A Secret Weapon to Stir up Your Church’s Heart for Missions

Written by Kristi C.

What might the Lord use to stir up your church’s passion for taking the Gospel to the nations? We know that his Spirit stirs our hearts through his Word as it is preached, taught, meditated, and sung. His Word is his primary tool. But he also has another tool, one that is less obvious but is nonetheless right under our noses. A secret weapon, if you will.

He uses missionaries - whether in person or in writing. This has been true in my own life, and in the lives of many missionaries of the past.

He used the stories of a pioneer German missionary to China to prick David Livingstone’s heart about the unreached. Hudson Taylor was inspired by the very same missionary’s stories. When Taylor and his family were on furlough in London, a young girl named Annie Rossell heard their testimonies and later challenged her own children to consider missions. When her son J. O. Fraser was a college student, he read a little pamphlet by a missionary to China and never looked back. And years later, God used his testimony at a conference in Canada to stir the heart of young Isobel Miller Kuhn. 

If God uses missionaries’ testimonies so powerfully, how might your church make the most of their visits and prayer letters? Here are some simple ideas gleaned from visits to my stellar supporting churches.   

1. Give the missionary the opportunity to greet the church and share a brief story during the Sunday morning service. 

We really appreciate being able to express our gratefulness and love to the church family when the greatest number of them are present. Of course, not every missionary is skilled at respecting a given time frame, but we will do our best. We are yearning to reconnect with your congregation and to share how the Lord has been at work in response to their prayers. Don’t worry about wearing us out. The joy of seeing those dear saints’ faces again more than compensates for the exhaustion of visiting many churches in a short time.  

I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. (2 John 12)

2. Keep the whole church family together to hear the missionary’s full report. 

We have crossed the world to share with you what God has done! How we relish seeing boys and girls, teens and senior saints all gathered to listen. Your children’s workers will not mind having a Sunday or Wednesday off. Unlike Paul and Barnabas, we usually have many churches to report to, so we cannot stay for weeks on end. The more time you can give us for our presentation, the better. If you long for the Lord to send more laborers into his vast harvest-fields, these moments are absolutely crucial. 

From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. (Acts 14.26-27)

3. Encourage families to host missionaries for meals.

I have fond memories of my parents chatting in the living room with missionaries after lunch. Rather than shooing me away to go play, they let me listen to their discussions about cultural issues and ministry challenges. I was mesmerized, and any romantic notions I had about missions evaporated. It seemed like every one of them expressed the need for more prayer partners and more co-workers. Many a parent has told me over the years, “Ever since you came to our home, our child wants to pray for you during family devotions.” 

4. Read your missionaries’ prayer letters in their entirety to the congregation. 

I realize this probably feels impossible in time-conscious American settings. But when we cannot be with you in person, you can still hear our voices and hearts through our letters and videos. You will give your congregation a front-row seat to the Gospel’s advance among the nations. They will be stirred to pray immediately, which will bring them from the front row into the actual battlefield.

Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. 2 Thess. 3.1-2

I grew up hearing my dad read a prayer letter every Wednesday night before we broke up into groups to pray. The Paynes’ stories from the Amazon were better than live-action movies! People in the early church had to wait ages to get any news from Paul. Can you imagine how many people would have been eager to follow his real-time updates on WhatsApp or Signal?

At the conclusion of missionary visits…

As God stirs your church family to be involved in missions in greater ways, those who have the spiritual gift of generosity will be eager to give as a demonstration of love (Romans 12.8). One veteran missionary told me recently, “We learned years ago to check all our pockets before washing our Sunday outfits!” 

I will never forget the generosity of the first love offering I ever received twenty years ago. Having just finished grad school, I was eager to begin raising support to serve in France, but I couldn’t even afford to put gas in my car to get to my first meetings in New England. My church family in South Carolina sent me off with a love offering of $9,000! When I told my parents, they nearly fainted. That church gave extravagantly, not because I was anybody special, but because I was going out for the sake of the Name above all names. Is it any wonder that twenty years later, they continue to follow my ministry closely even as they send out their own missionaries? 

Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name. (3 John 5-7)

The next time a missionary comes to town or sends your church a letter, I hope that you will gather the church together to listen, rejoice and weep with him. Perhaps the Lord would see fit to use our testimonies to stir the heart of a young David Livingstone or Isobel Kuhn!

[1] Christie, Vance. David Livingstone: Missionary, Explorer, Abolitionist. (Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2023), p. 34-35.

[2] Doyle, G. Wright. “Charles Gützlaff.” Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity. https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/gutzlaff-charles.

[3] Taylor, Mrs. Howard. Behind the Ranges: Fraser of Lisuland, S.W. China (London and Redhill/China Inland Mission: Lutterworth Press, 1944), p. 9-10, 14-15.

[4] Ibid., p. 21-23

[5] Doyle, G. Wright. “Isobel Miller Kuhn.” Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity. https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/kuhn-isobel-miller.

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