Helping Mission Churches Learn to Support Missions
An established church will tend to follow the patterns that have been formed in its infancy. That’s why it’s important for the church planter to lead the young church in a balanced development of all aspects of its ministry.
An important part of a church’s growth is its missionary vision and outreach both at home and abroad. But here’s what happens in many cases: The church planter invites missionaries to share their ministry burden with the new church. The people catch a vision for God’s work and partnerships are formed as the new church makes a commitment regularly support a missionary. The people are excited to be a part of God’s work. But suddenly the dynamics of the local ministry sift as a couple of key families move because of a job transfer. The church’s ministry changes and its income declines. Since most churches are hesitant to cut back on what they are doing for missions, other aspects of the ministry are soon squeezed out of the budget. The ministry gets out of balance, and the growth of the work is stunted even further.
Experienced, successful church planters will differ in the way they approach the supporting of missions. One believes that the pastor’s salary must come first. Another is focused on the need for a building. Some are convinced that if missions giving is emphasized, everything else will fall into place. But does it have to be one or the other? Can’t the young church learn to support its own ministry, look toward future growth and at the same time develop a missionary vision and participation in the work of missions?
If the church commits itself to supporting missionaries for regular monthly amounts, it can find itself in trouble as its own ministry ebbs and flows. Still, it is healthy for the young church to develop relationships with missionaries, track with their ministries and have a sense of partnership with them in the work.
A good plan is to develop the young church’s missions budget based on a percentage of its income rather than on fixed monthly amounts. Every month a portion of the offerings is set aside for missions (10% might be a good place to begin), with the remainder divided between pastor’s salary, ministry growth, and savings for a building in the future. As the work grows, the church’s giving to missions will increase automatically. And along the way, no one area of ministry is emphasized to the exclusion of others. When setting the distribution, it is recommended that in the early stages greater emphasis be placed on ministry development than on building. After all, unless you establish an effective ministry a building will not really be needed.
How should this missions budget then be managed? There are a couple of ways this can be approached. One way would be to divide the missions income proportionately among various missionaries. If there are several ministries with which the church desires to partner, each month (or quarter) the missions income could be divided among them according to a predetermined formula. It is important to let the missionaries know that you are not committing to a specific support amount, but that you will give as God provides because you want to have a part in what they are doing for God.
Another plan is to make a support commitment for a minimal amount so that the partnering relationship is established. Then, as the income of the church grows and funds become available, extra gifts can be sent when a specific need is known. Nothing will light a fire in the hearts of God’s people like being able to send an extra $1,000 to a missionary for whom they have a burden. These gifts often arrive at the very time the missionary is facing some critical need in his ministry and are a great source of blessing.
It is a good idea to keep a portion of missions funding in reserve so you can be a blessing to new missionaries with whom your church may become acquainted. When you have a missionary speak, the people are able to give him a generous love offering because the funds are already there. Another good suggestion is to earmark some of the missions fund to help cover the cost of an annual missionary conference.
Like the church plant at Philippi (Philippians 1:5; 4:15-16), young churches today can be greatly blessed by nurturing vital partnerships in world-wide, great-commission ministry. As a church planter, your leadership will be key in helping the church learn to do so while still developing a growing, balanced ministry.