – Be creative.

  • Collect miles to donate for travel – this would be a great boon to many.

  • Collect coupons or gift certificates for national chains for when missionaries will be in the States. Gift certificates are always nice. The variety of stores is almost unlimited (guys always like Home Depot or Lowes or …)

  • Provide a car for use while missionaries are in the US for short periods of time (2-6 months).

  • Loan them a cell phone for a short time (2-4 months)

  • Encourage people to check into matching gift programs where they work. Bank of America is one of many corporations that match gifts to non-profit organizations. The gift may not be able to go to the church but can go to a mission agency.

  • One young lady we know creatively made a deal with her employer, a restaurant. She made up coupons and invited people to eat at the restaurant. With the coupon 5% of the tab went to the church mission fund.

  • Depending on the missionary and their situation, clothing donations can be helpful, especially if they are visiting northern states in the winter and come from a very moderate climate.

  • Temporary housing can be very helpful

  • Send encouraging cards and letters or emails.

    • After looking over this list, if you can think of other special items we should add, send us a note with your suggestion and we can add it to the list. We would love to make this a resource for people looking for creative and possibly (for them) inexpensive ways of helping missionaries.

    Posted by Alvin on July 15, 2005 03:12 PM

    Comments

    Excellent post, Dr. Thompson!

    Do you have an Spanish version? It would be helpfull to publish it for our latinamerican churches and missionaries.

    Posted by: Miguel Muñoz at October 6, 2005 09:22 AM

    My husband and I are serving in Jarabacoa in the DR with our two sons. Some of things that have been a real blessing are care packages with American food ie peanut butter, cereals, jerky, Little Debbies, the little enevopes of meats, the list could go on forever. Games are aa big thrill here to receive. We are always excited to see a new game. My kids love getting the hot wheels in a package as well as coloring books and the like. We have been blessed to have people send down shoes as our boys outgrow them and they are hard to find.

    May the Lord bless you richly for this newsletter.

    Please be sure to contact your missionary before you send items to them. Be sure you are sending things they want or need and that is OK to send it to them. As an example, living in Guatemala City we could get everything we needed and most of what we wanted if we were willing to pay for it. We once received a package that a well-meaning brother sent as a thoughtful gift. The package contained about $20 worth of miscellaneous merchandise that we could purchase at a reasonable cost at the local store. It cost almost $20 to sent it. Because he declared that it was valued at $50, it cost us about $20 to get the package out of customs. We then discovered that we could only use about half the stuff inthe box. So, all told, it cost about $60 to get $10 worth of merchandise. It would have been better for all, if he had just sent a check for the amount of the postage. We could have bought $20 worth of thihngs we could have used instead of paying $20 for $10 worth of things we were able to use.ALT

    Posted by: Tiffany Jones at June 29, 2006 11:35 AM

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