Hello, friends.
I've been working for years as a missionary to Latin America, and never had the backing of any missions agency, but just the help of my home church in Atlanta.
I started out when I was single, and no IFB churches seemed interested in helping me as a single man, and especially since I had no association with any missions agency. After about 30 presentations and another 50 telephone calls, I got discouraged, gave up, and left for Latin America without 20% of what I needed, and only my savings to live off of. My parents kept my bedroom intact, back home, and I could store whatever I wanted. They took care of the house while I was gone.
In Latin America, I cut corners, lived in a poor neighborhood where the rent was low, found a room for rent in the house of a church family, paid about $40 a month, ate small meals, and survived. I even tried to get a part-time job, but no job paid more than about $2 an hour, so it was not even worth it. I had no car, no health insurance, and a few thousand in my own bank account, back home. I led about 600 people in a sinner's prayer, however, and got about 45 baptized converts, so it was still worth it.
Gradually three churches that I had not even appealed to, in the U.S., began supporting me, back in Atlanta, in addition to my home church, and several random individuals, so suddenly I had some income, but never more than $950 on average. My home church started handling the donations for me, and depositing them to my account in the U.S. Funny thing, two of the churches were not even Baptist, and several of the individuals, either, but I sent them regular reports just like anyone else.
The local economy got so bad in the country where I was living, that the local currency gradually lost value against the dollar, so my money started lasting longer, and prices went down, in general. I actually got to the point where I could even save about $200 a month, and then draw enough from my savings, once a year, to fly home for a visit to family and the three churches that were supporting me. I kept praying for about $2,000 a month in income, for years, but never got more than about $950 on average.
Eventually I got married there, expecting to live there for the rest of my life anyway, as the ministry itself was wonderful, we had stable living conditions, the option to buy the whole house with all that was left in my savings account, and our financial needs did not really increase, to my surprise. Our doctor friend from church took care of most of our medical needs, for free. We still had $200 a month in surplus, to save.
Each time I came home, I realized that the cost of living was quickly rising in the U.S., however, and especially healthcare, so the money that I thought I was making, was actually now inflated, compared to when I started. I also had some unexpected medical needs, and dipped into my savings time and again.
Eventually we had to leave our mission field, because crime and politics got extremely bad. We were forced to leave and re-locate to another part of Latin America, but the cost of living was much higher there. People were equally open to the gospel, however, so I saw no reason to change our plan, after a three-month survey trip there, evangelizing five days a week, and leading 70 people to the Lord, and seeing about seven of them come to church, as well.
Still, I realized that I would need MUCH more income, in the long run. No longer did I need $2,000 a month, but more like $3,000 to $4,000--and especially because of the rising cost of living in the U.S. Car repairs, gasoline, healthcare, health insurance, government fees, and other things were continually working against me, eating up all of my savings.
Back home, my elderly parents became so ill with Alzheimer's disease, coincidentally at the same time, that they could no longer take care of their own house anymore, so my brother and sister stepped in, to help, but they were not as supportive of my career as my parents had been. I began to realize that, in the grand scheme of things, I would no longer have a place live with my parents, during our trips home, nor a place to store my things anymore, before long, nor a place to stay. I would need much more income, beginning soon.
So, we finally started toying with the idea of joining a missions agency, as the standard IFB approach, albeit twenty years late.
I had always heard bad stories about all of them, however, how controlling they were, demanding that we leave the country by a certain date, that we not return without a certain amount of financial pledges, forbidding me to preach at certain churches, or even forbidding me to receive money from certain groups, wanting to know my schedule, demanding a portion of my income, and so on. And, if I should dare get into an argument with them, they would send out vague letters to all my supporters, telling them that I was no longer fit for their agency, leading churches to believe that I had fallen into sin or something. I had also heard that some churches had preferences for certain agencies, and would even reject missionaries from certain other agencies.
Nevertheless, being in desperate circumstances, I feel that I have little choice, but only because I will be contacting churches that do not know me or my home church, nor any of the churches that I have worked with so far. My letters of recommendation are only good when they know the author of the letters, apparently.
Except for one possibility, and that is, that I find a well-known missions agency that could support me with its own seal-of-approval, based on my doctrine, work and references, but one would not get involved in my scheduling, after that. I guess they would need to know SOMETHING about my scheduling, in order to CONTINUE recommending me, years later, but what I mean is that I need an agency that stays way out of my business, if that is even possible.
1. Can anyone recommend SEVERAL reputable IFB missions agencies that serve to approve missionaries, without getting involved in too much of their ministry afterward?
2. Incidentally, how important is it, that the missions agency be well known? I cannot imagine that the average pastor has even HEARD of more than ten agencies out there.
3. Are there any such agencies that do not even charge a monthly fee or percentage of income? With only $950 a month in come, I cannot afford to pay anything at all, right now.
