Greatest Blessing and Biggest Burden

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by peoples' requests for money, bombarded by GoFundMe pages for things from short-term mission trips to pet surgeries?

I do.

And yet here we are...missionaries seeking financial support.  

Fundraising is [often] one of the most challenging parts of being a missionary.  

Six years ago when Jordan and I were preparing to move to France, we spent nearly 18 months doing full-time support raising.  We didn't receive a salary; as a young married couple with no kids, we traveled between our parents' and friends'  homes and had very few expenses - no car payments, no rent, and very few groceries.  God moved in peoples' hearts and we were able to get to France in a rather short amount of time (though it felt like forever to us at the time!).

People gave generously.  An abundance of special gifts helped compensate for any monthly support that we didn't have, and we were able to spend 5 years in France without too much concern about our finances.  Naturally, after 5 years, the surplus in our support account diminished.  We also lost a handful of monthly supporters and some of our expenses increased for various reasons.

Today we are a family of 4.  We can no longer live without a salary; we cannot move from house to house every 2 weeks to save money.  We have more medical expenses, grocery bills, and rent to pay (including a storage unit in France with nearly all of our earthly belongings).  And we no longer have a surplus in our support account.  

Did you know that when a missionary's support account is unable to cover all of their expenses, one of the first things to be sacrificed is their personal salary?

People ask what we do while on HMA this year.  We explain that we are here for administrative purposes, but it's a good opportunity for us to reconnect with family, friends, churches and supporters.   It's also a time for us to raise more financial support to enable us to continue full-time ministry in Europe.  

Reconnecting with people is the greatest blessing; seeking more financial support is the greatest burden.  

A man recently shared with us that he never says no to people asking him for financial support.  He's a wealthy business man who is community-minded; he recognizes that God has gifted him in a particular way and blessed him financially so that he can in-turn bless others to do what God has called them to.

Thankfully, Jordan and I are on the receiving end of this man's generosity.  God has gifted him and blessed him and as a result we are able to plant churches in France.  This is true of many people.  We have nearly 100 families and individuals who have faithfully supported us and our ministry month after month!  One person supports us as little as $1/month; another supports us at nearly $700.  And do you know what?  Every dollar counts towards God's work in France.

For years Jordan was burdened by the lack of clean drinking water for people around the world.  Though he tried several times to go on a trip to dig wells with his own hands as a way of providing clean water for a community, he was never able to go; but our personal finances were able to help provide a portion of those wells.  

We struggle to explicitly ask people for financial support.

And yet, we believe that living off of the financial support of others is the best thing for us as missionaries at this time.  When we ask for financial support, we truly view it as a partnership.  We do not want to simply exchange money; we want each person who contributes financially to see that they have contributed spiritually, too.  God has given each of us a portion; what will we do with that portion?  What has He given me so that I can enable others to use their gifts (money, time, food, a washing machine...)?  

Does God want to use your finances to help plant churches in France?  Do you know others who may be burdened by the spiritual darkness in Europe who would like to hear more about our ministry and potentially partner with us? To learn more about partnering with us, you can click here.