7. Host Them During Home Visits
When missionaries come back for furlough, they often need a place to stay, transportation, or help navigating their time in the U.S. Opening your home is a tangible way to bless them.
8. Remember Their Special Days
Birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays can be lonely when spent overseas. Send cards or small gifts to help celebrate and remind them they’re not forgotten.
9. Support Their Children
Missionary kids (MKs) face unique challenges. Send letters, care packages, or connect them with youth from your church. Ask parents how you can encourage and support their kids directly.
10. Stay Informed About Their Work
Read their newsletters, follow their updates, and learn about the country and culture where they serve. Being informed shows respect and allows you to pray and give more meaningfully.
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11. Offer Pastoral Support
Missionaries can struggle with spiritual burnout or isolation. Pastors or mature believers can check in regularly, offer counsel, and create safe spaces for them to share their challenges.
12. Partner on a Short-Term Mission Trip
Even if you can’t go yourself, help someone else go. Offer financial support, help with travel prep, or pray for short-term teams that assist missionaries in the field.
13. Send Ministry Supplies
Sometimes what missionaries need are practical tools—Bibles, teaching materials, or children’s ministry supplies. Ask what’s needed and work with your church to gather and send them.
14. Help with Fundraising Efforts
Offer to help design brochures, set up online giving platforms, or organize fundraising events. Creative support can ease the burden on missionaries who may not feel comfortable asking for money.
15. Be a Long-Term Friend
Missionaries, like anyone else, crave genuine friendship—not just ministry partnerships. Stay in touch over the long haul, ask about their lives beyond ministry, and let them know they are valued for who they are.
If you’ve been wondering how to support missionaries, know that your encouragement, prayers, and practical efforts make a real difference. Missions is a team effort, and those who send, pray, and serve from a distance are just as vital as those who go.
You may not be on the ground with them, but your faithfulness sustains the work in unseen but powerful ways. So choose one or two ideas from this list and start today. Your support could be the answer to a missionary’s prayer and a spark of encouragement at just the right time.
