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 God Bless Missionaries My View by Julia When people talk about missionaries being called into the field, it truly is a calling. How else would they have the strength to endure all it entails to be a missionary unless they are called of God? Just think of the one area of raising support and deputation alone. The "missionary car" many times consists of an over hauled vehicle that has as many miles on it as there are stars in the sky. We all know how hard it is to travel with kids on our own vacations. Think how hard it must be to have your family on the road indefinitely. Just think how much laundry you accumulate when you go on vacation or just away for a weekend trip. Think about what it is like for the mother of several small children on the road. Oh yes, and make sure those kids are looking proper for the church service they are traveling to. My kids can't make it a few blocks to grandma's house without messing themselves up. And if your husband relied on you to have his shirt pressed and starched for each service like mine...well I think he'd have to do without that starch on the road! I really hate it when I hear someone comment on the clothes or the appearance of missionaries, especially those on the road. What do we expect them to do? We want them to jump out of a loaded down car after being on the road for who knows how many miles and days and be clean, pressed, glowing, witty, charming, loving, kind, and beaming! Wow! I really don't think I could do it, and keep my sanity anyway. Just think what kind and loving and caring hearts some of these missionaries must have. How God has blessed them with patience. How much they allow themselves to be conformed to Christ's image. It amazes me how we as Christians and local churches as a whole treat them so lightly. Yes even the well founded on the Word, straight down the line, bible preaching and teaching churches too. Missionaries travel church to church raising their support only to find that most churches only give them a love offering or a $25 or so a month support amount. Some churches are just sooooooo proud that they support 20, 30 or even 100 missionaries and yet the support amount given to each missionary is so minimal. Churches and pastors want to say they have missionaries all over the world, and yet how does it help the missionary to get off the long and weary road of deputation quicker? How many churches and how many miles do we want them to travel to? I know churches are not going to drop a bunch of missionaries to get into lessening the burdens of those raising their deputation to go to a new field or those who are back raising support to continue on a field. But wouldn't it make more sense that missionaries would have to travel a few miles to a few churches to gain their support than travel thousands of miles to dozens and dozens of churches? Wouldn't that help relieve a lot of hardship on the missionaries and their families? Wouldn't that get them to the field sooner? Wouldn't that help them concentrate their efforts more in the areas that God has called them to? I know that the thinking on this is not going to change anytime soon, but how did we as Christians and local churches get so far away on this issue in the first place? I know part of it is pride. Let's get so many missionaries on that bulletin board so people can see how many red tacks and missionary cards are on the wall when they enter the church. Or let's see how many we can list on our prayer list or the back of our bulletins. Or to say at a preacher's meeting somewhere, "Hey, our church supports blank amount of missionaries now in x amount of countries!". This whole issue reminds me of a government run program gone awry. Let's give $10 here, $10 here, $10 here and spread God's love around the world. Yes, I do believe in spreading God's Word around the world but I think that all too many times we forget that these missionaries are also "people". And they are not just "people" but "people called of God". Why do we want them to work so hard and travel so much for their support? Missionaries are so many times viewed as just a commodity in our churches. We forget those faces of the wife, mother, husband, father, or single person. We forget these are people that are laboring and relying on our prayers and financial help for their day to day efforts for the Lord. Not just on Sundays, but their lives are affected every day by how we as churches and Christians treat them in the way of prayers and financial support. We forget about them until we see the bulletin board or have a missionary conference but they are there laboring day and day out for the Lord whether we think to pray for them or not. As a Matter of Opinion: Okay, this is just another one of "my views", but I hope you understand what I'm talking about. I know I can't change the system as it were. But I must say that it is a rotten system. I just wish we could all be a little more sensitive when it comes to our missionaries. If they come to your church greet them with kindness. Don't make them feel alienated by making the wife sit all by herself while her husband speaks. Understand that when they have children it's tough on everybody involved. Hey! Maybe even offer to do their laundry for them while they are there. Realize that God is using them through you. Copyright ©2001-2002 Julia Bettencourt Not to be reproduced in any form without written permission. The Toolshed  
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