Don’t let our missionaries worry

Missionaries and staff of the Methodist Missions Society at their recent retreat at Changi Beach Club. – MMS picture.  

By NORMAN WONG

“OUR Methodist missionaries should not have to worry about raising money for their support – we want them to concentrate on just doing their work!” 

I was deeply impressed by the pastors and leaders of the Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference. Each month every church – even the ones that did not send any of their members as missionaries – sets aside a sum of money specifically to support its Methodist missionaries. As a result all their missionaries never have to worry about where their monthly support is coming from. 

The churches that have more resources give more, and over the years that pool of money has developed into a small reserve. Today they can confidently say that if any of their Methodist members is called into the missions field, they have the resources ready to support that person. 

Today our Methodist Missions Society (MMS) in Singapore has 21 missionaries. In August last year, I looked back over the financial year and found that most of our missionaries were fully supported by the church that sent them. But a few were not.  I was troubled by this and I made a pledge of faith to help every MMS missionary raise 100 per cent of his or her support needs.  

In September, a generous Methodist stepped into my office and asked if the MMS had any specific financial needs. I told him that six of our missionaries were “under-supported”. Without a moment’s hesitation, he took out his cheque book and gave me enough to cover their anticipated shortfall for the next 12 months. My heart was filled with praise to God and gratitude towards this generous person. 

I have written to all our pastors to help solve this long-term difficulty: 

n  Could all our churches make it a policy to give their MMS missionaries full support? I thank God that several churches have already changed their missions policy to do this. 

n  Could all our churches contribute a little every month to a common pool for MMS missionaries – so that a missionary from a small church that is unable to raise enough money can still receive full support? 

n  Could your small group adopt one of our “under-supported” missionaries and contribute regularly to his or her support? 

n  Could you as an individual Methodist member contribute specifically to this common pool that we have established to support our missionaries? 

If you have any question or would like to contribute to that fund, please contact me at 6478-4818; or send a cheque (“Methodist Missions Society”) to the MMS, 70 Barker Road, #06-01, Methodist Centre, Singapore 309936 or visit our website www.mms.org.sg 

If we all play our part I believe none of our Methodist missionaries needs to worry about raising enough money for support. 

The Rev Dr Norman Wong is the Executive Director of the Methodist Missions Society.