One of the best thing that we, as independent, fundamental Baptist churches, can do in our missions endeavors is to be congenial and candid with all missionaries who solicit our financial support. The missionaries who call are about to give up the comforts of life in the U.S. to follow God calling for their life. That in itself is worthy of our time and effort. Here are five steps that have helped our church to treat every missionary family with respect and love.
Step 1: Limit the field of potential missionary partners.
One of the most difficult parts of pastoring is telling a missionary that we can't have them to our church. In a sense, I wish Hope Baptist Church could partner with every missionary. But in the same way that I couldn't realistically partner with every missionary, neither can I take upon myself a legitimate spiritual responsibility to pray for them as often as I should nor as often as they need. For that reason, each church should develop a mechanism to limit the number of potential missionaries your church would be willing to have present at your church. Some churches use the candidate’s college to determine immediate congruency; others focus on particular fellowships, continents, or countries. Because love offering funds are typically not infinite in most churches, each church should limit themselves to having in only those missionaries that it can adequately and financially provide for.
At Hope Baptist Church, we allow our church calendar to be the initial screening method we use. For instance, when a missionary calls or emails, we ask for two or three dates that might work for their calendar where they will be near this area. We then look at our church calendar to see if it would be possible for our church to have a missionary on any one of those dates. If we have no calendar matches available, we send out a letter (via email in most cases) that lets the missionary know the reason a meeting wouldn't work out right now. Here's an example.
Meeting Unavailable Letter (Word Template)
Meeting Unavailable Letter (PDF)
I feel that, right or wrong, in order to function tolerably in this area, a church must have some mechanism by which they limit the field of potential missionaries who "could" present of your church.
Step 2: Pre-screen potential missionary partners.
Having already confirmed the likelihood of an open date, we send the potential missionary what we call a Pre-Screening Packet. In this packet, we are upfront about the degree to which Hope Baptist Church would consider this candidate for financial support. Then, we also ask the missionary a few carefully selected questions that will help us determine this missionary's compatibility with issues our church feels are doctrinally and philosophically essential for on-going financial support.
Pre-Screening Packet (Word Template)
Questionnaires?
Two things need to be said here concerning questionnaires. Missionaries, don't be upset about questionnaires. I firmly believe that pastors and churches have a reasonable duty to insure that potential missionary partners are minimally aligned with the core beliefs of each church. Furthermore, there is no reason for a church to waste their time or yours in scheduling a meeting, giving you a service, providing for expenses and lodging, and giving you a love offering only to find out they could never partner with you financially. It is far better stewardship of our resources to find out the extent of alignment before the missionary is officially scheduled for a meeting.
Second, Pastors, there is no need for a twenty-five question document (unless you have 25 fundamentals of the faith). Design four to six carefully worded questions that can help you discern this candidate's stance on doctrines or issues truly important to your church. Our questionnaire has five questions, but they are intentionally worded to help us understand about 10 to 12 different positions the missionary may have from their view of contextualization (a very important area of missions philosophy) to theology. Missionaries are greatly frustrated when they take the time to fill out questionnaires but never hear back from that church. When I was on deputation raising funds for our church plant in Colorado, one church gave me a three page questionnaire. It was the first such I had received. It took me about four hours to fill it out and send it in. The next week, I called to schedule a meeting. It was very frustrating to discover that this church didn't have any calendar openings for meetings with church planters. This church could have been a much better steward of my time, if they would have only attempted to see if our calendars matched before asking me to write a college thesis.
Step 3: Confirm the meeting.
ur next step is to seek to confirm the meeting. Let me describe how we go about this. After we receive the missionary's responses, we send out that document to our Missionary Support Team.
Meeting Unapproved. If the team feels that the responses provided by the missionary are not a good match for our church, we endeavor to be clear about our decision without being unkind. I have provided the letter we have written for this kind of situation. While the letter we send out for not having a date available leaves the possibility for future potential of a meeting, this letter does not.
Meeting Unapproved Letter (Word Template)
Meeting Unapproved Letter (PDF)
Meeting Approved. When our team feels that the candidate's responses are a reasonable match for our overall direction, then we approve the meeting. One of the team members fills out our Meeting Approval Packet, again, to be straight-forward in iterating our expectations for the meeting. We want them to know exactly what services to prepare for. We also want for the missionary to be clear with us about their needs while they are with us. In this form (as in our other forms), the portions of each document that our staff fills in are highlighted in red text; the portions for the missionary to fill out are highlighted in blue text.
Meeting Approval Packet (Word Template)
Pre-Meeting Follow Up. I encourage you to follow up the week before the meeting. Give the missionary a call. Missionaries appreciate it; and they deserve the courtesy. Because most of the contact with missionaries is taken care of by the volunteer members of our Missionary Support Team, I usually try to make this phone call myself. It lets the missionary know that the pastor of Hope Baptist Church is very interested in missions. I usually call on my cell phone; I ask if they have any needs or questions; and I always make sure they have my cell phone number in case of an emergency.
Step 4: At the meeting.
Our meetings with missionaries are truly exciting. We don’t have the need to talk about what most churches discuss at meetings because we have already covered that ground before the missionary every arrived. Instead, our goal while the missionary is with us is to discern their passion for and understanding of their field. The only other item that seems to be a regular part of our team's evaluations is whether the missionary family seems likely to make it in a cross-cultural environment. While we are not professionals at performing this kind of assessment, it is a large part of a missionary's long-term success on the field.
We like for the missionary candidates to spend one meal with the pastor and one meal with several members of our Missionary Support Team; sometimes it's a mix depending upon schedules.
At the conclusion of the meeting, included with our love offering for the missionary's presentation, we insert a Thank You letter that also informs the missionary about our process for determining the possibility of financial support from Hope Baptist Church.
Meeting Thank You Letter (Word Template)
Meeting Thank You Letter (PDF)
Step 5: Approve support
Most of the regular communication conducted by our Missionary Support Team is via email or our church communication system. But this team meets about once a quarter to discuss each of the missionaries that have presented with us. If the team approves a missionary for financial support, the following packet is used to notify the missionary of our decision to support them financially but also to request additional information from the missionary family.
Support Approval Packet (Word Template)
What would you add or modify? Also, would love to know if you are a missionary or pastor in your comments.