Best Practices for Church-Based Missionary Care

EMQ » April–June 2022 » Volume 58 Issue 2

By Lori Rogers and David Wilson

Lauri M’s parents began their first overseas missionary assignment 70 years ago. Communication was limited back then, and Lauri remembers that it took months for their family to receive an encouragement letter from their church. When she was born, her church received the news via telegram:

Dear church family STOP Healthy baby girl STOP Pray for the Quichua to know Jesus FULL STOP

Even with limited communication, Lauri recounts that her family had a deep connection to their church family for her parents’ entire career.

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Today, missionaries have unprecedented access to numerous communications tools like video conferencing, social media, live chat, email, voicemail, etc. And yet, missionaries experience more disconnect from their sending churches than ever before. 

Church-based missionary care provides an opportunity for people in church congregations to connect with God’s vision for the nations through their missionaries on the frontline of the spiritual battlefield. Paul was deeply connected to his supporting churches, so what can we do in our churches, today, to model a proactive and intentional ministry of missionary care? 

Consider these verses through a lens of missionary care: Acts 13:1–2; 2 Corinthians 1:10–11; 7:6–7; Philippians 1:3–7; 2:19–30; and Acts 14:26–28. These are a few examples of verses where we can find best practices for church-based missionary care. They allow churches of any size to invest in frontline missionary work by sending, sustaining, and receiving missionaries with excellence. 

These best practices will help shape your partnership and provide milestones for care, so that together, your church and your missionaries can be discovered, developed, and deployed for active service on the mission field. 

Discover

Some are called to go. Some are called to send. We are all given the responsibility for being witnesses, “in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 

Discovery includes creating an environment in our churches to identify both missionary candidates and lay people to serve on their support teams. As these teams become equipped with skills, knowledge, and resources to fortify missionaries for service, those candidates are knit together with church members who participate in aspects of training together with them. 

Discovery includes the congregation, so that when missionaries return for any length of time, they come back to people who know them. Many churches are experimenting with support teams that focus on mobilizing people into missions, preparing people for missions service, caring for missionaries, encouraging missionaries, praying for missionaries, and more. These facilitate full congregational involvement with missionaries from before they begin their service until it ends.

Receiving missionaries who return home for any reason is an area where churches can invest particular attention. When churches participate in training for re-entry and debriefing, they prepare to walk alongside missionaries through what is often a difficult and lonely period. Some missionaries re-enter for retirement and need to be celebrated for a job well done. For others, their return is premature, and their need may be help in finding what the Lord has next for them.

Include all ages in caring for missionaries. Children and youth carefully watch how churches treat missionaries. They naturally migrate toward what a church honors, and away from what is ignored. That is why we say, “Missionary care is mobilization!” Re-entry is an excellent time to honor missionaries so that the next generation will see the church’s heart for reaching the nations for Christ.

Develop

Being gospel partners with missionaries rarely comes naturally to everyday believers in local churches. Out-of-sight-out-of-mind kicks in with most churches. However, with training and perseverance, church members can excel as active participants in advancing the gospel globally.

For decades, Neal Pirolo’s books (Serving as Senders and The Reentry Team) have laid a strong scriptural foundation for developing a team approach for missionary care. I (Lori) have often heard Neal say that those who go and those who send are equal partners in the Great Commission. Being equal partners requires training for both – those who go and those who send. 

Developing a strategy for missionary mobilization and on-the-field care is only part of the solution. Does a congregation understand the many challenges a missionary experiences when returning from their field assignment? Challenges like this need to be addressed at the highest levels of local church leadership. The pastors must be champions for missions because they are the ones who hold both the key and the padlock for a church engaged in the Great Commission.

This is as true now as it was in 1904 when John R. Mott wrote: “The secret of enabling the home Church to press her advantage in the non-Christian world is one of leadership. The people do not go beyond their leaders in knowledge and zeal, nor surpass them in consecration and sacrifice. The Christian pastor … holds the divinely appointed office for inspiring and guiding the thought and activities of the Church. By virtue of his position, he can be a mighty force in the world’s evangelization.”[1]

Deploy

The word deploy helps us visualize an active and deliberate engagement for both the sent ones and their senders. In the arena of missionary care, it includes a commissioning of missionaries along with their support teams.

We see this demonstrated in Acts 13:1–3, “Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers …. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”

This scriptural example of the first sending church commissioning service has four important components for deploying missionaries well. The first is fasting. Church leaders engaged their bodies in a solemn demonstration of devotion to the Lord and his work. Second is prayer. Verbally communicating with our creator is a spiritual discipline and exercise that should set our minds “on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

The third component of this commissioning service is the laying on of hands. It’s a practice that has been literally handed down for two millennia and is still an impactful way to corporately demonstrate support by the body of Christ to her sent ones. Fourthly, consider that little phrase “and sent them off.” Don’t overlook it. This little church in Antioch took the Lord’s final instructions seriously. They knew that Paul and Barnabas would experience hardships on their journey. We can reason that people gave money, shared their expertise, and helped care for loved ones who were being left behind by these early missionaries. 

Most missionaries are sent out with an agency to provide on-the-field oversight and accountability, but the services provided often differ from agency to agency. That is why I (David) wrote the book Mind the Gaps: Engaging the Church in Missionary Care. In it, I wrote, “As a church, one of the most caring things you can do for prospective missionary candidates is to help guide them to agencies with a reputation for care and a willingness to work alongside the church to make the missionary’s career successful.”[2]

The Church is the bride of Christ, and the agency is like a bridesmaid, a supportive helper for this joint venture. Therefore, the church should not just outsource the Great Commission to an agency. It needs to take the lead and mind the gaps of care for their beloved global disciples. 

Brian Gibson of TRAIN International says that missionary care should not be seen as a generous luxury, but instead as a crucial component for effectiveness. Using a military analogy, he describes care as forging and protecting the supply line for global workers.

He explains, “In any battle, if one side can disrupt their opponent’s supply line, they demolish their ability to function as an effective fighting force. In that way, missionary care is less about sending our workers sweets and treats and more about ensuring they have the necessary meals, munitions and medicines for them to engage in their critical frontline work.”[3]

Taking the analogy further, he defines meals as ensuring global workers have sustaining nourishment. Munitions are the tools, strategies, and tactics they need to effectively engage in their work. And medicines are about having access to resources that will replenish their physical, emotional, and spiritual health.[4]

Conclusion

Missionaries who are sent and their support teams who send must be discovered, developed, and deployed with intentionality and purpose. Churches who send well together with missionaries who go well prepared become an extraordinary team that is prepared to offensively engage in the unseen battle. Together with their sending agency partner, they can effectively and actively engage areas of global darkness so that the light of Jesus can shine.

These best practices have been developed over the last four years by Missionary Care Catalysts (MCC), a collaborative group of church leaders, agency leaders, consultants, clinicians, authors, pastors, and former missionaries. Together, they are committed to see the full church committed to accomplishing the Great Commission. To learn more about best practices for church-based missionary care, subscribe at: https://missionarycc.mailchimpsites.com.

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[1] John R. Mott, “The Pastor and Modern Missions: A Plea for Leadership in World Evangelization,” in Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions (New York: Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1904), vii.

[2] David J. Wilson, ed., “Connecting with the Sending Agency,” in Mind the Gaps: Engaging the Church in Missionary Care (Colorado Springs: Believers Press, 2015), 91.

[3] Brian Gibson, interview by author, December 2021.

[4] Gibson, interview.

EMQ, Volume 58, Issue 2. Copyright © 2022 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.