Finding the right people for your missions committee or GO (Global Outreach) team is key to a vibrant missions program. Sometimes people use a committee membership as a way to draw in an uninvolved church member, and that strategy can work. However, you do need a critical mass of people who are really committed to missions and excited about both supporting your missionaries and educating the congregation. Finding those people takes thoughtful consideration and prayer. Especially in larger congregations there may be people who are passionate and able but unknown to current committee members. What are you doing in order to discover and attract excellent committee members?
Here are a couple of thoughts. It is important to have some rotation. If the same people serve year after decade, others in the church will tend to view this as "their thing" rather than a churchwide commitment. In most churches very deliberate effort must be made to include those under 30. Including young adults who have experience with short-term missions can help broaden the base of the committee and better connect it to the whole congregation. Those who have served as missionaries or been missionary kids obviously add a unique dimension. Relatives and friends of those who have served or are serving often come with particular passion. Many churches have a "council liaison" who ensures that the committee's work is regularly communicated to the full council. Generalized announcements that new members are needed often don't generate action, but there may be one passionate person who is unknown to the committee who would volunteer if invited. That can be a valuable part of the overall plan. I'd love to see your ideas on this here.
Comments
Great subject!! We are in the process of "recruiting" new missions leadership team members so this is helpful. We are also looking into putting a term limit on those who serve since we have had most of our committee members for 10 years now!!
Steve, I'd be interested to know a bit of trivia, which in turn may or may not have much significance. I find that here is no uniformity at all in what such committtes are called:
mission committee, evangelism committee, GO committee, outreach committee, and increasingly
the deacons are just asked to handle mission support requests.
Any sense of the percentages on this, and what importance this may have?
Lou
and sometimes there is no committee, just an outreach/missions pastor. It makes it a real challenge to get communications to the right person, that's for sure!
There certainly is a great variety for how churches are organized in this area. I don't have a good sense for what the percentages are. However, it is certainly true that having the deacons deal with requests for financial support of missions is much more common in Canada than the States. The idea of a missions committee or GO team is now developing in Canadian CRCs, but it is a recent phenomenon.
Let's Discuss
We love your comments! Thank you for helping us uphold the Community Guidelines to make this an encouraging and respectful community for everyone.