Ministering To Ministries

(c) Lord Family Ministry 11/2020

Our family of eight spent over a decade on the road ministering along the highways and in over twenty-six various denominations, we can speak with some authority on this subject.

When a church has a ministry in for a guest program or special speaker. They often will ask what’s the cost? If a traveling ministry has been told by GOD to live by faith, they will say we come on a love offering. To which the host church most likely has no clue as to the living on the road expenses. So here are some guidelines to help a host church think this through and rise up to be a blessing to the ministry not just to use them or even abuse them….

There are many great reasons for a church to have traveling ministries in on a regular basis. It brings fresh blood into the body that can inspire and stirs each other to good works. It gives the pastor a rest from speaking. If a traveling ministry team does worship then the worship team can have a rest. It compels the congregation to invite new guests and let's the community see what's up at your church through posters, radio ads, etc.

A host church needs to think through the logistics and ask the Holy Spirit, who is suppose to be our guide and teach us in all things. Pray for guidance on how to bless and best utilize the traveling ministry team. During our time on the road, many churches were concerned about a ‘good offering’ but clueless as to what that amount might be to keep a ministry on the road. Years spent in prayer have brought about these ideas… we're nothing special but GOD is and HIS Holy Spirit is!  And HE wants to guide us in ALL things!

So here you go… Traveling Ministries 101…

Realize that traveling ministries are PEOPLE too!  That might seem like a no brainer but put yourself in THEIR shoes…  Find out their schedule, find out if you are the only offering they will get that week!  Find out if they have a home base with mortgage and other expenses.  Find out how many mouths they have to feed. Find out what kind of mileage their rig gets, how many rigs they have? Etc.

Please don’t think that putting them up in someones home is a good idea, especially if they've been on the road for more than a few weeks!  Would YOU want to go into someone’s home and sleep, eat, and live day in and out for weeks? 

Don’t just think that giving them enough money to get to next stop is OK. Perhaps they spent most of their resources just trying to get to your church! Find out where they came from and where they are going and pray GOD help you to more than take care of their expenses.

There's nothing funny when a "Love Offering" has more 'love' than offering! It's a sad statement.

Find out if they have any repair needs on their rig(s), equipment, etc.

Give them laundry money enough to wash/dry one load per person. Better yet, install a washer/dryer in your church. You'll be surprised how GOD uses it to bless your congregation and those in the community including the homeless!

If there are children on the traveling ministry team, realize they may homeschool and need to spread out!  ALWAYS give them access to the church for bathrooms, internet, phones, etc.  If your church has a handful of traveling ministries in each year, consider installing a shower and RV hookups. ALWAYS put food in the churches kitchen and let them know it's for them!

Find out their food tastes and insist they tell you.  Be creative!  If they have kids, they'll like snacks… Find out what they ate last week.  Ask, how many times have you eaten pizza in the last 10 days?

A good starting point on how much to give your traveling ministry team is to realize they will probably need more than what you pay your Pastor on a weekly basis.  So start there!

Life on the road is pretty much like living in a fish bowl.  Even pulling a rig into a campground, truck stop and especially a church. All eyes are on the traveling ministry team, especially if they have any signage on their rig!

If your church installs RV hookups try if possible go with 50 amp hookups, sewer drain, and water supply.

If you are going to give a food allowance don’t follow them around the store! Give them a gift card.

If they have an RV or large rig, give them access to a vehicle so they don’t have to use their rig.

Sound like a lot of work? Sure is, but you are ministering to a ministry. GOD most likely has called these precious folks to a special service. JESUS said to be a servant!

Realize they may need cash when they get to your church to purchase food, fuel, etc. Their last offering may have been a check which hasn't clear their account. Or worse, their last offering barely got them over the road to your church! Giving a traveling ministry a check on a Sunday afternoon may leave them with nothing to purchase fuel, food, etc until the bank opens Monday and perhaps they need to be down the road a few hundred miles!

They may have products to sell. But more than encouraging church folks to support the merch table encourage church folks to give them a very loving Pentecostal handshake! (You do know that means some money folded up in one's hand?) Encourage your members to give to the children of the traveling ministry team.

Think outside the box!

If they are going to be with you for a few days or the week, then organize at least one meal each day making sure everyone bringing the meals are on the same page as to the menus. 

Potato salad is great but 4 meals in a row?  Pizza is great but 5 days in a row?

If someone in your church has a cabin/cottage or someplace special that would be a retreat and blessing for the traveling ministry team then see about offering it!

Promote the traveling ministry team as much as you promote any other event!  Place yourself in their shoes.  Would you like 15 people to show up or a full house?  Would you like finances upon arrival and even every few days if you're at the church for a week? 

Realize that living on the road is hard work.  After about 2-3 weeks the traveling ministry team will be at each other’s throats.  They need space and some down time.

Realize they feel like they are in everyone’s way, so go overboard and make them feel welcome and loved and wanted.

Be a student of their ministry, their website, their products.  JESUS calls us to be servants.  Wouldn’t YOU want the same?

If possible let them know up front (before you book them) how much you can give them financially and then try to blow their minds with more!

Realize some traveling ministries have given up homes, property, friends, family to go on the road being obedient to GOD’s call as evangelists, worship warriors, etc. Do you want to make their stay just barely tolerable or terrific?

Many churches in later years have reduce the number of traveling ministries they allow in.  Some claim the results from traveling ministries aren’t worth the investment… Hmmm, are we looking at numbers or asking the Holy Spirit?  If you use this same rule, I believe we’d be letting pastors go after a few months and other church staff because of numbers. 

The Biblical pattern is to have ‘sent out ones’ which includes evangelists and missionaries.  GOD has risen up parts of the body to compliment and complete the local body of CHRIST.  Paul, Luke, Peter, Timothy all were part of a traveling ministry team.  Even JESUS traveled around albeit within a hundred mile radius from what we’re told in the Gospels.

