We thank God for the prayers and sacrificial giving of His people that make the ministry of Faith Global Missions possible. Sometimes people ask me what dividends are yielded from their investment in missions.

I recently had the opportunity to serve in Democratic Republic of Congo for two weeks where we partnered with Seth and Darla Curtis and the Congo Coalition to provide theological training to pastors and church leaders shown above.

English clubs are  events that provide opportunities for English language learners to use English in a casual setting outside regular classes. English clubs provide opportunities to influence spiritual and moral values, skills and attitudes in a non-threatening environment.  We had 51 at the English club in Lubumbashi and several came to church the next day.

In Romania, Stefan’s mom died of a heroin overdose when he was 2. Missionaries to Romania, David and Felicia Lee took him into their home when they learned he was being used in pornographic films and was addicted to drugs. Helping Hurting Kids is a wonderful ministry to street kids and orphans in Romania.

We praise God for the sacrifices of people like the Curtis and Lee families.  If you are trained as a social worker or to teach English as a foreign language, perhaps you would be interested in serving alongside them or other FGM missionaries.

We also thank God for the prayers and  sacrificial giving of people like you that make the ministry of FGM possible. If you would like to make a financial contribution to help FGM continue providing administrative support to ministries like these possible, go to our donations page and select FGM Ministry.

The post Effective Investments appeared first on Faith Global Missions Blog.

The Engage! study, was conducted to follow up on what was learned in the U.S. sections of ReMAP II study (Nelson 2010, 1).  “Nearly 1,800 active and former staff, representing eighteen sending agencies, have participated in Engage!” (Nelson 2010, 1), which focused on missionary retention.  That represents a significant group within the missionary community.

The study identified several key influences that encourage continued service (Nelson 2010, 3-4):

(1) A continued sense of calling: Sometimes with the pressures of ministry and life, missionaries become overwhelmed.  They begin to question their calling and purpose.  After all, most of us have chosen the easier path of serving God in our home culture near family and comfort, so wouldn’t it be alright for a missionary to do that?  The rest of us can help the missionaries keep their focus and assurance of their calling by encouraging them through prayer and communication.  We can follow them on social media, subscribe to their blogs and email occasionally to tell them how we prayed for them.  Let’s encourage our missionaries to keep on keeping onl. (2 Thess 2:13-15)

(2) An awareness on the part of leadership of missionaries’ needs: Our leadership team at Faith Global Missions strives to maintain an awareness of our missionaries’ needs.  Likewise, as church leaders we should be aware of the needs of our missionaries, both personal and ministry.  Let’s be so well connected to our missionaries and so aware of their needs that they would not consider doing something else.  (Rom 12:9-13; 2 Cor 9:10-15)

(3) Financial provision:  Many American companies have learned that it is less costly to pay good people well than it is to try to replace people who are underpaid.  Think of how much more likely you are to stay in a position of employment if you don’t have to worry about the grocery money next week.  We often collect nice salaries and benefits for a good 40 hour a week job in the U.S. and expect missionaries to work twice the hours for much less pay.  We should be generous with those serving in ministry.  Let’s make sure our missionaries are well cared for financially so they don’t think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. (Phil 4:15-19)

(4) a sense of personal usefulness:  It’s hard to stick around if you don’t feel useful.  Let’s encourage our missionaries by praising their efforts and their faithfulness.  I’m not saying we should paint a false picture or ignore problems, but some of us could use more practice encouraging others rather than criticizing them.  (Phil 2:25)

William Taylor suggested the leading causes of  “preventable” attrition, “…have to do primarily with character and relationships” (Taylor 1997, 13), so character and attitude must be a main point of focus in missionary preparation.  These same factors are positive influences for retention.  Spiritual formation and interpersonal skills are of primary importance for missionary retention and their lack promotes attrition. Spiritual character is what ultimately determines if a missionary maintains a sense of his or her calling. Spiritual character is what ultimately determines if a missionary remains faithful even when others are unaware of his or her needs.   Spiritual character is what ultimately determines if a missionary is content with the financial provisions God has granted in His grace.   Spiritual character is what ultimately determines if a missionary is what determines a missionary’s true sense of usefulness. (Rom 8:26-39)

References

Nelson, James. 2010. “The Engage! Study executive summary.” EMQOnline 46 (July): 1–8. Accessed August 4, 2013. http://www.emisdirect.com.

