As you can tell from our nifty Berlin-TV-Tower-shaped support thermometer over there on the sidebar, we’ve raised about 70% of the recurring support we need to move to Berlin. We tend to field a lot of questions and also pick up on various perceptions (and misperceptions) about where our support comes from (or is supposed to come from), so I thought I’d try to break down the numbers a little bit and show what our support base really looks like. (Disclaimer: I have no idea how typical we are among missionaries in general. I have a feeling we’re not unusual among those from our agency, but these numbers are our own.)

Here’s what the numbers show:

1. Most of our support comes from individual donors, not church budgets. We receive support from four churches; only two of those are in our denomination. Together, they account for 32% of our total monthly support need, less than half of what we’ve raised so far. While we are making an effort to seek support from as many churches as possible, it seems reasonable to project that a solid majority of our regular giving will come from individuals. As of this writing, we have 59 pledges from individuals – that’s about 15 individual supporters for every supporting church! We know that we are at least somewhat representative in this respect: while our agency reported a 3% overall increase in missionary support from 2012 to 2013, support from churches dropped 8%.
2. “Small” pledges add up. New supporters are sometimes apologetic about how small their commitments are, but pledges of $50/month or less account for 37% of the individual support we’ve raised so far. Of course it’s easy to get excited about big pledges when they show up, but it’s important to understand that “every little bit helps” isn’t just a platitude. We wouldn’t be nearly as far along as we are without dozens of people giving at these levels. Every person or family who gives what they can is a partner, somebody who is affirming our calling and investing their resources in us, and that means a lot.
3. We need a big team. This follows directly from the last two points: we are supported mostly by individuals, and while some of those are able to give at high levels, the overall average is a little over $60/month. If that stays consistent, then we’ll still need about 50 more individual supporters (fewer if we are picked up by some churches at higher levels).
4. Recurring is recurring. We love year-end giving, we really do – but while it can save the day when budget shortfalls loom, it’s not that helpful for getting to the field in the first place. In theory, if our support account fills up with enough one-time giving, that can be prorated over a five-year term to cover our monthly budget, but that means our account would be drained by the time we are back in the States between terms. What’s crucial for us is commitment, whether that means giving every month (or quarter, or half-year) or promising that a certain part of your year-end giving will go to us every year. Of our 59 individual supporters, seven have made annual pledges, which are together worth $350 of our monthly budget.

We spend a lot of our time lately beating the drum of our need for people to commit to ongoing support, and I think that can be intimidating to people. Who knows whether the monthly pledge I make this year will be sustainable five years down the road? People lose jobs, gain dependents, incur unexpected costs – James 4:13-15 comes to mind. What we are asking when we ask for support is an act of faith, a commitment that only divine providence will allow to be kept. We trust that God has called and equipped us to be sent, and we trust (and hope you will trust) that He is likewise calling and equipping you and many others like you to send, regardless of what the numbers look like to our dim, frail eyes.

-Ben