by Dr. Scott Caudill
#10. Remember Your Missions Giving Commitment
Every time you receive an offering at church remind the church family to not forget about their missions giving. Every time we received an offering (unless it was for a designated need) I would take the opportunity to remind the church family not to forget about their missions offering over and above their regular tithes and other offerings. I would remind them weekly that our missionaries were counting on us to be faithful.
Again, these are just 10 ideas that worked for me during the course of the years that I pastored. I trust as you look ahead to a brand new year, they will be of some help to you and your church.
Thanks so much for your desire to reach others with the Gospel. What a blessing to labor alongside of you for the Gospel’s sake.
#9. Stress The Need To Reach Others In Your Preaching
Preach often, stressing the need to reach others with the Gospel. Just read your Bible. You will not read it long before realizing God has instructed us to do the same.
#8. Plan A Missions Trip
Plan a missions trip. I believe one of the greatest things any church could ever do to keep world evangelism in the forefront of their ministries, is to send their pastor on a missions trip at least once a year.
Letters are wonderful, phone calls and pictures are great, but there is nothing that can stir a pastor’s heart like being on the field himself. When a pastor’s heart is burdened for world evangelism, that burden will eventually be conveyed on to the rest of the church. Also, provide an opportunity for your church members to go on a missions trip as well. It is a big undertaking, but Macedonia can and will help you plan the trip. I assure you, a well-planned missions trip will be a life-changing event for anyone in your church that goes.
#7. Host A Missionary At Least Once A Quarter
Host a missionary at least once a quarter, if not more so. In fact, why not go ahead and put the missionary’s love offering in with the church budget so you can take good care of their family while they are there. New missionaries will help you continue to stress to your church the need to do more for missions.
#6. Prominently Post Missions Letter
Keep missions letters posted in a prominent place and encourage people to read them often. Most churches will drop a missionary’s support if they do not send a prayer letter at least every three months, and they should. However, how many pastors and churches really read the letters? If your church is to maintain a burden for their missionaries I think it is a must. These letters are the lifeline between the church and the missionary.
#5. Schedule A Missions Revival
Schedule a missions revival. Notice I used the word “revival”. That is not by mistake because I believe with all of my heart that is what we need today. You could start on a Sunday and have services through Wednesday. I actually preferred starting on Wednesday and ending up on Sunday. However whatever works best for your church is what you ought to do. Strive to make the missions revival the highlight of your year. Plan, budget, choose a theme, decorate and be excited about the prospects of reaching the world with the gospel. Again remember, your church family will only be as excited about it as you are.
#4. Host A Missions Sunday
Host a missions Sunday. If you cannot fit a missions revival into your church budget, how about a missions Sunday? I would schedule such a Sunday about six months into our missions giving year just to keep world evangelism fresh on the minds and in the hearts of God’s people. I would usually have a few missionaries that we already supported to give updates and thank the people for their prayers and their support. There is just something about seeing a missionary family, shaking their hands, and getting to know them personally that God often uses to stress the need of “staying the course” when it comes to a church family’s missions efforts.
#3. Have A Missionary Trivia Question
Have a missionary trivia question. Every Wednesday night I would include a missionary trivia question right along with our church wide prayer list. The answer to the question could be found by reading the missionary prayer letters that had been posted where the church family could see the letters weekly. It was a lot of fun, and it resulted in getting the entire church family reading those missionary prayer letters.
#2 Have A Missionary Of The Week
Have a missionary of the week. I usually read the most recent prayer letter from our missionary of the week on a Wednesday night. Then having read the letter I would not only encourage our church to pray for their special needs, but to send them an email letting them know they were our missionary of the week. For just a moment put yourself in their shoes. If you were thousands of miles away from family and friends would you not appreciate and be encouraged by such an email? I would also copy their most recent letter to the back of the church wide prayer list so every member would have a copy of the letter to take home themselves.
#1. Pray Regularly For Your Missionaries
Pray regularly for your missionaries. As a pastor I wanted my church to hear me praying for our missionaries often as we prayed together. I would also encourage them to do the same. Do you have a time when God’s people share prayer requests? Why not include your missionaries? In fact why not after having read their prayer letters yourself you include some of the prayer requests they have mentioned in their letters as well? I am sure they not only covet your prayers, they are also very grateful for the prayers as well. After all, we are co-labourers.
by Dr. Scott Caudill