You may be at the center of empowering people to give, lead, and serve toward God’s global mission! Some plant. Some water. The allocation and distribution of funds is essential — money is the transfer of labor — but there is much labor that a missionary cannot buy. There are so many more things that can be done.

Willing people are the greatest need at home and abroad. A key investment is prayer, to align our hearts with God’s purposes and intercede for each other. Another important thing is to know and make known what we are working to accomplish and why: the Bible basis of missions. The focus of global missions is to glorify God by obeying the Great Commission — going where no witness of the Gospel has yet reached to establish Christ-centered laborers there, by preaching, baptizing, and teaching obedience to Christ.

Missions committee members can be the local bridge between missionaries and their home team.

Stewardship of a budget may be a main focus — a limited pie that is quickly depleted. However, there are many other sources of both money and work, both inside and outside of the local church, that might be directed toward missions through networking people. The Bible teaches us that wealth increases as people serve each other. Through invitations and delegation, missions committee members can be catalysts for building multiple bridges that connect people to giving opportunities far beyond the church missionary budget — not through coercive persuasion, but through empowering people with the information they need to act. Knowing about the needs, the opportunities, and the purpose are key factors God uses to move willing-hearted people. Each of us has our own set of resources: our hands, our income, and our networks of family, friends, and businesses. How can we help each other connect with ways to engage?

Before more people can be sent

Several things must happen. People must realize that deep spiritual needs exist elsewhere; know God’s heart from His Word about those needs; know where the needs exist; realize they can act to meet some of the needs; take steps of faith to engage the needs; and go to meet the needs — or send someone else to do it.

What sending requires

  1. 01

    Serving on mission

    To have people on the mission field serving, someone must send them.

  2. 02

    Qualifying servants

    Senders need people who are qualified and willing to be sent — and to stay long enough to complete the task.

  3. 03

    A sending team

    To send people, a team is necessary to send them: financially, spiritually, and educationally.

  4. 04

    Realization

    To have someone to send, you must have people in the congregation who realize someone must be sent — and who are willing to do the sending.

  5. 05

    Faith comes by hearing

    To have people qualified to be sent, someone must prepare workers with information, education, and discipleship. That means teaching Bible.

Take inventory

What resources do we have available? A place to meet. A congregation. God’s word. Prayer. Disciples. Bible teaching. Teachers. Event potential. Multiple avenues of communication. A network of people and organizations. Some willing-hearted people. Church leaders. Funding. A sending committee. A ready audience — and access to that audience.

What does a missionary need? Mentoring. Vision. Training. Funding. Accountability. A support team. Clear objectives. An audience. Partners. Transportation. Housing. Guidance. Encouragement. Short-term teams. Prayer.

How can we leverage the resources we have for God’s glory? Who can we invite to take responsibility to pray, to teach, to host, to network, to fund, to encourage, to send? Match the two lists above and the committee’s real work comes into focus: connecting what the congregation has with what the missionaries need.

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