"You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support such ones, that way may be Fellow workers with the truth." 3 John 6b-8
Practical Helps for Evaluation
In recent years, College Church has been learning more and more what it means to be a sending church, one which sends our missionaries out in a manner worthy of God because they are going out for the sake of the Name. They are going out to champion the Name of God in places where God's name is unknown or horribly neglected. The Board of Missions requires that each missionary, whether short-term (six months or more) or career, have a College Church-based missionary support team. In this way we hope to ensure that the needs of our missionaries are more fully met, and to be active fellow workers with them in the truth.
What is a Support Team?
A support team is a small group (6-12) of committed people who come together to care for their missionary in a variety of ways, striving to help meet their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. It is a group of people with whom the missionary can be open and honest, allowing them to see his needs, and share his successes and defeats.
Why have a Support Team?
Support teams help to make our missionaries feel understood, and provide them with a committed group who will show them practical love, keep them visible before the rest of the College Church family and strengthened on the mission field.
What does a Support Team do?
In a nutshell, a support team works together to care for their missionary, striving to meet spiritual, physical and emotional needs. To a large extent this will happen only to the degree that the missionary is willing and able to make his needs known to the team.
How are Support Teams formed?
Members of a support team are prayerfully chosen by the individual missionary. Some missionaries ask friends from their small groups, Sunday School classes, choir, various ministry involvements, etc. to come together to form their support team. Others have asked the small group that they're involved in to also function as their support team. Although not everyone on the team has to attend College Church, the majority should and the leader must.
The key is for the missionary to choose people with whom they have already established a level of trust, with whom they can be "real".
Why does the Board of Missions at College Church require Support Teams?
Missionaries don't go out for adventure, they don't go our for material profit, they don't go out for prestige nor do they go out merely for humanitarian purposes. They do go out for the sake of the Name. We want the missionaries we support financially to sense deeply that they are genuinely cared for, that they are more than just names on our lists or line items on our budget.
College Church doesn't just want to "have" missionaires; we want to "send" missionaries in a manner worthy of Christ. How can this happen? The Board of Missions is responsible for all of the missionaries we support. While the care and furlough committee can help by providing resources and information and by facilitating communication with the Board of Missions, they can not really care for all of these people.
How to Get Started:
Decide as a group when/where you will meet and who will be the contact person. When you meet, fill out a Support Team roster and turn it in to the Missions Administrative Assistant, who will then forward the roster to the BOM liaison to Support Teams.
E-mail your missionary. Let them know you are meeting and ask for prayer requests.
Read over their prayer letter.
Creatively discuss what you can do to meet their needs.
Enjoy your time together.
For more information about Missionary Support Teams, please contact:
Judy Andersen at (630)665-7160 or judithaandersen@cs.com.
I Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”