Last month, at the North Central District Conference, there was a missions affinity group that met. It included a combination of local church mission people and ReachGlobal missionaries. NCD Mobilizer Dave Bliss asked two questions. What is working well with missions in your church and what is not working well? Below are some of the responses.

What is working well with missions in your church?

• We relaunched our mission team and we wrote a mission policy.  
• We have a global mission night monthly.
• When missionaries visit, we send them out in the church so they can talk with groups to get acquainted.
• We have a year-end evaluation. It should be short, two pages, and simple to respond to. Churches can also ask missionaries for their year-end reports that are sent to the agency leaders.
• Missionary prepares a video message that is shared in the worship service.
• Have all sermons go back to Jesus and to missions.
• Have a cohort, two times a year, with mission classes, i.e. like Perspectives.
• Use Prayervine.org to get updates from missionaries to pray for them.
• Support new missionaries for two years on a provisional basis. It is a screening process to see who stays or doesn’t continue.
• Every two years visit your missionaries onsite to care for them.

What is now working well?

• Not gauging where people are at with missions. People are not interested in missions.
• Missions and outreach should be normal. There needs to be discipleship DNA for missions. Get the right people engaged with missions. Need to engage passive people.
• There is poor communication from the church to the missionary and sometimes poor communication from the missionary to the church. Need short reports to share.
• What is the missionary doing? Sometimes it is not clear.
• Are missionaries walking in obedience, where is fruit seen?

Final thoughts:

• Pastors should encourage people in the church to go into missions. Raise up our own workers.
• Have a youth representative on the mission team.
• When missionaries visit the church, ask how they are doing personally and not just a report on their ministry.

Blessings,

Steve Austvold