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Editor's note
This issue of Beyond Ourselves highlights two ways that churches and individuals can support mission through Mennonite Mission Network: ministry support teams and congregation-to-congregation connections. Both approaches emphasize the value of worker support being based on a personal relationship between workers and their sending churches. Those relationships help the worker know that they are connected to and supported by a sending community that shares their vision for mission. They are not on their own. Both approaches also include financial support, but place that support in the context of friendship, encouragement, and prayer — a far richer context than if one were merely writing a check. Neither one uses the “faith mission” model where workers raise their own support. The major difference between workers with a congregation-to-congregation connection and those with a ministry support team is that the MST is more formal. A ministry connection can develop after workers are on location; an MST is a process that makes it possible to send a worker in the first place. A significant result of both approaches is that sending churches often discover that these tangible relationships with overseas workers stimulate their sense of mission at home. Feedback from workers on their outreach leads to outreach across the street. In a future issue of Beyond Ourselves, we will examine another model of mission worker support—global mission partnerships. In this issue: Features Highlights Viewpoints |
