Originally posted by 24Heels:
So if I was sent out by a local church and not a mission board, then does 100% of my support come from that church only and no others?
No, absolutely not!
We are sponsored by our local church, which supports us for a much larger amount than other churches, but we are supported by many other churches. Support is raised the same way as under a mission board, but all the support funds come to our church and our church ensures that we get it.
Our pastor and the trustees of our church have drawn up guidelines for our church's sponsored missionaries (those sent directly out of our church - we currently have 7 sponsored missionaries, but our church supports a total of 60 missionaries). These outline the church's responsibilities to the missionary and the missionary's responsibilities to the church. We turn in a financial and activity report every month, and the church issues us an itemized financial report every week of the money that has come in for us the previous week, along with the church names who sent the money, the date of the checks, the amount of the checks, check numbers, and a running total of support for the month.
We travel to churches and present our ministry through slides of our field, our family sings if asked, and my husband usually preaches, teaches, or gives a testimony of his salvation and call to the mission field. Just like missionaries under a board.
BTW, there are some churches who won't support us because we are not under a mission board, and there are some who wouldn't support us if we were!
Probably more than you wanted to know!
Susan