Planting seeds of the Gospel
27 Sep 2022
One of the blessings of the heritage of the Australian church is its long history of sending workers into the harvest overseas. In the denomination of our sending church, an alliance for mission support was formed back in 1890! We are thankful that our sending church has been unafraid to innovate in mission support, and consistently faithful in their prayerful concern for the nations beyond our borders.
Here are some of the ways we’ve experienced local church partnership done well over the years:
· Promoting prayer by publishing monthly mission news and giving time in church services for mission updates, with encouragement from leadership for members to get involved in prayerful and financial support
· A missions committee member sending us occasional summaries of church community news to help us feel connected (appointment of new elders, progress of church ministries, births, deaths and marriages).
· Church members sending us emails, facebook and whatsapp messages of encouragement (regularly but not too often, so we wouldn’t feel burdened by a need to reply)
· A financial gift at Christmas time so we could do something special as a family
· A welcome pack when we returned to Australia for home assignment (usually including a grocery hamper or supermarket gift card along with age-appropriate games & activities for the children)
· Church members inviting us into their homes for meals and deeper conversation. I can’t tell you how much of an encouragement it is when people ask intelligent questions about the work and know our children by name, demonstrating that they’ve been standing with us in prayer while we’ve been away.
· The church elders gathering to send us off with prayer as we return to the field.
And that’s just a start! It brings tears to my eyes as I remember all the kindnesses we’ve been shown by a church that loves God and cares so deeply about his glory among all nations that they are willing to invest in workers like us.
C D, a Pioneers worker serving in Asia
Is God calling you to join the mission field? Get in touch.