Taylor, William David. ed. 1997. Too valuable to lose : exploring the causes and cures of missionary attrition. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.v

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“We should be doing our best to send our qualified missionaries.   Anything else is unfair to the national churches and dishonoring to the Lord” (Kane 1987, 176).   

At Faith Global Missions, we agree with Kane.  We are constantly working on improving our training content, methods and partnerships to help churches send the best qualified missionaries.  Other professions such as doctors and teachers have minimum standards of training and competency for entering the field and ongoing professional development requirements.   Studies show this has not been the practice in the missionary profession (Dooley 1998; Kane 1980).  The lack of initial and ongoing training for missionaries with little practical or extended exposure to cross-cultural ministry results in many failures (Kane 1980; Dooley 1998; Kohls 2001; Taylor 1997). 

“There are perhaps more missionaries today than ever before, but they are more poorly trained and prepared than at any other period of mission history” (Whiteman 2008, 5). 

Whether you agree with Whiteman or not, I hope his statement gives you pause.  Sometimes, missionaries decide not to serve with FGM because we won’t let them go to the field fast enough.  We believe missionaries should be better trained and prepared than at any other period of missionary history.  Fundamentally, we believe the effectiveness, sustainability, and success of a mission organization will depend significantly upon its view of mission competency and the proper equipping of its missionaries to carry out the mission.  

References

Dooley, Marianna. 1998. “Intercultural competency in relation to missionary effectiveness: implications for on-field training.” Deerfield, IL: Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Kane, J. Herbert. 1980. Life and work on the mission field. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

Kohls, Robert L. 2001. Survival kit for overseas living: for Americans planning to live and work abroad. 4th ed. London: Nicolas Brealey Publishing.

Taylor, William David. ed. 1997. Too valuable to lose : exploring the causes and cures of missionary attrition. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.

The post Missionary Competency appeared first on Faith Global Missions Blog.

Missionary attrition results in significant resource losses, creating sustainability issues for missionary work.  According to Taylor (1997, 9-13), the attrition rate among evangelical missionaries in the late 1990s was about 5.1% per year, 71% of which was preventable.  That means the attrition of 5,368 missionaries per year may have been prevented, either by more thorough screening or by better training. 

The findings in the data from the ReMAP research project indicate that a large investment by mission agencies in missionary candidate selection and pre-field training is necessary for reducing the preventable attrition rate. (Blocher and Lewis 1997, 117)

Much of the current literature on missionary attrition is written about or in response to the World Evangelical Fellowship’s (WEF) study, the Reducing Missionary Attrition Project II (ReMAP II).  This study included data solicited from 598 agencies headquartered in 22 countries.  The ReMAP II report ranks 26 reasons why missionaries leave mission service (Brierley 1997, 92).  While reasons like retirement, health problems and elderly parents may not be preventable, Bloecher (2005), Hay (2006) and Van Ochs (2001, 2005) indicate that,

better screening, training and shepherding during the selection and preparation process may have helped to prevent other reasons for missionaries leaving service

(e.g. problems with children, conflict with peers, personal concerns, or poor cultural adaptations).  Blocher (2004, 2-4) quantifies the correlation between a lack of training and higher missionary attrition.

Concerned with financial losses due to attrition, secular multi-national entities (MNE) have also studied the problem of attrition of overseas personnel.  Experts report attrition rates of 16-70% among expatriates with 50-70% of expatriate managers serving overseas returning early or under-performing due largely to a lack of training and preparation (Harrison 1994, 17; Ko and Yang 2011, 158; Osman-Gani and Rockstuhl 2009, 277). 

