Matt & Betsy Guilford
Why Do We Raise Our Ministry Support?
Our ministry support covers all of our living and ministry expenses. Many full-time missionaries are tasked with asking God to lead them to a group of committed individuals who understand what they do and what they do matches their personal values.
There are basically two types of missionaries. The first type we can call "denominational missionaries" which means that either part or all of their living expenses are paid by the religious denomination they serve. For instance: a Baptist, Methodist, or Presbyterian missionary might be paid in full or subsidized by their particular denomination. The second type we can call a "para-church or independent missionaries." This type of missionary works for a mission organization which is not a church. Everything that the mission organization engages in is paid for by their ministry partners. However, they do not have central funding to pay the salaries of the missionaries (i.e., staff members) who work for them. Examples of these types of organizations are: YWAM (Youth with a Mission), The Navigators, Young Life, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, InterVarsity, Etc.
Denominational missionaries funding comes directly from the congregants who are members of the churches in the denominations they serve with. Para-church or independent missionaries are funded by their own ministry support partners. We are the second type (para-church missionaries) and that is why we trust God to lead us to the people who He desires to partner with us and to whom He wants us to minister to.
Biblical Basis for Being Supported
Support raising is not a 20th-century invention, but a way that the people of God throughout history have cared for and supported one another. Many Bible passages demonstrate how Jesus, Paul, and others received support from those who stood by them in their work. You may find it helpful to look at these passages as you prayerfully consider partnering with us.
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I Chronicles 28:1-29:20 As his last act on the throne, David gets a start on his heart’s desire to build a temple for God. He presents this vision to the people and they respond joyously with their time, talents and money. In response, David prays a moving prayer before all the people, saying, “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” (29:14) After he leads the people in a final worship time, he passes on his kingship to his son Solomon who carries out his father’s intentions to build the temple.
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Nehemiah 1:1 - 2:9 After hearing that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and that the surviving Jews were in great trouble and disgrace, Nehemiah mourned, fasted, and prayed. He then boldly approached King Artaxerxes (a non-believing "pagan" king) and asked him to provide the resources needed to rebuild the wall (and in so doing, rebuild the life of God in the people of God).
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Matthew 7:7 - 12 God wants us to ask him for help. He wants us to come to him with our needs. As our faithful Father, he is eager and able to meet our needs.
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Acts 4:32 - 37 As a community of Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem from far and wide, the first followers of Jesus shared all that they had. Though they had been strangers to one another in chapter 2, they became family in real and practical ways.
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Philippians 4:10 - 20 The relationship Paul had developed with the Philippians included their supporting his ministry and helping the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem hard hit by famine. The Philippians had their own financial hardships, but despite their poverty, they gave sacrificially and generously out of what they had. They had compassion on their brethren in Jerusalem who were poorer than they, and they deeply loved Paul and believed in the calling God had given him to bring the gospel to other Gentiles like themselves.
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2 Corinthians 8:1 - 9:15 Unlike the Philippians, the Corinthian church was in a season of plenty. Paul exhorts them to recognize that their abundance is meant to meet the needs where others are lacking, and in turn when their day of need presents itself, they will provided for by the abundance that others may have. He even pours a little shame on them by referencing the Macedonians (Philippi was a major city in Macedonia) and their generosity in the face of their “extreme poverty” (and that’s saying something coming from Paul). And as a positive motivator, he explains that generosity also benefits the giver.
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Source - https://up.intervarsity.org/resources/raising-support/biblical-basis-raising-support
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TWO-TYPES OF SUPPORT PARTNERS
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We have two types of support partners. The first type of partner we have are those who cheerfully give towards or ministry out of their excess. They include us in their celebration of praise for God's provision. The second type of partner we have are those who give sacrificially - they do not give out of their excess but trust God to provide for their commitment to support our work. The second type represents the larger portion of our ministry support team.
