Become a Champion for the Great Commission!
In the world of missions today
there are traditionally two ways support is raised for missionaries preparing for cross-cultural service:
One is to be a part of a convention,
where they receive their money directly from the denomination.
The other way is to be with what is called a “faith mission” organization
where each worker goes out and raises funds personally.
For “faith” missionaries, most appointees, after being approved for service, have no idea where to begin in the support raising process.
Once they exhaust their pool of relatives, friends and churches they know, they try (often unsuccessfully) to get into mission conferences, or will pick up the phone and call churches and mission pastors to, in a sense, promote themselves to churches or anyone who will listen or take them.
The Champions Network
is a new and groundbreaking change to these legacy models.
The Champions Network benefits:
Sending organizations
Supporting churches
The missionary appointees preparing for service
Those who want to be involved in cross-cultural missions but don't see themselves serving on the mission field
How it Works
The Champions Network (CN) serves to identify individuals within churches and elsewhere who will commit to championing missionaries going from international sending movements to live and work cross-culturally among unreached peoples.
These individuals go out and champion missionary appointees and their ministries to prospective churches, individuals, foundations, businessmen etc. for financial and prayer support
The CN gives dignity and real help
to these missionaries and will give people who want to be involved in missions a very important role by being a champion for the Great Commission.
With a determined effort and desire to see it through to the end, the Champions Network will give missionary appointees an eager and capable team of Champions who will join them in promoting their mission and ministries to others.
Is changing the way missionaries raise support
Increasing the number of missionaries going
Increasing mobilization efforts of local churches
Increasing the speed at which they get to the field
Expediting the fulfillment of the Great Commission
Advantages with the Champions Network
- It accelerates the process and helps their missionaries reach the field sooner
- It gives missionary appointees partners who are giving them necessary assistance
- It provides real fund-raising solutions to their appointees
- It produces numerical growth
- It strengthens their recruiting efforts
- It can gives the agency more credibility by providing real fund-raising solutions for their missionaries
- It greatly expands their donor base
- It serves to open doors to potential donors they would otherwise not have
- It gives some guarantees for reaching the field in a timely manner
- It is an encouragement to support-raising missionaries
- It provides an additional and effective option for fund-raising
- It allows others to promote their ministry to potential givers
- It builds a strong prayer base
- It allows churches and individuals to hear about the ministry of a third party, thus reducing pressure.
- It allows the church or individual to say no without discouraging the appointee.
- Decreases the tension that comes with direct marketing from the missionary.
- It gives churches and individuals the opportunity to hear about ministries they probably wouldn’t have heard of before.
- Allows missionaries to be introduced by another
Increases the confidence of churches and individuals in the missionary being represented.
- It allows people, often retirees, who want to be involved in missions a satisfying and meaningful way to participate in the Great Commission
- It engages the Body of Christ in a new and meaningful way for world evangelization
- It incorporates people from a cross-section of specialized and non-specialized disciplines
- It allows for personal interaction with those being championed
- It is not complicated, yet exciting and fulfilling
Disadvantages without the Champions Network
- There is little or no financial help from the sending agency.
- The expectation is that the agency asserts certain degrees of authority over the missionary as its employer but expects the missionary to raise his/her own support.
- The sending agency requires its missionaries to raise their own support, then requires them to give a percentage of that support to fund the organization’s operations.
- There is often little to no training from the agency in how to raise financial support.
- The organization rarely provides direct contacts to their support-raising missionaries.
- The agency experiences slow process of deployment to the field, because of the time it takes for missionaries to raise support and the subsequent attrition that occurs as a result
- The challenges of raising thousands of dollars a month is enormous for most people
Many are unskilled in raising funds. - They have limited contacts and relationships with donors or churches.
- They often do not have the people-skills necessary for building relationships and presenting their ministries.
- It is generally a long and discouraging process.
- They must “sell themselves” to potential donors.
- They must represent themselves and the validity of their mission rather than being represented by someone else.
- The humiliation of asking for money for themselves.
- The humiliation of being rejected by most churches
- Little to no understanding of how to build a support base or how to even ask for financial support.
- Churches generally support ministries and individuals they know and trust.
- The “Here’s another missionary asking for money” thinking.
- The awkwardness of having to say no to the missionary asking for support.
- Churches may look at the quality of the presentation rather than the character of the missionary.
- Most known mission giving churches are maxed out in their giving.
- Few opportunities are given to the missionary for communicating to potential donors in the church, even their own churches. As a result, only a small percentage of individuals ever have an opportunity to hear a missionary presentation
- Missionary appointees will either sink or swim.
- Barriers are created between missionaries and pastors.
- Attrition of missionary appointees increases before they ever get the field because of discouragement and humiliation due to rejection.
- Years of support raising with little results.
- Pressure from the sending agency, sending church and other supporters to “get to the field.”
- Teams on the receiving end are left waiting sometimes years to receive team members.
- The gospel is hindered from being spread due to a lack of missionaries on the field.
- Many individuals, businesses and churches who might give are never even contacted.