Well said. I have served on or led the missions teams at 4 churches over the years, and have come to a very similar conviction. If as a church we are casting the vision for missions, and someone from within the church is moved by God to go somewhere other than our narrow focus / areas of priority, I don't want to play junior Holy Spirit and say they are wrong or squelch their calling. I wanted it to be about God's agenda, not mine / our church's. My solution was to prioritize a higher percentage of our church support for those serving in our area of focus (in our case, Bible translation, unreached people groups, and training national Christian leaders), while still also supporting those from within the church at a bit lower percentage when they didn't fit that focus (assuming it was for a vetted and valid missions ministry).
It is certainly possible to be smug and arrogant when refusing to support Aunt Agnes' son-in-law. But, it is far from necessarily arrogant. I would say that refusing to support him in favor of an existing church missions strategy is probably the right choice in most situations. Conversely, it is equally likely and equally unnecessary that someone would be arrogant in suggesting that he should be supported.
Well said. I have served on or led the missions teams at 4 churches over the years, and have come to a very similar conviction. If as a church we are casting the vision for missions, and someone from within the church is moved by God to go somewhere other than our narrow focus / areas of priority, I don't want to play junior Holy Spirit and say they are wrong or squelch their calling. I wanted it to be about God's agenda, not mine / our church's. My solution was to prioritize a higher percentage of our church support for those serving in our area of focus (in our case, Bible translation, unreached people groups, and training national Christian leaders), while still also supporting those from within the church at a bit lower percentage when they didn't fit that focus (assuming it was for a vetted and valid missions ministry).
It is certainly possible to be smug and arrogant when refusing to support Aunt Agnes' son-in-law. But, it is far from necessarily arrogant. I would say that refusing to support him in favor of an existing church missions strategy is probably the right choice in most situations. Conversely, it is equally likely and equally unnecessary that someone would be arrogant in suggesting that he should be supported.