Raising missionary support is not for everyone. Most Christians are called to work in the marketplace. Even when one is called to vocational ministry, there are many alternatives to support raising, which I will discuss in future articles.
I also believe many Christians are called into vocational ministry, but they are not doing it because of fear or misunderstanding on how to make the finances work. Today I want to encourage you to consider using support raising as the way to fund your ministry. For many people, it is time to take a leap.
There are four truths below that may surprise you, shift your paradigm and push you towards finally making that leap to raise support.
1. It is the Biblical Norm
Not only is raising support for your ministry biblically valid, but it is is the primary way biblical workers were funded. Steve Shadrach does an excellent job of laying these biblical foundation in The God Ask book. In fact, Jesus himself lived off support. Check out this passage.
“Now it came to pass, afterward, that he [Jesus] went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for him [Jesus] from their substance.” Luke 8:1-3
2. It Creates Financial Stability
This may seem contradictory at first. Is not having a normal, salaried job financially stable and raising support financially unstable?
Think about it… if you have a partnership team with dozens of individuals, businesses and churches supporting you, then if one of them has a financial crunch, it is only a minor hit to your support. It is likely your partnership team would represent a wide range of industries and jobs, so if a particular industry suffered, it would only have a small impact on your income.
Contrast this with a job that, truth be told, you could lose at any time. Spreading out the “risk” across all of your partnership team actually creates a very stable form of income that can keep you steady over years and decades.
3. It Allows for More Laborers
The largest missions organization in the world that pays its staff a salary is Focus on the Family, with 1,200 staff members. However, between Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and Campus Crusade for Christ, over 50,000 individuals successfully raise missionary support (source). There are thousands more in other similar organizations.
Individual support raising (legally called deputized fundraising) is a proven way to support Christian workers, and it seems to be the most efficient way to get large amounts of laborers released into the harvest fields. Top-down fundraising is not a bad approach at times, but for missions-oriented ministries, personal support raising works best.
4. You Might Need It
You might need to raise support to do what God has called you to do. There are many ministry occupations that God is calling His people to where there are no job listings on LinkedIn.
If you want to pastor a local church or teach at a seminary, the path is well-trodden and salaried job opportunities abound.
But what if you’re a pioneer? What if God is calling you off the beaten path and into exploratory kingdom exploits?
Has He called you to nations where people who do not yet know Jesus? You’ll probably need to raise support.
Has He called you to be a presence pioneer through full-time prayer & worship? You’ll probably need to raise support.
Has He called you to reach college campuses? You’ll probably need to raise support.
Has He called to fight human trafficking or feed the poor? You might need to raise support.