Lessons learned about ministry support teams
by Hannah Heinzekehr

Since its inception in 2002, Mennonite Mission Network has been on a learning curve with the MST model. Experiences have led to a mission model adapted to 21st century reality that emphasizes clear communication and instruction, realistic budgeting and timing.

Communication and instruction are key

One of the primary issues Mission Network has faced working with congregations to form MSTs has been negotiating what support they needed from Mission Network.

Initially, Mission Network wanted the MST model to be flexible enough for each congregation to customize and give it its own direction. However, it soon became apparent that congregations craved a more concrete model that would help them develop a functional MST.

In response, Mission Network developed a template for MSTs that outlined five specific roles for each MST: a team leader, a prayer coordinator, a communication specialist, a finance coordinator, and a member to provide encouragement to the mission worker.

Mission Network also learned how important it is to distinguish the MST model from two other funding models that have been common for years: 1) workers supported by a central budget, and 2) workers raising their own support. People tend to assume that if workers are no longer being supported by a central budget, they must be raising their own support. This is not the case.

“The MST model is a ‘third way,’ an approach that seeks to avoid both the lack of personal connection (sometimes present in the central-budget model) and the pressure placed on mission workers to gather funds,” said Kevin Goertzen, MST coach.

For congregations, identifying this “third way” can be confusing, so communicating the model clearly is important.

Mission Network also provides a coach to each MST who helps with group formation, shares important information, and is available as an adviser.

“We’ve learned that coaching MSTs requires a good deal of communication during the first year to 18 months. We can’t just send materials and expect congregations to get it started,” said Sandy Miller, director of Church Relations at Mennonite Mission Network.

Communication is also vital for mission workers and their MSTs. Throughout their assignment, mission workers forming an MST must be able to articulate their vision, calling and passion for ministry to their team members and supporting congregations.

Better communication among the Mission Network, mission workers, and their MSTs has led to increased clarity about MST formation and deeper connections between mission workers and their supporting congregations.

Realistic budgeting

Another key concept is the importance of a realistic budget and the understanding that budgets often change.

Miller and Goertzen, Mission Network MST coaches, work hard to communicate to MSTs the fluid nature of a budget and also to present a budget that takes into account inflation and other factors over time. For instance, the shifting value of the U.S. dollar affects how much compensation is needed to ensure that needs are met for workers in different global economies.

The discernment process

For both Mission Network and congregations supporting a mission worker, perhaps the greatest realization has been that it takes 12-24 months to go through the discernment and MST formation process.

While other models for sending mission workers abroad often allow an individual or family to name a call and be accepted and sent quickly, the MST model emphasizes a discernment process that involves mission workers, their designated MST base congregation, and Mennonite Mission Network.

“It takes 12, 18 or 24 months to really get people on board with the individual or family’s passion, ministry and commitments before they are sent,” Miller says.

Initially, some workers and families became frustrated when the sending process took longer than anticipated. Some were hoping to travel overseas in time to get their children into schools at the beginning of the year or had just graduated from seminary and were interested in leaving for their mission term before they had to relocate after school.

Now, Mission Network coaches emphasize the importance of leaving enough time for discernment.

“This joint discernment process takes more time, and we’re really careful to tell people that,” said Dean Heisey, networking and partnership coach who helped design and implement the MST model. “We continue to adapt the ways we introduce this process to better serve congregations.”

Strengthening MSTs

Since the MST model, with its many nuances, was implemented, Mission Network staff members have learned a lot. Together with congregations, Mission Network continues to work to find ways to strengthen the MST model and its implementation.

In its short history, the MST model has allowed Mennonite Mission Network to send 45 (and counting) new workers abroad. This is a dramatic increase from the decade preceding the implementation of MSTs when stagnant giving and a lack of connections between congregations and mission workers led to an inability to place mission workers abroad.

For more information about MSTs, congregations and individuals may contact Kevin Goertzen or Sandy Miller at 1-866-866-2872 or .

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Return to Beyond Ourselves—Summer 2008