There is another missionary couple living down the road from us. We have quite a bit in common. We enjoy getting together occasionally. But there are also differences in our situation.
We are about the same age, but they have been able to serve continuously most of their lives. We have had to come and go. We have been supported by about forty different congregations and individuals though the years. Almost everyone supporting our work has given small amounts, so it has taken lots of people working together to support us. This other couple has been fully supported by a single congregation for nearly forty years.
When we visit the States, we travel all over the country reporting to congregations. In 1995, for example, we drove almost 10,000 miles and reported at nearly thirty places. When this other couple visits the States, they give one report to one congregation and then spend the rest of the time visiting their family and friends.
I am happy for them.
I am also happy for us.
Yes, it would be nice to be able to be supported by just one congregation. There would be a lot of benefits to that.
But, on the other hand, the fact of so many small churches having to band together to support us has been a blessing too. Several of the churches that have helped us have not even had a fulltime worker of their own. Several of them were smaller than small. Tiny might be the more accurate word.
Our need has become their opportunity. In supporting us they have been able to support great commission work at a level that they can afford. Some of them have given less than $100 per month. Some could not commit to regular giving but gave occasional help when it was needed.
There are drawbacks to getting support from all over the map. But there is a blessing in knowing that our work gives everyone a chance to participate.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
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