How Churches Can Show They Care for Global Workers

By Sue Eenigenburg

When a church supports global workers, it isn’t just about money. Yes, as cross-cultural workers, we depend on the generosity of God’s people to serve in the ministry He has called us to. But we see our partnership as so much more than a financial relationship. We want to feel connected to the church. As we seek to be faithful and fruitful through the challenges of cross-cultural service, we would love to know we aren’t forgotten once the donation is sent. Here are six ideas to help churches demonstrate their care for the cross-cultural workers they send and support.

We would love to know you are praying for us. Tell us!

During one home assignment a little boy came up to me and said, “Hey! We have your picture on our refrigerator.” I’m not sure he knew why it was there, but he recognized my face. It would have been more meaningful if he had said something like, “Hey! We have your picture on our refrigerator, and we pray for you on Mondays.”

When we send out a prayer update but don’t hear back from anyone, we can feel disheartened. Did it get lost? Or if it got there, did people read it? Do they care about us and our ministry? Are they praying?

But when someone responds to our prayer update with a short reply or even a simple praying hands emoji, it communicates to us that someone cares about our ministry and took time to bring us before the Lord. And when we know people are praying for us, we are encouraged to persevere.

We would love to get to know you better. Welcome us!

It can be hard to walk into a church building where everyone seems to know everyone else, as this emphasizes that we aren’t part of that insider community. We may already be experiencing reverse culture stress, and your warm welcome plays a strategic role in a healthier return.

When we visit churches, we would love to know that you are interested in us and our ministry. So, come and talk with us! Introduce yourself and let’s get acquainted or reacquainted.

After being gone for two or three years, we might know your face, but sometimes we forget names. We want to remember, but with lots of travel and visits to multiple supporting churches, we will mess up. Forgive us if we do.

We would love to share beyond the surface. Connect!

Everyone is so busy, and conversations can be so short that we often don’t have time to share beyond a surface level. But when we’re on home assignment, we bring several years’ worth of stories, challenges and joys with us. And if no one asks, those experiences and emotions remain untold. We simply take them back with us, having found no one to share them with.

Connecting takes time. When someone takes that time to ask questions and listen, we can better process what’s been happening. When you show interest, we sense more of a partnership in ministry than a sponsorship of it. We desire to listen to you as well and hear your stories.

Connection with us doesn’t have to be limited to church visits. We remember times when people invited us over for a meal or out for lunch to have deeper conversations. When we were in town, friends hosted an open house. We felt so blessed when people came and wanted to know more about us and how we’ve been serving. One brave couple invited our family of six to stay with them for about a month during our visit to their city. They didn’t know us, but the church shared our need for a place to stay. They opened their home and even invited us back the next time we were in town. Our grown kids still refer to them as Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jim.

We would love to know you are for us and value our ministry. Understand!

Sometimes we are afraid to share that our ministry hasn’t been as fruitful as we had hoped. We know you are supporting us. We want to be effective, and we work hard, but sometimes our results appear discouraging, and we worry: Will you drop our support if we haven’t led hundreds of people to Jesus yet? Our organization encourages us to take vacations to enable us to persevere through challenges. But if you see pictures of a vacation we took, will you think you must be supporting us too much? Will you assume we aren’t dedicated to our ministry?

We don’t know if or when to share some of our struggles. Will we no longer be considered worthy of support if our kids need extra help or our marriage needs strengthening? It would ease our minds to know you care about us as well as about our ministry.

We would love to keep up with the church. Communicate!

When your church brings on new pastoral staff or other changes take place, we would love to know. Our relationship with our sending church goes beyond receiving support, and we want to be in the loop about how things are going so we can pray more specifically.

Likewise, if you have any questions or concerns about us or our ministry, we would appreciate being asked about them. When something we write about in our prayer update causes concern, please contact us. We want to respond to your questions and help you better understand us and the ways we serve.

If there is a time when your support must decrease or stop, we want to hear about that too. It can be confusing and sad to discover it when looking at our ministry account. Clear communication, even about this, can be a blessing, such as when one of our supporting churches had to stop giving financially toward our ministry but they said they would still pray for us. We are so grateful for that support. Others have had to decrease it and wrote to tell us. It means so much to us when we hear news like that directly from our churches. This shows that they too feel we have a deeper relationship than just the finances.

We would love to stay in touch with you.

When you get in touch with us while we’re overseas, it signals to us that we’re on your mind and in your prayers even though we’re on the other side of the world. Though it may take a little more effort than saying hello after a church service, when you make this effort, we’re encouraged when we’re in the thick of ministry and reminded that the congregations that support us are partners with us.

Write us a letter, send an email or set up a phone call. If we visited your small group, take a short video of people sending greetings to us. Consider sending a care package, knowing that things like a favorite candy bar can be a big blessing. (But be sure to check with the global worker first because sometimes paying customs to receive packages is pricey.) Personal touches matter.

Showing you care isn’t hard or expensive. Your simple acts of kindness and communication can help us hang in there on those difficult days. Sometimes we face insurmountable obstacles and feel ready to give up. You can help us know we aren’t alone in the ministry. We can keep going, knowing we serve together.