Attrition and under performance of expatriates cost secular MNEs as much as $250,000 to $1 million (Littrell and Salas 2005, 307) or $2 billion collectively each year (Ghafoor 2011, 338).  It can be assumed that the costs for overseas MNE attrition may be proportionally equal to overseas missionary attrition.  As stewards of kingdom resources, churches, mission agencies and missionaries should be concerned about the financial losses resulting from missionary attrition and ineffective ministry. 

Sometimes a lack of cross-cultural understanding on the part of the worker or missionary contributes to preventable attrition.  Gannon (2011, 4) says, “… [H]umans compare a new and uncertain situation to something with which they are thoroughly familiar in order to understand it.”  If the familiar is not similar to the new and uncertain, misunderstanding results.  Living and working in a cross-cultural environment complicates individual life, family life and work.  

It is easy for the expatriate or missionary to think he or she is behaving correctly or communicating effectively when sometimes the hosts are simply being polite or seeking to gain something from the visitor. 

This lack of understanding and familiarity leads to stresses that can be overwhelming.  Some of the stresses of serving in a foreign culture can be addressed biblically, but effective cross-cultural ministry also requires an understanding of the customs, thinking and beliefs of the host culture (Elmer 2002; Taylor 1997).

References

Bloecher, Detlef, and Jonathan Lewis. 1997. “Further findings in the research data.” In Too valuable to lose: exploring the causes and cures of missionary attrition, edited by William D. Taylor, 105–25. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.

Bloecher, Detlef. 2005. “Good agency practices: lessons from ReMAP II.” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 41 (2): 227–37.

Brierley, Peter W. 1997. “Missionary attrition: the ReMAP research report.” In Too valuable to lose: exploring the causes and cures of missionary attrition, edited by William D. Taylor, 85–104. Pasadena, CA: World Evangelical Fellowship Missions Commission.

Brynjolfson, Robert. 2006. “Maximizing informal learning in an intentional missionary training community.” Deerfield, IL: Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Elmer, Duane. 2002. Cross cultural connections : stepping out and fitting in around the world. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Gannon, M.J. 2011. “Cultural metaphors: their use in management practice as a method for understanding cultures.” Online Readings In Psychology And Culture, 7 (1).

Ghafoor, Shahzad, and Uzair Farooq Khan. 2011. “Evaluation of expatriates performance and their training on international assignments.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business 3 (5): 335–51.

Harrison, J. Kline. 1994. “Developing successful expatriate managers: a framework for the structural design and strategic alignment of cross-cultural training programs.” Human Resource Planning 17 (3): 17–35.

Hay, Rob, ed. 2006. Worth keeping: global perspectives on good practice in missionary retention. William Carey Library.

Littrell, Lisa N., Eduardo Salas, Kathleen P. Hess, Michael Paley, and Sharon Riedel. 2006. “Expatriate preparation: a critical analysis of 25 years of cross-cultural training research.” Human Resource Development Review 5 (3): 355–88.

Taylor, William David. , ed. 1997. Too valuable to lose : exploring the causes and cures of missionary attrition. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.

Ko, Hsiu-Ching, and Mu-Li Yang. 2011. “The effects of cross-cultural training on expatriate assignments.” Intercultural Communication Studies 20 (1): 158–74.

Osman-Gani, Aahad M., and Thomas Rockstuhl. 2009. “Cross-cultural training, expatriate self-efficacy, and adjustments to overseas assignments: an empirical investigation of managers in Asia.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (4): 277–90.

Van Ochs, B. 2001. “Ten challenges that may make going home look attractive.” EMQOnline, October. Accessed March 18, 2014. http://www.emisdirect.com/emq/issue-252/1499.

