Moody Publishers

Time, Money, Energy Lincoln Brunner is a missionary journalist and photographer for ReachGlobal. He specializes in helping missionaries best relay their work to churches. For many churches, “Missions Sunday” is around the corner, and while it may be too late to change the agenda, it is not too late to consider what Lincoln has to say. Feel free to reply to this email with comments. We may not respond to every email, but we will read them, and every once in a while we’ll send you a free book. Enjoy this week's Post-Sunday Newsletter. Missions Sunday: The day of ethnic food, funny costumes, and elaborate display booths showcasing 20 years of faithful service in places like Swaziland. We go to a lot of trouble to pull it all together, don’t we? Or rather, your missionaries go to a lot of trouble, in the hopes that a few people will chat over some curried lamb, watch their video, or—please, Lord—grab a commitment card. It can make for a really good experience, but honestly, everybody breathes a sigh of relief when it’s over, right? What if we tried something different? What if instead of posting missionaries for display, you did some real legwork before Missions Sunday on their behalf? Here are a couple of ideas: Instead of booths, get a team at your church to call and interview each of your church’s supported missionaries. Ask them to candidly share their greatest fears and struggles. Seek out their most poignant stories—the joyous ones, sure, but also the gut-wrenching ones, the ones that make you want to cry. Offer missionaries the option of remaining anonymous, but don’t recommend it right away. Post the stories in the bulletin or on your website. Then, as long as it’s Missions Sunday, set aside a significant portion of your morning service to respond in prayer. Also, don’t have a Missions Sunday each year. Have several, maybe one per quarter. If you take the Great Commission seriously (of course you do), and if you’re serious about your church’s role in reaching the unsaved with the gospel, then don’t your missionaries deserve more than a day of vying for your congregation’s attention all at once? If you were to honor missionaries like this, it would do more than make their day. It would show them you care about them deeply. As a bonus, it would increase your congregation’s emotional connection to people whom they often have trouble understanding or relating to. And wouldn’t that benefit everyone involved more than just a plate of curried lamb would? Lincoln is a missionary reporter whose stories focus a sharp light on the human condition and what God is doing to redeem it. You can read more from Lincoln at GoTell.It. Find Lincoln and co-author Jim Killam’s most recent book at ShopMoodyPublishers.com