Happy Memorial Day weekend!

As a gift for you on this holiday weekend, here is a really long update!  We will work on nailing down a June meeting date as well as outline next steps for the Salcedos.  Please read to the end and respond as needed.

Thank you!

Team Meeting:

For our June team meeting, we will plan to meet at 9am on Sunday morning as before.  Here are the Sundays:June 2ndJune 9thJune 16thJune 23rdJune 30thPlease let us know which Sunday(s) you are available to meet so we can choose the one when most people can attend.

Salcedos:

Diane has asked some really good questions regarding support for the Salcedos.  These questions give us a great opportunity right now to talk about some missions concepts and the philosophy of support raising in general.  At the end, we will lay out the next steps in this process. Here we go!1.  The value and necessity of support raisingWhen it comes to missions, support raising is often seen as a necessary evil, both from the standpoint of those who send and the missionaries themselves.  Missionaries are often viewed as professional beggars who really ought to find some other way of financially supporting themselves. But this doesn’t need to be the case.Asking for financial support is an effective and even common avenue to get funding for a cause.  Non-profits like World Vision have many people whose only role in the organization is to call up and ask for donations.  Entrepreneurs, who don’t have any resources themselves, raise millions of dollars of venture capital to build new businesses.  Missionaries play a similar role.  As they recruit and partner with parties that are outside their churches and personal networks, they are gathering the resources of God (church members and other churches) to finish the Great Commission and “build” the Church.In the secular world, the people who give are called investors, but in the mission world we call them donors and partners.  A common question from these partners is, “What’s the ROI?” Obviously, the return of investment for non-profits and ministries is different from what we would expect from a profit-generating company.  The intangible rewards for investment are getting to participate with the workers and missionaries in what God is doing, watch Him multiply our resources into a spiritual and relational harvest, and see lives changed as a result.  This means it's not just the missionary out there who is doing all the work; it’s all of us who choose to partner with them and with God. Without prayer and financial support, the work can’t go on. Support raising provides an exciting opportunity for missionaries to invite others to be a part of the story of what God is doing in the world.2.  Full-time vocational ministryAnother common question people ask is, “Why don’t missionaries get a job to fund their ministry?"Many missionary roles require a great deal of personal attention and availability, which require them to find funding without working a traditional job.  They need the freedom to meet up with various people inside and outside the church for counseling, spend time writing sermons, develop vision for the church, run ministry projects in the community, etc.  Their schedule is often unpredictable, so they require one that will allow them the flexibility to meet those needs.We see this in the case with both of our Pastor Erics, who are supported by our church.  Trinity has the financial resources to support them; we don’t expect them to work full-time jobs outside the church.  If they did, they wouldn’t have the flexibility or availability to serve in their current capacity.Village Missions, the missions agency to which the Salcedos belong, exists to support churches in small, remote cities that, unlike Trinity, don’t have the resources to support full-time pastors.  The agency is responsible for recruiting pastors to serve in these churches. Because the pastoral role is a full-time job in itself, Village Missions missionaries are expected to raise support to cover their living and ministry expenses.The reality is that these things can only be attained when families and churches are willing to contribute financially in such a way that can free up pastors and missionaries to operate like this.3.  Support accountabilityOf course, missionaries need accountability when it comes to support raising. We as a missions team want to be responsible with God’s resources, and so we need to ask all of our partners for clarity, especially when it pertains to spending and needs.The Salcedos, like many other missionaries, mostly likely have something called a standard quotient worksheet (SQW), which shows the basic breakdown of how funds are dispersed.  It is created and maintained by the organization, which partners with the missionary to create a budget based on a reasonable living wage for their place of ministry (i.e., the missionary doesn’t make up this dollar amount on their own).  The budget most likely covers both their salary and some ministry expenses, but missionaries will often raise additional funds for special one-time projects. This is something we should have already received from the Salcedos, if they followed the process set up for requesting support from Trinity.  Regardless, it has probably been updated, so we should request a new one from them.4.  Next stepsWhen the Salcedos applied to receive support from Trinity, they should have already gone through a process of approval of their ministry, organization, and support needs.  (We are making an assumption on this, as the Tas were not around yet; please speak up if more needs to be said about this.) They send out semi-regular newsletter updates that keep us up to speed.  Because they are in full-time vocational ministry, they need to raise support to cover the majority of their salary and ministry projects.For these reasons, and because the majority of our team members voted “yea” on the proposal, we are going to go ahead and move forward with recommending an increase in support for the Salcedos.  Recommendation:

• Current giving:  $3000/year or $250/month 

• Before the end of May 2019: increase giving to $4200/year or $350/month for the next year (until end of May 2020)

• Before the end of May 2020: send at least 2 members from our church to go visit the Salcedos to see their ministry, encourage them, provide any needed assistance or resources, etc. 

A giving increase from us is not necessarily permanent. It is only true for this year and can be adjusted in subsequent years on an as-needed basis. It would be good for us to be in consistent communication with them so that we can be aware of their work, their needs, and how we can reasonably care for them.  If it becomes clear that their ministry focus is deviating from Trinity’s scope of vision for missions, then a change can and should be made.As we move forward, we would also like to suggest some questions to ask them to get a better feel for where they are.  For now, information we gather from these answers will be used to help us know and serve them; it will not affect financial giving.Diane, since you are their ministry contact, would you please reach out to them and request this information?  Feel free to reword the questions; these are just ideas.  You can share an update with us at a future team meeting.

Regarding life and ministry:

1. Could you please give us a picture of what your ministry looks like in this season?  (How are things going in regard to church and outreach rhythms, relationship building, and sharing the Gospel?  What are some goals you currently have? What are some joys you have experienced in ministry and/or personally, as well as frustrations or disappointments?)

2. We would love to come visit you at some point in the next year to experience what life is like for you and encourage you.  Is that okay? When might be a good time?

Regarding financial support:

1. Could you please provide us with your current SQW/support budget?

2. Can you give us a general picture of your financial support system at this time?  (This may include churches, individuals/families, your church in CO, other employment, etc.)

That's it for this week.  Thanks for sticking it out to the end.  Hope you all enjoy the long weekend!

The Mission Task Force of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Orange County exists to glorify God by obeying the call to make disciples of all nations, through personal engagement and in partnership with other Christians who proclaim the love of the Father, trust in the renewing power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and abide by the work of the Holy Spirit. 

Saturday, 6/8:  Evangelism trainingStay up-to-date with current projects on Trello.

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