The post The Truth of Missionary Attrition appeared first on Faith Global Missions Blog.

Few churches are well-equipped or ready to prepare missionaries for effective service.  “Churches that want to run their own missionary society will find it hard to prepare missionaries themselves” (Lane 2000, 31).  For this reason, the leadership of Faith Global Missions (FGM) began investigating the topic of missionary Pre-Field Orientation and Training (PFOT).  I am writing this series of articles to help missionary candidates and sending churches have a better understanding of what it means to prepare men and women for cross-cultural missionary ministry.  

I serve as the pastor of global outreach at Faith Church in Lafayette, IN.  Two of my primary responsibilities are to oversee the international missions ministries of the church and to oversee its affiliated mission agency, Faith Global Missions (FGM).  Those responsibilities have caused me to spend many hours researching missionary attrition, health and effectiveness, especially in connection with pre-field training.

Both religious and secular experts agree that there is a significant need for pre-departure or pre-field training for those being assigned to work internationally.  Pre-departure training is costly, but plays an important role in facilitating success in cross-cultural work thereby reducing attrition, which usually takes place in the first term.  (Blocher 2004; Blocher and Lewis 1997, 113–14; Dipple 1997, 217–18; Ghafoor 2011, 337–8; Lindquist 1982; Taylor 1997, 14).  Missionary attrition usually takes place in the first term (Lindquist 1982).

In January I wrote an article entitled The Cost of Missionary Support Raising.  In it, I laid out the real cost associated with missionary support-raising.  The cost of living in other countries is often higher than in the United States and missionaries are often required to pay high taxes in the country where they serve.  

In this series of articles I would like to briefly introduce four key areas: Missionary Attrition, Missionary Retention and Missionary Competency and Missionary Spiritual Formation.

References

Bloecher, Detlef, and Jonathan Lewis. 1997. “Further findings in the research data.” In Too valuable to lose: exploring the causes and cures of missionary attrition, edited by William D. Taylor, 105–25. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.

Bloecher, Detlef. 2004. “Training builds missionaries up – lessons from ReMAP II.” https://www.dmgint.de/files/cto_layout/img/red/downloads/PDFs/englisch/missionary_training_s_22104.pdf. 

Lane, Dennis. 2000. Tuning God’s new instruments. Springfield, MO: Life Publishers International.

Lindquist, Stanley E. 1982. “Prediction of success in overseas adjustment.” Journal of Psychology and Christianity 1 (2): 22–25.

Taylor, William D. , ed. 1997. Too valuable to lose : exploring the causes and cures of missionary attrition. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.

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Fundación Red Misericordia is a private orphanage overseen by Senora Olga Arocha.  The Fundación currently has three orphanage homes where the children are provided and cared for in a Christian environment. A larger facility to house all the children in one place is under construction.

Our team spent the week in the various homes getting to know and ministering to the children. Each of the team members fell in love with one or more of the children and wanted to take them home to the U.S.

I remember one evening before going to the mid-week service at Iglesia Bautista de la Gracia, we had supper in the home for girls ages 12-16. I put myself in the middle of a table surrounded by the orphan girls since I speak a bit of Spanish and did not need an interpreter. We asked one another lots of questions about one another and pretty soon I had my iPhone out showing them pictures of my family. They especially liked seeing pictures and videos of my grandchildren.

There was a lull in the conversation and the girls seemed to be talking quietly among themselves. After a bit, one of the girls asked me, “How many grandchildren to you have?” I responded, “I have two,” to which she said, “No. You do not have two grandchildren.” We went back and forth a few times and I though perhaps I was saying something wrong or misunderstanding her statements. Then the girls all started giggling and she said, “You have 18 grandchildren!”

The girls had all decided they would adopt me as their grandfather and they began calling me Abuelo (Spanish for grandfather). It was not long until they called me Abuelito, an endearing term for grandfather. The rest of the week my 16 new granddaughters would call out to me anytime they saw me, even if I was across the street. When we met, I received big hugs and smiles just as though they were family.

