Pros and Cons of Deputation

I think there must be some kind of "fix" for deputation. We made many life-long friends, but there was a massive expense of resources on the part of both missionaries and churches.

1. I would like to see fewer churches with larger amounts of support

2. Advantages are the increase of prayer support and allowing people to get to know their missionaries and feel like they have a real part in the ministies.

3. This would vary from family to family. I don't know what we will do for furlough yet. I do think that preaching is the most important aspect.

4. All of the servies work if the pastor and church are flexible.

5. I personally like the prophet's chamber idea, followed by family homes.

 

1. How can we make deputation more fruitful? How can we cut down the number of years and dollars spent on families trying to get to the field?

Truth in the pastorate, less promises of non existant meetings would cut phone/mail costs. Round robin missions conferences more often so there is less travel.

2. What are the advantages of deputation as opposed to paying a missionary a salary from a cooperative fund?

Personal contact with those that support and pray for you. Reality of trusting God for your needs rather than an organization.

3. What is the most frutiful way to present your ministry; slides, video, power point, family singing?

Small kids singing are always a plus
power point probably if well done, but slides automated works very well, and keeps you to a specific time schedule.

4. What is the most fruitful schedule for the missionary in the church: AM service, Sunday School questions and answers, PM service, missions conference, etc.?

Yes. We were in one church where the entire day was ours. Preached AM and what I wanted the other two. They even had a man that wrote a song for the evening service (about us.)

5. What is the best way to house a missionary family; Hotel, prophets chamber, stay with church members, etc.?

In home is great especially if there is a private bath, but then a roof and heat is always a real plus and satisfactory. Spent many a night sleeping in the car in rest areas

Had one pastor at a conference that assigned topics. Mine was the "problems faced on deputation" I did it with a lot of humor and kept it positive. There were many people that commented later how much it had meant to them, that they had no idea deputaiton was like that.

Guess knowledge in the pastorate might help also. I had three meetings with churches where it was a mistake. The pastor thought I was someone else when they scheduled the meeting - they didn't take time to know who they were talking to.

One forgot that he had scheduled us, when we got there he didn't have a clue. In mid SS he came and asked if we were there for a meeting - said yes - he said, "Call me and I will set up another date."

 

All good QQ. Our family truly enjoyed deputation. We drove from border to border and coast to coast in 18 months. Wouldn't mind doing it all again except for the phone calls!

1. I agree with C4K. Also I think more churches of like faith and practice in a particular region should band together to send missionaries. Unfortunately too many pastors are too independent to consider something like this.

2. Greatest advantages to the present system are accountability and 'advertisement'. I have many SBC friends and very few have any kind of real understanding or burden for missions because they rarely see a missionary. I prefer to be accountable, humanly speaking, to my sending pastor and supporting pastors rather than to a board. Also we have, in my opinion, more flexibility in following the leadership of the Holy Spirit rather than a plan devised by a board of directors.

3. Most fruitful way to present your ministry is to represent Christ. Too many missionary salesmen out there- one day they are this and another day they are that, depending on whatever church they are in. I am not in competition with any other missionary for support. I am looking for people whose hearts God has touched to be our partners in ministry. I have never, and never will, call a pastor after a meeting to beg for support. If God doesn't touch their hearts to do it, I don't want it!

4. I personally like conferences. We get to know the people and pastor better and they get to know us. Of course, that depends on the ability of the church to organize an effective conference. Some churches try to cram in too much, others don't take advantage of what the missionaries have to offer. But we have had successful, spirit-filled, and encouraging services during every opportunity which was presented to us. Even chapel times in Christian schools- to me the hardest group to 'impress'.

5. Best way to me is have your own house on the road. We have a small camper (22 foot) and a pickup truck to pull it with. We started out with a slide-in camper we bought from another missionary. It is a whole lot cheaper, even with the cost of gas, to sleep and eat at your own place. We took a short furlough during the winter in the NE USA and camped the whole time. Staying in a campground beats any motel I have ever stayed in. Plus I get to do some fishing once in awhile.

 

The reason for the cooperative program in the SBC is that at one time some made a business of raising support for missionaries. Some of the missionaries spent more and more time raising money for themselves rather than on the field.

 

Unfortunately that is still a problem amongst some IFB today. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Or should I say, gets it's palms greased. It bothers me to read prayer letters that begin and end with $ $ign$. But by and large I think it is a very small minority of missionaries who do that. And they usually don't last too long.

 

" Most fruitful way to present your ministry is to represent Christ. Too many missionary salesmen out there- one day they are this and another day they are that, depending on whatever church they are in. I am not in competition with any other missionary for support. I am looking for people whose hearts God has touched to be our partners in ministry. I have never, and never will, call a pastor after a meeting to beg for support. If God doesn't touch their hearts to do it, I don't want it!"

