Patronage or partnership: how do you relate to your church’s mission partners?

Don’t get me wrong, every missionary is grateful for the financial support they receive from churches. And come to think of it, so is Crosslinks and all the other mission societies! They’re also blessed by knowing that churches are praying for them from the moment they leave these shores until they return at some future point. In fact, I was just sharing with a church yesterday that when a missionary says they’re travelling from one place to another and would like people to pray, they really mean it. It isn’t a filler item in a list of prayer points; the journey probably involves dangerous, ice-covered or corrugated desert roads, or even the risk of hijacking.

But should supporting missionaries go deeper than giving money and praying?

I’ve been using the word missionary, but nowadays we and churches more likely refer to them as mission partners, and when we hear the word partnership we think of the Apostle Paul’s most cherished partners, the church at Phillipi. The question is this: are we actually engaging in gospel patronage rather than gospel partnership? Do we think what we’re doing is partnership, when really it’s patronage? What’s the difference and does it really matter?

Let’s start with patronage. Nobody who supports missionaries financially expects to have their name painted on a wall somewhere, as the patrons of the National Gallery are, because of past or current financial donations. But let me try to put it like this. If your church prays for your mission partner – their family needs, their financial needs, safety when they travel, language learning and healthcare (and those are all great things to pray for!) – but not the people they’re ministering to or with locally, might that be more patronage than partnership? If your mission partner returns home after 15 years of missionary service and your church’s interest in that place disappears almost overnight, is that a concern?

Gospel patronage is a good thing – I and others are exceedingly grateful for it. But it misses out the real opportunities and blessings that come with gospel partnership. The good news is, in a sense, true partnership is more possible nowadays, because most churches reduced the number of mission partners they support to actually make meaningful partnership possible.

So, what does partnership look like? Well, in your prayers are you there mentally, alongside your mission partner? Do you know enough to pray effectively for the people they’re ministering to, and what you can be praying for those people by name? What are the wider gospel needs of that region or country that you can pray for? Through prayer letters or videos, or even visiting, what can we learn from the example of Christians there, few as they may be, that challenge us as a church? Are you so engaged in the partnership of the whole gospel venture, not just the mission partner, that your church might even commit to finding a replacement should they need to return home?

For this to happen, you’re probably going to have to be more demanding of your mission partners and their prayer communications. Ask them to engage you fully in their ministry and the people and place that the Lord has placed on their heart. And then watch how you change as a church when you reap the blessings of gospel partnership.

This piece was originally published by Christian UK-news outlet Evangelicals Now, www.e-n.org.uk, and has been republished here with permission.