Raising Support

It’s one of the many factors people contemplate when considering missionary service. Raising support takes a significant investment of time and energy, and it’s not everyone’s natural area of giftedness. It’s an aspect where new missionaries can use extra upholding. 

As BMM seeks increasing ways to come alongside missionary appointees and their sending churches, together we can help missionaries get to their fields faster and with fewer roadblocks. Two ways we are helping are the Deputation Jumpstart Fund and Giving Tuesday campaigns.

Deputation Jumpstart Fund

Picture yourself as a new missionary appointee. You’ve launched into the first phase of your ministry: support raising. The next challenge is transitioning from a full-time job to full-time deputation. The process typically works like this: Most new missionaries are already working full-time to support themselves and their families. They reserve their weekends for presenting their ministry to churches. Through love offerings and churches gradually taking on their support, missionary appointees build up their funding until they can quit their jobs and devote all their time to support raising. The Lord does faithfully provide for them, but the transition phase can be tricky. 

Travis Gravley (Administrator of Enlistment) says, “When missionary appointees launch into support raising, it’s hard to juggle work and family obligations. In many ways, they start at a deficit in their ability to devote time to support raising.” To help make the transition to full-time ministry quicker and smoother, BMM set up the Deputation Jumpstart Fund in 2024. Fueled by generous donors, the fund offers a matching gift of $2500. After missionary appointees raise $2500 in their first six months of deputation, the fund doubles their money. 

Even for appointees working full-time, raising the initial $2500 has proved doable. The extra funds give them a jump start to purchase equipment, create promotional materials, pay for gas, and other expenses. The Lord does use the pre-field ministry season to strengthen missionary appointees’ faith, and this is critical for longevity in their future ministry. But when we can help them get through their support raising season, their faith is strengthened in other critical ways. They see in greater ways that God will take care of their needs and that they made no mistake in following His leading into missions. 

The fund is in the trial stage, but as the Lord provides ongoing donors, we hope to continue offering this boost to BMM appointees.

Giving Tuesday

Last fall, BMM’s Stewardship Department developed a second initiative to bolster new missionaries. Using the familiarity of Giving Tuesday, they created a crowd-funding project called “Hasten to the Harvest.” Over the course of three weeks, they splashed social media and launched mailings to raise funds to help missionary appointees get to their fields faster. Gifts ranged from as small as $10 to thousands of dollars sent in by churches and individual donors of all kinds. In the end, the project raised enough to give each of our appointee singles or couples $1630 each.

“Getting more funds early on will mean a difference of a few weeks or a few months spent on getting to the field and into gospel ministry earlier,” says Zachary Bennett (Regional Stewardship Representative). Stewardship Assistant KJ Harbaugh echoed his thought, “More than money, it was a confirmation of their appointment. Someone coming alongside saying, ‘I agree you should go, and I’ve got your back.’ ”

Given the success and benefit of “Hasten to the Harvest,” BMM plans to continue this Giving Tuesday project annually. The beauty of the project is that, through it, more people can play a role in missions. Using the principle of crowdfunding, even a small gift to missions can be multiplied like the loaves and fishes in the Gospels. As members of the body of Christ, we are called to bear one another’s burdens. Giving Tuesday is one way to do that.

Join us December 2, 2025, for this year’s “Hasten to the Harvest” to help speed missionaries to their fields.