Do you want to raise awareness for mission in your church? Here are 10 ways to spread the word and get everyone in your church involved.
1. Pray for your church’s missionaries and ministry partners.
Pray daily for missionaries, campus ministries, and church plants that your church supports and recruit people to join you! Set up prayer partners, bring prayer requests to prayer meetings, or organize a prayer event. Send missionaries, campus ministers, and church planters an email each month and ask if they have any specific ways you can pray for them. You can also find prayer requests from Resonate ministry leaders by signing up for weekly prayer points.
2. Share videos during worship.
The gospel changes lives, and Resonate has short videos (3-5 minutes) featuring people throughout the world sharing their testimonies. Show these videos during the worship service so your church can see and hear how God is working through your support.
3. Distribute prayer letters and newsletters from missionaries and ministries. Help people sign up to receive them directly.
Missionaries, campus ministries, and church plants send regular ministry updates in which they share stories of how God is working through your partnership and ways you can pray for them. Share these prayer letters and newsletters with people in your church by either printing them off or passing them along by email. Better yet: make sure people in your church are signed up to receive these updates themselves!
Just be careful. Some missionaries work in regions where Christians are persecuted for their faith. Do not share their updates online or circulate their prayer letters without permission. Keep them and their ministries safe by following these guidelines and check with your missionary about what information is okay to share and what should be kept confidential.
4. Gather people together to plan a mission emphasis event.
Plan an event that celebrates mission! Devote a worship service to giving thanks for, praying into, and talking about God’s mission—or set up another activity during the week. Dinners with international food, outreach events, ministry site visits, or video calls with missionaries are all great ways to raise awareness in your church. And recruit people to help! When you involve many people in organizing an event, more people get to share their gifts and insights.
5. Annually review your missionaries’ and ministry partners’ financial needs and your church’s support.
Does your missionary, campus ministry, or church plant have a special financial need? Maybe they need to raise a little extra support next year, or their ministry has a one-time need. Ask them how they’re doing financially and if they have any needs. Bring these needs before your church council to see if your church can help, either by fitting it into the budget or taking a special offering.
Don’t forget to review your church’s financial commitments to missionaries and ministry partners. Consider increasing your annual support if you’ve been giving the same amount year after year—their ministry costs also increase.
6. Ask your missionaries if they have any housing, furniture, or transportation needs during Re-Connect (formerly home service).
Missionaries routinely spend time back in North America so they can reconnect with supporters. Do they need a car to get around? Toys for their kids? Groceries or gift cards to area restaurants? Members of your church can help meet these needs. These connections could also spark good conversations about mission and long-term friendship.
7. Set up times for your missionaries and ministry partners to meet with your church leaders.
Your church is a partner in mission with the missionaries, campus ministries, and church plants you support. Who better to have a conversation with your missionaries than those called by God to lead your church?
8. Organize informal gatherings for your church and ministry partners to connect.
It’s great to give missionaries, church planters, and campus ministers opportunities to share about their ministries during a worship service—but also organize opportunities for individuals to connect with them after the service. Plan a Q&A, workshop, lunch and learn, or even just a meal where people can relax and talk with one another. Food brings people together!
9. Communicate regularly with your ministry partners in the field and encourage others to do so too.
Missionaries, campus ministers, and church plants often send out updates and prayer letters—respond to them! But you don’t need to hear from them first to engage in a conversation. Send them an email. Message them on Facebook. Ask them the best way to stay in touch.
10. Find and use missions-related resources on Resonate’s website.
God calls everyone to join him in mission, and Resonate wants to help your church step into that calling! You can find resources for your church; stories and videos about how God is working in the world; reflections from missionaries and ministry leaders; and tips to help your church engage mission in your neighborhood and beyond.