We were able to influence a number of the children, teaching and ministering the Word to them and sharing the love of Christ by spending time with them. Everyone on the team of is looking forward to returning next year to serve in the new facility they are building to house all the children.

They are in great need of a some TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teachers. If you would be interested, contact me through www.FaithGlobal.org.

For more information on future GOER trips, visit www.FaithLafayette.org/GOER.

The post How I Gained 16 Granddaughters in One Day! appeared first on Faith Global Missions Blog.

There are reportedly around 3,000 red-light establishments in the country, and 500 brothels in Berlin alone” (Time, June 18, 2013).

Lynette Good, director of Alabaster Jar is zealously working to reach some of these women in the name of Jesus.  She and her husband serve as a missionaries with Faith Global Missions.  Lynette lives in Berlin with her husband, Fritz and they are part of CrossWay Church, where Fritz is the missionary pastor.

On Wednesday nights you will find Lynette and her volunteers serving in the ministry of Alabaster Jar on K-Strauss in the red light district. The volunteers offer drinks, chocolates, loving conversation, Gospel tracts and Bibles to the women on the street.

Many of the women are trafficked from Eastern European countries.  If you ask Lynette to talk about her ministry, her radiant smile communicates her great joy in serving these women in an environment that is not without risk.  Her tears tell you she has a great burden and the compassion of Christ for these women.  Most of the women come aside only briefly, but Lynette is thankful for every seed that is sown and watered.  She passionately pursues the prostituted women on the streets of Berlin with great zeal as she seeks to “share a drink of water” in the name of Jesus.

For information about how you can support Alabaster Jar go to http://www.alabasterjar.de/about-us/our-mission/.

For information about supporting the Goods in Berlin go to http://www.faithlafayette.org/missions/giving.

The post Who Cares About Women of the Streets? appeared first on Faith Global Missions Blog.

First, let’s talk about the overall cost of living excluding housing costs.

Faith Global Missions subscribes to cost of living tables based on objective data that enables us to adjust support needs based on cost of living differentials.  That means we add a cost of living allowance to the missionary’s support estimate. This is based on the missionary’s spendable income, family size and the cost of living in the host country. This is an adjustment to give the missionary the same purchasing power that his/her salary would give in the U.S.

Second, let’s discuss the cost of housing on the mission field.

In many parts of the world the cost of rent and utilities is higher than at home.  Housing costs don’t necessarily track with consumer prices, so the cost of housing expenses is figured separately from consumer prices.  Faith Global Missions collects this data to have a good understanding of the difference in housing costs.  A foreign housing allowance is added to the base support which enables the missionary to have modest, affordable housing in the host country.

Third, Let’s talk about (YUK!) taxes.  I’m glad I don’t have to pay foreign taxes! Aren’t you?

I’m grateful for all the wonderful benefits we enjoy as residents of the United States as a result of paying our taxes, but I don’t want to pay more taxes than I owe.  Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” Mark 12:17, so we want to pay the taxes we owe.  Our missionaries often find themselves in situations where they must pay taxes to the country in which they are ministering.  Sometimes these taxes are considerably higher than U.S. taxes.  That can easily add 40% to the salary needs of a missionary.

This tax situation gets very complicated sometimes. Some countries have tax treaties with the U.S., some have social security treaties, while others hav no treaties which means the missionary pays taxes to both countries.  Our missionaries are all obligated to pay the SECA taxes in the U.S.  That is the Social Security and Medicare taxes for ministers.  It amounts to 15.3% of income and there are no deductions. Now add 40% for foreign taxes and may pay as much as 55.3% of his gross compensation in taxes.

In summary, please hear me when I say, “There is no need to feel sorry for our missionaries.”

