Candice, Asia Member Care Provider, recently completed a degree in Member Care at All Nations Christian College UK. Part of this degree was a dissertation on church-based missionary support teams from Mennonite senders. The following is a summary of one theme in the discussion called “Missio Dei and Mennonites as Senders.” The full project will be made available for pastors and support teams in the coming months.
Recently, through research with Rosedale International (RI) workers and their missionary support teams (MSTs), I explored what characterizes care for missionaries from a Mennonite perspective. In both literature study and my interviews and surveys, two themes emerged: community and mutuality.
As Mennonites, we inherit a rich history of emphasizing community. This is a solid base for sending workers. But what does community look like once its members are sent and separated by thousands of miles?
When the church sends out workers, we gain the challenge and joy of investing in our sent-out friends. This means lovingly including them in our community and responding to their evolving needs over time, supporting from an overflow of the love of God, our primary caregiver.
In survey results, workers poignantly voiced a need for both proactive and responsive care. When their support team is proactive in reaching out, praying, and asking sensitive questions, workers feel they are not “alone” or “forgotten”—words I heard often as workers expressed the need that their home church community be extended to include them. MSTs also confirmed this perspective, sharing: “We are not islands doing God’s work…God calls us to community.” Paul experienced this deep love and connection to his supporters, the Philippians, in their mutual mission: “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:3-5).
This sense of expansive community—one that embraces global workers and grows into new missional communities—is a compelling vision for Mennonite congregations seeking to participate meaningfully in global mission.
“We are not islands doing God’s work…God calls us to community.”
In his book The Sending Church Defined, Bradley Bell says, “The continuity and interdependence that result when a church’s heart is for both their local and global neighbors make for a holistic and unified mission.” Mutuality, then, is expressed in two ways: in the exchange of care between workers and their support teams, and in their shared sense of calling in God’s mission. These two dimensions add richness to the relationship and affirm the importance of the church working together as a body.
Andrea Sears, missionary attrition researcher, warns that churches can sometimes unintentionally perpetuate a “superhero” myth by presenting workers as if strong faith eliminates struggle. Support teams counter this when they listen well, make space for honest emotion, observe confidentiality, and avoid placing workers on a pedestal, considering them friends to simply walk alongside. In turn, workers can pray for and listen to the ministry stories of their support teams.
This mutual care fosters a sustainable working relationship in contrast to a model where the missionary is the only receiver of care. MST interviewees described being motivated in their work by love and friendship; workers mentioned meaningful, trusting relationships. One RI worker expressed deep trust for those who faithfully walk alongside, sometimes over many years. “They hold our ongoing story.”
As Mennonite senders who place a high value on shared responsibility in the work of the church (1 Peter 2:58), expanding our community and mutual care could be helpful guiding principles for us. “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25).