When Promised Support Does Not Come In

The following question was sent this morning by a fellow missionary.

What do you do when a pastor says the church will support you and after a few months hasn't?

I would recommend that you send the pastor a post card (not letter, they get too many of those and it may get lost) thanking him for the opportunity to be in the church, the wonderful service you had and also for partnering with you to get to the field. As you are about to leave you want him to know that support can be sent to Macedonia World Baptist Mission with your name and account number on it. Make it very positive and be very thankful for them. Go at it with the attitude that it was an over sight and not intentional. One of the worst enemies of a missionary is a bad attitude; keep your good one! With this, you are just lovingly putting a little reminder out there.

This is just one way of handling this. I will warn you that a complaint I get is that missionaries can be rude and pushy with getting meetings and support. Be careful, loving, and Spirit filled.

Some say to call the pastor. I have had a few pastor's say they would want a call. The pastor that would want you to call them and let them know you are not getting support are few and far between. Most of the time it will blow up in your face because the pastor thinks you think he is a liar, does not care about missions and he is embarrassed. If you call him, being careful would be an understatement.

May God bless you as you serve Him.