Missionary Fund Raising Guidelines

Xenos is a big church, and there are scores who would like to go to the mission field. We are concerned that our membership may be befuddled and harassed by constant solicitations unless we take measures to sort out deserving, prioritized mission projects to recommend to the church. While we cannot prevent anyone from asking any one else for money, we do make clear that this practice should be confined to appropriate situations. The following guidelines spell out our policy. Many of the most generous members in the church adopt the position that they will not meet with unaccredited missionaries (other than family members and friends from their home group). By doing this, they are saying, "If your mission is important and appropriate, why not get it accredited?" After all, our Missions staff has more time and expertise to assess this question than other members of the church.

1. Any financial commitment to a Xenos missionary or to any missionary for that matter should be above and beyond any ongoing financial commitments to Xenos and/or other ministries.

This reminder needs to be made verbally during any presentation within Xenos, whether to individuals or groups.
This is because we don't want to "steal from Peter to pay Paul." Good stewardship demands that we remain faithful with all our commitments.
This policy also helps prevent needless competition. We don't want ministry leaders thinking they have to vie with other ministries for resources.
The missionary is only as healthy as his/her home church. Whenever any ministry is supported to the detriment of the General Fund, the local church suffers.

2. Only fully accredited missionaries will receive the full cooperation of the church in pursuing financial support, and that cooperation will be up to the amount, sphere, and strategy agreed upon with the leadership of Xenos. We request that missionaries with less than accredited status confine their fund raising to family members and their immediate home group.

This agreement will be spelled out in the missionary's "Memo of Understanding," or in the case of Short-term trips, the team's written proposal.
In the case of accredited career missionaries, a home support ministry team should be accredited to facilitate this and other forms of support.
The pursuit of support should be done in corporation with the appropriate Xenos staff (CT leader/teacher, home group leaders, Missions Directors, Missions Coordinator, elders, etc.).
Appropriate public and private announcements should be made when support is raised. Excess financial support should be deferred to future missionaries or to support needed at a later date. Those offering such support should be asked if they would provide non-financial support instead.
All funds donated in support of missionaries or Short-term missions trips are fully controlled by either the missionary's agency or Xenos and can only be used for their agreed upon purposes.

3. There are a variety of Xenos mediums through which the accredited missionary or the approved Short-term team could solicit financial support.

The details of this strategy will be spelled out in the "Memo of Understanding" or the Short-term trip proposal.
Mediums for solicitation could include, but are not necessarily limited to: home group presentations, one-on-one interviews, Central Teaching announcements, announcements in written and e-mail bulletins and periodicals, Ministry Highlights, and Missions Booth presentations.
Generally, missionaries are discouraged from doing mass mailings to Xenos members for fund-raising purposes. However, appropriate contact lists will be made available to accredited career missionaries to help them set up interviews. This policy helps minimize the number of mailings going out to Xenos members.

4. In most cases, the missionary's agency is responsible for receiving, processing, and monitoring all financial support.

Support money will be sent to the agency, or to Xenos as agreed to in advance.
Xenos will work in cooperation and communication with the missionary's agency regarding the oversight of their financial support.

5. However, each accredited missionary and approved Short-term team is responsible to give account for their financial support coming from within Xenos.

The administration of this responsibility may be delegated to a Home Support ministry team, and Missions staff will oversee it.
A database should be maintained which lists the donor, amount pledged, pledge duration, church affiliation, pledge activity, pledge changes, etc.
The appropriate Missions Director and Xenos elders should be supplied with regular (at least annual and upon the request of the Director) written reports showing the pledge activity of all Xenos contributors.
After reviewing these reports decisions may need to be made regarding support modifications.
Modification of financial support from within Xenos should be done in cooperation with the leadership of Xenos, the missionary, and the missionary's sending agency.
Such modifications will be handled on a case by case basis.

Note: Xenos used to run all missions giving through it's General Fund. Now that much of the support goes directly to missionary agencies, we didn't want to lose track of what proportion of our giving goes to missions. Hence this policy.

6. A commissioning ceremony will be scheduled when the accredited missionary team has their support raised and their agency has set a date for them to be on the field.

This commissioning will be sponsored by the World Ministries Department and administered through the missionaries' Home Support team.
Paying for this event will be negotiated with the missionary in their "Memo of Understanding."

7. Missionaries with less than accreditation status (Short-term Trips or well-wisher status) can only passively receive financial support from within Xenos.

They can receive any amount of support from their family and immediate home group.
However, beyond their family and home group, we request that they only receive support if it comes in passively, like a party approaching them with an offer of financial support. In other words, outside the sphere of family and home group, financial support offers should not be made as a result of the missionary approaching people and directly asking for such support.
They may inform Xenos members of their ministry and needs (within the parameters outlined in their "Memo of Understanding" or Short-term trip proposal), but they should not directly solicit financial support during these presentations. And they should not do mailings to Xenos members.
These missionaries may receive other forms of support from Xenos (awareness raising, prayer, etc.). However, the nature and scope of such support should be spelled out in their Memo of Understanding or Short-term trip proposal.
Funding for approved Short-term trips should be provided primarily by those participating or through approved fund raising events.

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