February 2007 Prayer Letter

"How to Build an
Encouraging Relationship with A Missionary"

[For my prayer letter this month, allow me to use the following excerpts
from the 1991 Great Commission Handbook]

God does not rate people with passports as being more spiritual than others.

On the contrary, He has an exciting partnership in mind for those who are called to be senders.

We call missionaries “servants”, “saints”, and “spiritual giants”. They may be any and all of these. But they are also people like us - just in a different setting. They need encouragement - both because they are human and because they are separated from accustomed support systems.


How Can You Provide Such Encouragement?

Consider the missionaries you know. Aren’t they just people whom the family of God has sent to a new situation? They need moral support in the same way you need your family’s support when you move to a new situation.
Missionaries, like other people separated from familiar surroundings, appreciate such things as:

• emails
  
• small packages
  
• phone calls
  
• respond to their latest prayer letter with specific comments, expressing your interest and involvement in their work
• the cost of a phone call is surprisingly low to many areas of the world. Do keep in mind the time difference.
  
• consider vacationing in your missionaries’ country of ministry; seeing their life firsthand is a sure way to encourage them

NOTE: Never mail packages without first contacting the missionaries. High duties are often imposed, forcing them to pay several times the value of the package.


Not on a Pedestal!

However you choose to encourage missionaries, refrain from placing them on a pedestal. Encourage them because they are your friend, not because you think they are superhuman. Pedestals are unfair to all concerned, putting undue pressure on the missionaries to live up to your expectations and making you insensitive to their needs.

Remember that missionaries, though often in extraordinary situations, are still ordinary humans.

Although, missionaries need human support and encouragement, they also need divine support.

More next month on "How to Pray for Missionaries"

[Please take a moment to leave me a comment!]