Month: March 2025

10 Ways to Support a Missionary on Furlough

Posted on by mcnadmin

To both the people with whom missionaries serve on the field and family and friends in the US, the idea of “going on furlough” can sound like a several week vacation. But missionaries will tell you that furlough (while wonderful in many ways) is far from a relaxing vacation. Between travel, living out of a suitcase, support raising, organizational training, and squeezing in once-a-year visits with family and friends, furlough often leaves missionaries more tired than when they left the field. 

So how can you and your church support missionaries during this busy, tiring season?

  1. Invite a missionary to your church and make arrangements for their visit.
    • If you have a missionary who regularly visits, reach out to them prior to their furlough and help schedule a date that works for them and for your congregation.
    • Consider setting up various ways for them to connect with the church – an announcement in worship, a Bible study hour, a children’s message, a table in the narthex, a visit to a youth group or LWML group, etc.
  2. Provide a meal when the missionary visits your church.
    • Arrange for them to eat with a few church leaders or supporters after services on Sunday, invite them to your home for a meal, host a meal at church, or give a gift card to a local restaurant.
  3. Provide a place to stay while visiting your church.
  4. Offer a vehicle to use while on furlough or offer rides as needed.
  5. Ask about items a missionary may need to borrow during furlough. Winter clothes? A pack-n-play? Car seats? An old phone that can take a temporary SIM card to give them a US phone number while they are here?
  6. Offer babysitting. Can you help with children while parents are doing a presentation or meeting with donors? Can you help sit with a family in church? Or maybe you can even offer babysitting to give parents a date night in the midst of furlough busyness!
  7. Ask about items to send back with them onto the field.
    • Postage costs are often prohibitive and some locations don’t have reliable mail service; however, many mission partners have specific needs on the field that they plan luggage space for carrying back with them.
    • Ask if you can donate books, Christian craft materials, comfort foods, or another ministry related item for them to take back to the field.
  8. Host an event. Help missionaries share their story and connect with supporters through a gathering like a tea time, dessert night, potluck, or some other event outside of Sunday morning. 
  9. Help them connect to new supporters. Do you know others with a heart for missions and the desire and means to support intentional Gospel proclamation? Do you know groups that give offerings to support ministries? Making the connection between a missionary and a new supporter, group, or church is a wonderful way to bless them during furlough.
  10. Ask good questions. Asking questions and listening is perhaps one of the most encouraging ways to support a missionary on furlough. You don’t have to know a lot about their country or context. They don’t mind if you ask “silly questions.” 🙂 It just matters that you ask and want to know the answers. Ask about their ministry. Ask about cultural differences. Ask about the greatest joys and struggles of the last year. Ask about how you can support and encourage them. Ask how you can pray for them – and stop and pray right then and there!

Why Go Overseas?

Posted on by mcnadmin

There are people everywhere (including your neighborhood or campus) who need to know the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ. So why does Mission of Christ Network focus on going overseas? 

The percentage of the population that is Christian (according to Pew Research) in … 

  • United States 62% 
  • Taiwan 7% 
  • Hong Kong 20% 
  • Cambodia 1% 
  • Japan 1%
  • Senegal 5%

While more one in two people in the United States is a Christian (meaning almost everyone knows someone who could tell them about Jesus!), this is not the case around the world.

Students growing up in Chiayi, Taiwan (a rural county which has more Buddhist and Daoist gods than people), may not know a Christian who could tell them about Jesus. But more than 2,000 students attend Concordia Middle School which is known for their academics and excellent English program. Here students get to hear the Gospel every day from both foreign and Taiwanese teachers.

Children in the Fish Island community in Kampot, Cambodia come from primarily Buddhist and Muslim families; however, their parents send them to Stronghold Cambodia for free and nutritious meals, English and computer classes, and a safe place to play. Here children experience the love of Jesus from both Cambodian Pastor Jesse and his wife, Naomi, and from American missionaries. And at Stronghold they hear the Gospel in both English and their native Khmer.

Senegal is almost 95% Muslim, but teachers at Dakar Academy get to share the Gospel daily with students from more than 50 different countries. Not only is the school a Christian light in their community, but the education they provide for students supports non-profit and Gospel work in many different West African countries by allowing families to live and serve there while their children receive an English-language, American-style education.

In every location where we serve, Mission of Christ Network partners with locals to effectively share the Gospel in that context. The Great Commission is an urgent call given to believers to go and tell others from every nation and people group about Jesus Christ.

Could God be calling you to intentionally proclaim the Gospel in a place where few people know Him?

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9