I've been working for years as a missionary to Latin America, and never had the backing of any missions agency, but just the help of my home church in Atlanta.
I started out when I was single, and no IFB churches seemed interested in helping me as a single man, and especially since I had no association with any missions agency. After about 30 presentations and another 50 telephone calls, I got discouraged, gave up, and left for Latin America without 20% of what I needed, and only my savings to live off of. My parents kept my bedroom intact, back home, and I could store whatever I wanted. They took care of the house while I was gone.
In Latin America, I cut corners, lived in a poor neighborhood where the rent was low, found a room for rent in the house of a church family, paid about $40 a month, ate small meals, and survived. I even tried to get a part-time job, but no job paid more than about $2 an hour, so it was not even worth it. I had no car, no health insurance, and a few thousand in my own bank account, back home. I led about 600 people in a sinner's prayer, however, and got about 45 baptized converts, so it was still worth it.
Gradually three churches that I had not even appealed to, in the U.S., began supporting me, back in Atlanta, in addition to my home church, and several random individuals, so suddenly I had some income, but never more than $950 on average. My home church started handling the donations for me, and depositing them to my account in the U.S. Funny thing, two of the churches were not even Baptist, and several of the individuals, either, but I sent them regular reports just like anyone else.
The local economy got so bad in the country where I was living, that the local currency gradually lost value against the dollar, so my money started lasting longer, and prices went down, in general. I actually got to the point where I could even save about $200 a month, and then draw enough from my savings, once a year, to fly home for a visit to family and the three churches that were supporting me. I kept praying for about $2,000 a month in income, for years, but never got more than about $950 on average.
Eventually I got married there, expecting to live there for the rest of my life anyway, as the ministry itself was wonderful, we had stable living conditions, the option to buy the whole house with all that was left in my savings account, and our financial needs did not really increase, to my surprise. Our doctor friend from church took care of most of our medical needs, for free. We still had $200 a month in surplus, to save.
Each time I came home, I realized that the cost of living was quickly rising in the U.S., however, and especially healthcare, so the money that I thought I was making, was actually now inflated, compared to when I started. I also had some unexpected medical needs, and dipped into my savings time and again.
Eventually we had to leave our mission field, because crime and politics got extremely bad. We were forced to leave and re-locate to another part of Latin America, but the cost of living was much higher there. People were equally open to the gospel, however, so I saw no reason to change our plan, after a three-month survey trip there, evangelizing five days a week, and leading 70 people to the Lord, and seeing about seven of them come to church, as well.
Still, I realized that I would need MUCH more income, in the long run. No longer did I need $2,000 a month, but more like $3,000 to $4,000--and especially because of the rising cost of living in the U.S. Car repairs, gasoline, healthcare, health insurance, government fees, and other things were continually working against me, eating up all of my savings.
Back home, my elderly parents became so ill with Alzheimer's disease, coincidentally at the same time, that they could no longer take care of their own house anymore, so my brother and sister stepped in, to help, but they were not as supportive of my career as my parents had been. I began to realize that, in the grand scheme of things, I would no longer have a place live with my parents, during our trips home, nor a place to store my things anymore, before long, nor a place to stay. I would need much more income, beginning soon.
So, we finally started toying with the idea of joining a missions agency, as the standard IFB approach, albeit twenty years late.
I had always heard bad stories about all of them, however, how controlling they were, demanding that we leave the country by a certain date, that we not return without a certain amount of financial pledges, forbidding me to preach at certain churches, or even forbidding me to receive money from certain groups, wanting to know my schedule, demanding a portion of my income, and so on. And, if I should dare get into an argument with them, they would send out vague letters to all my supporters, telling them that I was no longer fit for their agency, leading churches to believe that I had fallen into sin or something. I had also heard that some churches had preferences for certain agencies, and would even reject missionaries from certain other agencies.
Nevertheless, being in desperate circumstances, I feel that I have little choice, but only because I will be contacting churches that do not know me or my home church, nor any of the churches that I have worked with so far. My letters of recommendation are only good when they know the author of the letters, apparently.
Except for one possibility, and that is, that I find a well-known missions agency that could support me with its own seal-of-approval, based on my doctrine, work and references, but one would not get involved in my scheduling, after that. I guess they would need to know SOMETHING about my scheduling, in order to CONTINUE recommending me, years later, but what I mean is that I need an agency that stays way out of my business, if that is even possible.
1. Can anyone recommend SEVERAL reputable IFB missions agencies that serve to approve missionaries, without getting involved in too much of their ministry afterward?
2. Incidentally, how important is it, that the missions agency be well known? I cannot imagine that the average pastor has even HEARD of more than ten agencies out there.
3. Are there any such agencies that do not even charge a monthly fee or percentage of income? With only $950 a month in come, I cannot afford to pay anything at all, right now.