Amen. Saw many missionaries that had the attitude that churches "owed" them which is not a good attitude either.

I was thinking back over the "where to stay" question. Except for when going to conferences, I was not offered a place to stay. Between meetings I was on my own totally. I recall only a couple of pastors that offered a place to stay.

This worked out for me, due to how I scheduled, and I had a friend that allowed me to use his church to crash in between meetings when in his area.

As to the cost of conferences for the church, round robins help for that. I developed a one missionary conference, where I would spend a few days including a Sunday giving a lot of studies on missions topics. I only did it once, but it worked quite well and the response was very good from the people.

 

We have a missions conference every other year. We provide a table for each missionary to set up his own display. We usually have quite a few tables set up all around the edges of our auditorium. Then we have some of the missionaries do the preaching, with some only giving a short testimony before the preaching. But this way we all get to see and meet and visit with many different families. Do you guys see this as a good idea?

This conference is not our only contact with new missionaries, btw. We have different ones in throughout each year as we are able. And we do not have a missionary come unless we are planning to support them already. I think my pastor would consider it a waste of the missionary's time to have him come and just "try out", so our setting a time for you to come present your ministry is basically a promise of support already.

I love this thread, btw! We are still looking at how to best do our own deputation. We have 5 little people under the age of 11, with number 6 on the way. We've thought of getting a camper, and we know people all over the country where we could have a "base of operations" to work from when the time comes.

We have also heard of the idea of just sending the pastors a video presentation of our ministry, and asking for support that way, rather than having to actually ask a pastor to give up his pulpit, and having to do wait for only Sundays or Wednesdays to have meetings. Is that done at all? It was a big deal for a minute or two about 10 years ago, but I haven't heard much since.

 

My wife and I were married in a church that had a yearly missions conference where most of the missionaries were there for 8 days. This has been done for about 50 years or more. During that time people could meet them personally, listen to them and ask questions. The church provided any medical and dental attention they needed. The church also bought all of them new clothes and sent them away with money from the offerings that were given.

 

Bapmom,

From my personal experience, the video thing is a waste of money. Same with mail-outs. Stuff like that almost always ends up in file 'W'. Pastors get so much mail from missionaries looking for support that most secretaries glance at it and unless the missionary is one known to the church already they toss it.

I'd run with the camper idea. We did our deputation from a 1990 Chrysler New Yorker with a small cargo trailer pulled behind it. The camper sleeps much better

As to your conferences, sounds pretty much the norm. I like your pastor's view on support- any way we could get into your church??

Just kidding!

Seriously, if you don't mind my asking- What people group are you going to?

 

Wow - just getting ready to start out. Things have changed greatly since we did our deputation form 1992-1994. I think it is much more difficult to get meetings and support now.

Saying that, in spite of all the difficulties deputation is a wonderful opportunity to serve the Lord. I realaise that your goal is to get to the field, but don't see it only as a means to an end. It is a ministry in and of itself. The greatest thing you can have is folks committed to praying for you and the land where God has called you. Freindships made on deputation will stay with you all the time you are on the field.

We did deputation wth 5 children. They can be your greatest asset, or your greatest detriment on deputation.

What an exciting time!

 

ditto

 

I have been on deputation for almost three years, the fact is that many churches do not have the resources they once did for missions.

Also we have made missions a tradition in many churches. There is no passion for God's glory and many believe the primary purpose of missions is winning souls.

If many of our churches focus their attention once again on the glory of God and His desire to be worshiped by peoples of every nation, then it will begin to make a differnce.

 

God will get you there 4HG - just stay faithful and stay at the task.

Keep up the good work - He is able!

 

Thank you for the kind words. I do believe we will get there eventually, my prayer is by next summer we will be on the field.

 

Someone told me something that made A LOT of sense one time.


"God has never been late."

 

MexDeaf,

thanks for the advice!

Right now we only know "Japan", though we have looked at the Ainu there as a specific group. But from what I hear the Ainu are basically entirely integrated into the general population now, so they aren't really distinct as a people group anymore, not like our American Indians are here on reservations.

We have a special burden for camping and for the mentally handicapped, both areas that would be integrated into a church's regular programs.

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Oh, and another thing I really like about what our church here does for the missionaries is we find out some specific things about them before they come. Some wants and needs that they have, their clothes and shoe sizes, etc....then we give them sort of a "birthday bash" where they sit on the platform and open the presents in front of everyone.

We hope it makes them feel special and loved. Plus then we all get to see the gifts that were bought for them!

C4K,
thank you as well. When we start going I will have to keep you in mind. If you did it with all those little ones, maybe we can too!

 

If there is anything we can do bapmom let us know. I am sure my wife could help with tips and ideas about deputation with several young children