Why Raise Financial Support: Part 2

This is the second part of the three part series on why we are raising financial support.

#2: The Practical Reason

As I said and firmly believe, all followers of Jesus are called to full-time discipleship and service. However, Christ calls some to serve in such a way that they should receive financial support from the body for what they do. While this kind of service has a biblical basis, there are also many practical realities, especially in cross-culture ministry, that make financial support from other people necessary.

First, church-planting is a demanding job. It isn’t 9 to 5 as much as it is 24/7. There are meetings, preparing lessons and sermons, doing outreach, counseling, discipling, administration, more meetings, and the list goes on. It is a non-stop juggling of constant responsibility. You can see why Paul so often equates it with parenthood, and the more children there are to parent, the less time there is for other things.

Second, all of the above is taking place in a culture that is not your own, and in a language that you don’t yet speak fluently. For this reason a great deal of time is devoted to simply becoming competent in the culture and learning the language. Without the time and the space that it takes to get these things down, you set yourself up for burnout and possibly failure. A missionary’s first task is to learn the language and the culture well enough to be able to communicate the Gospel powerfully and effectively, and financial support helps facilitate that process.

Third, financial support raising is the policy of World Team. When you don’t have the necessary know-how to navigate the system, it is best to take the advice of those who have gone before you. In our case, we’re relying on our mission organization and the experience of long-term missionaries in France to help guide us. If they say the best way to get to do ministry in France is through raising financial support, then they have a good reason for doing so. Other ways and new avenues should always be explored, but the whole reason to do missions through an organization is to benefit from the experience and wisdom of people who have gone before you. In other words, it is about being set up to succeed. We raise financial support because they ask us to, and we trust them as experienced and faithful servants of the Lord in cross-cultural missions.

Click here to read the final part of this three part series... an opportunity to give.