But don’t let this be an excuse for not asking. The giver/receiver relationship, as we have seen, is integral to God’s kingdom work.

But your goal is to raise up people and create solid relationships so don’t be scared. There are more benefits than just money. For missionaries people say at 100% support = roughly 10% if time. That’s a lot more than we give to it but we have a lot of communications/resources that you can use whereas a missionary would have to do that all themselves.

Your activity is building relationships and move people from interest to involvement and knowledge to understanding. What you do with your money is up to you and a lot of people worry about giving 10% and saving 10% etc but use your common sense, not guilt. Give from the heart and not out of legalism.

A partnership is not a dear friends letter every 3 months. That may be all some people want but give more opportunities, let them set the ceiling. Get them to do things with you. Keep asking them to join in with events, campaign actions, emergency needs, special projects. People want to be involved with you!

So why will people give to you and your ministry?

• An historic relationship. This is no. 1 reason. I.e.  it is not actually the ministry they give to, they give to you. Supporters support “us” but justify it by what we do.
• Don’t forget we are doing something special that isn’t normal to a lot of people. They are supporting you
• But then a lot of reasons are not to do with and do to with the need to give.
• The need to give.This can be a huge for people and come in many different forms, not always positive ones. Sometimes it can simply bring joy to people (partly historic relationship). Sometimes we are opening up their heart/ears to a need they didn’t know there was.

In summary it’s less about the ministry and more about you and the person. So remember don’t try to impress them with clever strategies, and remember it is a partnership you enter in to for God.

Getting over the initial mental hurdles

Often, or even always, we can feel very uncomfortable in asking for support. We spend a lot of time telling people what we do, even that we need support, but never directly ask people to support us.

This analogy is quite helpful. A bridesmaid is not marrying the bride’s groom but supporting the bride to begin a new phase of life. We’re not asking supporters to do our job (they might have some issues with it or not entirely agree) but we ask them to support us because they can see that it’s our calling.

And beware of the ‘if only’s’!  If only you were more confident, articulate, faithful, etc, etc. These are all lies! You are called to something by God and that means you are the right person for it. Put every personal fear aside!

We can often feel uncertain that someone will be interested or listen to us. So turn it around! If you can imagine them asking you for support, then go for it. And don't worry about being too pushy. It's only pushy to ask in a manipulative way. If you're straigh forward and to the point, people will have the room they need to say no.