Realize that those traveling ministry teams that live by faith survive on offerings and let GOD provide through YOU, the Body of Christ! Pray as a board about supporting the ministry monthly just like a missionary and encourage families to do the same.

Our family of eight was on the road for over a decade and we have many testimonies of GOD providing outside of HIS body because HE will use any means HE can. But isn’t it sad that HIS body is so insensitive that HE has to do that? Some may think I’m being harsh but if you haven’t put your feet in someone’s shoes that travel for months on end, then please realize you may have something to learn on these matters. 

Some traveling ministry teams focus on ministering to children/youth.  So often we see a poor perspective on how church leadership really think about their future leaders.  They treat children/youth with such after thought and they wonder why they have so few young people growing up and returning to church.  Bringing in a children’s top-notch traveling ministry team to minister to your children and hopefully their unsaved friends can be a big expense especially if you want to have a traveling ministry team with lots of technology to keep the young people’s attention and promote return visits the next night, etc.  Yet we see churches send off a children’s traveling ministry team with a fraction of what they’ll pay for a single big name evangelist.  Something's wrong with this picture.  At least I think JESUS would have something to say about this financial discrimination.  Oh, HE did say something about it… DON”T forsake the little ones!  Yet, just look at any church budget and you’ll see where they place their priorities.  Is it any wonder the majority of the next generation doesn’t want anything to do with the church?

Before the traveling ministry team arrives have them fill out a questionnaire asking what kind of food they like, games, idea of fun outing… think outside the box!

Give them gift cards and gas cards.

Prep the congregation in advance by taking offerings in advance. Have a welcome basket for the children of the traveling ministry team which includes gift cards.

Give loving and honest feedback about their ministry for iron sharpens iron. Ask them for feedback on your congregation as well. So often traveling ministries will see things that are missed by church leadership.

If possible before they leave book for next time. Some churches book 1-2 yrs. Out. Hmmm, hopefully Holy Spirit had some say.

Have a prayer send-off. Remember them after they leave! Add them to your prayer lists. Remember the traveling ministry teams at Christmas time or their children's birthdays.  Let them know they can pull in anytime and park, plug in during their travels.

The goal of some traveling ministries is to build a two-way relationships over time. Like the Apostle Paul they feel called by GOD to mentor, encourage, teach, correct, etc.

Most will be too shy to tell their specific likes and dislikes on food, so gift cards!

Respect their home on wheels by removing shoes as a common courtesy when going onboard.

Provide vehicle filled with fuel. Take an offering just for the children!

So often we arrived with hardly anything for funds, then spent a week with no money coming in, only to get a check at the last night and couldn't cash it before moving on! Today with mobile deposits is very helpful.

Give parents time alone while watching their kids

Keep in mind it takes a lot longer to get ready in the morning especially if children are present.

Find out how much it cost to travel to your church and on to the next place, then ask GOD how much more to bless them.

Find out any mechanical needs, vehicle needs

Are they making their monthly budget?

Always need toilet paper, soap, paper towels, paper goods

Bless them with your food pantry allowing them to go shopping if you have one.

Unless they ask you to do it, let them go shopping, don't go with them to pay for it, just give them a gift card, that way they will feel free to purchase whatever they need, without embarrassment, ie feminine products, etc.

Give them a book of stamps to mail letters.

Fill their tank!

Have adequate parking and turn around for RV by cutting back trees, making sure there are no low utility lines, etc.

Yes, it might seem like hard work to bless a traveling ministry, but if they are called by GOD then are you not blessing HIM?

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Family Friendly Services

How about exploring family friendly services instead of seeker friendly or perhaps along side your seeker friendly service? Instead of splitting the family up every Sunday thinking Mom and Dad needs a break from the kids which may be true from time to time. But should families be apart every time the church doors are open?  Segregation is too common in congregations. Sadly many church leadership don’t know how to think outside the box and relate to the younger ones.

We spent over a decade doing children’s church just so we could be with our kids and not have to send them to nursery because they were antsy and made some noise… A family friendly service would encourage noise!  There wouldn’t be a need for nurseries during a family friendly service, because folks without children would rise up and come alongside a family to hold, help color, and play with the children during the service alongside their parents.  The leadership would incorporate sermonettes sandwiched in between action sets where everyone moves about doing an activity.  Here in a family friendly service the leadership shows a family how to do devotionals, and parents begin to get a vision for being the spiritual leaders of their homes.  Not always this, drop the kid off and let the Sunday school teachers fix them…. LORD help us! Perhaps one Sunday a month, the service could be about families and be kid-friendly. Then after the leadership models how to do this, they could rotate lay-leaders in to then lead the family friendly service even using the whole family up front on stage!

Having the children take the offering, count the offering (Obviously with supervision), do the worship, share parts of the sermon.  Having object lessons is the place to start, not the exception to a family friendly service. Some of you are aghast at even thinking about youth helping count the money! Please ask GOD from where those thoughts come from.

A family friendly church service can be done outside, in a park on a Sunday around swings on a playground. Who knows maybe others would get saved or at least hear the GOOD news, and the very least see a body loving on it’s only heritage, their children!

Soo pastor or board member… what percentage of your budget is slated for children ministries?  Not just youth ministry as that’s another area… Keep in mind both groups include ages from one year to twenty something.  These groups should be prayerfully considered because this is your future!  These children are your future paycheck, your future in-laws, your future board member, your future replacement (cause you ain’t living forever….<grin>)  In reality these children are your present paycheck… because if their parents go someplace else…

There are some great high-tech game shows that can be utilized after the Bible Lesson playing one side of the church against the other, etc.