Try to understand that when a missionary serving with Faith Global Missions tells you he/she needs $7,500 or more in monthly support, that missionary is not living high on the hog.  We just want them to maintain the same standard of living they would have in the U.S.  I am so thankful for Paul’s words as a missionary to his supporting church in Philippi said, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 

Please post your comments and questions here or on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/FaithGlobal.

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The first part of a support estimate is the base salary and housing allowance.  We base our missionary salary and housing on a percentage of the average U.S. salary for school teachers.  In our example we would begin with $2,600 salary and $1,200 housing allowance each month.  We will assume the two children are home schooled with expenses of about $236/month for materials, fees and taxes.  This amount will depend on the options available in the host country.

Our missionaries must have health insurance.  For many of us, the bulk of the premium is paid by our employer as a benefit to us.  We don’t know the cost of the whole premium but only our part. Our missionaries must pay the full premium, and in some cases pay for insurance in their host country and in the US.  The options depend largely on their field of service.  We try to keep the insurance budget to $1,200 per month but it can be as high as $2,200/month in the US.

Because we believe it is wise for missionaries to plan for retirement so churches do not have a great burden of supporting missionaries well into retirement, FGM requires a minimum contribution of support funds to the missionary’s retirement account.  In our example the missionary will be required to raise about $350 for retirement benefits.

When you look at your pay stub, you probably see several lines of taxes that are withheld from your paycheck.  Your employer is required to match some of those amounts, but you never see it until you retire.  Current laws in the US require certain church and religious workers to pay a self-employment tax that includes the the amount the employer would normally pay.  That adds 9.8% to the support estimate so the missionary will have the funds to pay his taxes.  He may have additional taxes due in the host country as well.  We will discuss that in a later post.

Remember, we started with a salary and housing of $3,800 per month.  Nothing remarkable for a professional with a college degree and sometimes a masters or doctorate.  Add an allowance for children’s education along with benefits funding and insurance and the burdened cost of paying that missionary a salary of $3,800/month with benefits is up to $6,133/month.

Coming up next: Missionary Support: Cost Of Living and Overseas Taxes

Please post your comments and questions here or on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/FaithGlobal.

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Why do missionaries need so much financial support?  I get that question a lot from folks who want to support missionaries but question the financial requirements.  In this series, I will attempt to deal with the various pieces that must be put together to get a missionary to the field and to keep him or her there. 

We will begin with the  cost of getting “Missionary Mike” and his family to the field for the first term.  I am talking about faith supported missionaries who must raise sufficient financial commitment to fund their personal and ministry needs and then go out by faith, trusting that God will provide their needs each month through the faithful giving of His people.

When Missionary Mike is accepted by Faith Global Missions, he is “deputized” which authorizes him to raise tax deductible funds.  With FGM, 100% of your contributions for the ministry of Missionary Mike are placed in a restricted account to be used to fund his salary and ministry needs. 

This ministry of deputation to raise support will be expensive and can take an extended period of time.  He may travel 200,000 miles or more.  The current IRS mileage rate is $.56/mile.  That equates to $112,000 just in auto expenses!  Add to that the travel meals and hotel bills, not to mention prayer cards, phone calls and mailings and the cost can reach as high as $150,000.

Missionaries usually need some specialized training before being released to depart for the field.  This training may include cross-cultural ministry, language acquisition, language study, finances and other preparatory items.  This adds another $15,000.

Let’s not forget the cost of getting Missionary Mike and his family to the field and setting up a home.  They will need to pay for passports, visas, plane tickets, excess baggage, home furnishings and a vehicle.  That is an additional $35-60,000.

These figures are all fiscally conservative and the total comes to $215-225,000.  All of this and Missionary Mike has not even drawn a salary yet!

You may ask, “How do you set a fair and reasonable support level for Missionary Mike?”  That is a great question.  However, I’m out of space now, so come back next time to learn about missionary salaries and benefits.  In the meantime, please post your comments and questions here or on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/FaithGlobal.

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