Serving the Sent: Create the Fun!

We have explored making fun things for the missionary when they come for a visit, but I wanted to expand on that point a bit here.

First, burden-sharing churches should aim for some variety in their interactions with missionaries over the years. As always, not all trips by the missionary to the church have to accomplish all goals. Some visits will be shorter and some visits longer. After supporting a missionary for a few years, it is not bad to shake things up and focus on fun or relaxing things to do that minister to the missionaries and their families. 

Allow me to suggest a couple of ideas in this column. The first idea is to go deep with a vacation/retreat that allows deeper relationships to flourish and develop. This tactic is especially good if the missionary has had a rough season on the field and needs some care or when the church has had a turnover with new staff members, new elders, or a significant turnover on the missions team. Camping, fishing, hiking, or just a relaxing timeshare is the venue you are looking for as a setting.

If the need is for missionary care, make sure there are people qualified to provide it going with the missionary family. Let them minister to missionaries in private away from prying eyes while having the infrastructure around for physical activity and rest. Let the missionary be somewhere they do not have to think about surviving or money for a few days. Let your care team help them and their family rejuvenate, recover, and deepen friendships; this would be an excellent time for the pastors' and missionaries' families to be together and minister to one another.

The second idea is to have fun together! Maybe you have new mission team members who have never had the chance to know the missionary personally, or new staff members, or perhaps some key members of the church who have never been able to spend real time with the missionaries (Imagine how great it would be to say, "It is your duty for the church family to go have fun with our missionary!"). Go to a theme park, a nature reserve, a shopping district, or whatever you think might be fun, and let the relationships develop.

Think about kids, if any, and make sure they are accommodated. Sometimes, the fun time may be split between the adults and the kids, or you can do two events where the needs of one or other are prioritized. The main thing is the missionaries get to have fun, and new relationships blossom in a natural environment. 

Time with missionaries is precious, and there are always many things we want to do to serve, benefit from, and minister to our missionaries. Every visit feels special, but we can't ignore a place for fun and building relationships in natural environments. There is time for a sabbath rest for everyone involved, and we should not shy away from making fun, in whatever form, part of how we care for our missionaries. Relationships, to be genuine, need to be based on natural interaction, and few things feed healthy relationships or start them better than a fun time together.