How To Help the Hurting Missionary - Episode 5

Tom and Danielle Brendle are missionaries with New Tribes Mission. God has used them in Tribal Church Planting and in Member Care. They have four sons, Levi, Jacob, Luke, and Josiah. They currently serve in Florida.

Tom & Danielle Touched On

Tom and Danielle stressed the need for personal relationships between the church and its missionaries. They shared the need for mission oriented discipleship at the local church level. Tom and Danielle gave an overview of member care and encouraged the local church to participate in this care.

Resources Mentioned

They recommended Dave and Irene Lewis' website Paracletos.org

Tom encouraged us to read the book Life With A Capital L by Matt Heard

Contact Tom & Danielle

Please email Tom and Danielle at [email protected]

What We Learned

I had three takeaways from Tom and Danielle's interview.

1. It is essential that churches build personal relationships with their missionaries. Now that is easier said than done. And it will take time and intention to accomplish. Often missionaries are just a picture on the wall or a check you mail. How can you build better relationships? I believe you should first evaluate every missionary that you support and then evaluate how you relate to them. In August, we will send Real Pastor Team members a free tool that will help with this. If you are not a team member, then sign up by clicking HERE. This simple resource helped us transform our mission program.
2. Expose your children to missions and place your young adults in church leadership. Many missionaries realize their calling when they are young. So we need to be intentional in our discipleship of young people, exposing them to missions and missionaries. Also, we need to move young adults into places of responsibility. Children will catch the vision of missions and young adults will see their place in God's mission for the church.
3. Provide Member Care to your missionaries. When your missionaries return home on furlough, are you including them in the body? Are you giving them a safe place to share and decompress? What are you doing to help with this difficult transition? Many churches are as disconnected with their missionaries when they are home as they are when they are away. Missionaries need a safe place and they need a church family. So take every opportunity to provide care when a missionary returns home.

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