Open to God’s Agenda

It was a shot in the dark, but that was all Angela had left. 

In May 2022, Angela showed up at First Free in St. Louis, Missouri, on a Sunday morning straight from the airport, luggage in tow. She wasn’t expecting much to come from it. Visiting a church cold turkey usually doesn’t. 

But desperation makes you willing to try anything. 

In 2019, Angela had returned home to Ohio after spending two fruitful, energizing years with ReachGlobal in Athens, Greece. Less than half a percent of Greece’s population is evangelical Christian, and God gave Angela a deep love for Greek people and culture. She knew God was calling her to return for long-term ministry, helping to revitalize and strengthen the local church. So, she went through the long-term application process with ReachGlobal and made the transition to become a career missionary. With it, the budget she needed to raise nearly doubled. 

Angela was just starting to raise additional support when the pandemic hit. Months of lockdowns, personal illness, and turmoil in her home church brought her support-raising process to a grinding halt. And she just couldn’t get it going again. After almost three years, she was defeated and demoralized and questioned whether she would ever get back to Greece. 

During that time, Angela tried just about everything. She had contacted everyone she knew. She had offered to speak at any possible venue that would host her. Once, she even set up a table outside of a car show! She reached out to hundreds of EFCA churches. Yet she’d hardly received any response at all. 

A random connection 

When a conference took Angela to Missouri in May 2022, and she realized she would be arriving on a Sunday morning, she looked up nearby EFCA churches she had previously contacted. She randomly chose First Free and visited that Sunday morning—luggage and all—hoping for a connection that might lead to a partnership. But by this point, she didn’t have much hope. 

Angela managed to connect with John Richardson, First Free’s executive pastor of discipleship, who oversees the missions program. “I shared with her what I always do–that we weren’t looking to support any new missionaries,” John said. First Free already had 30 missionaries on their roster, including many sent from their own congregation. Regardless, John said, “I never say no to the meeting. I never want to play God. I wanted to be an encouragement to her, and I wanted to be open to God’s agenda.”  

That attitude changed everything. 

John agreed to meet with Angela. As she shared about the need in Athens and her desire to build partnerships in the U.S. with churches that could send teams to help, it sounded like something First Free wanted to pursue. The church had recently ended partnerships with three international locations because they no longer needed American teams. “The more we talked, the more I realized that this could be an attractive partnership for us,” John said. Angela connected him with her team leader in Greece, and John learned more about the ministry there. It was a great fit. 

That summer, First Free agreed to support Angela, and John and the senior pastor planned a vision trip to Athens. But that was just the beginning. 

New opportunities 

Meanwhile, ReachGlobal staff were brainstorming how to help Angela become fully funded. Deciding that she needed a fresh start in a new community, her team leader approached First Free with an idea: Would the church be willing to take Angela on as an intern? 

John instantly liked the idea and took it to church leadership. “Our whole team was enthusiastic about it,” he said. Plans came together rapidly: Angela was already receiving a small stipend from her mission support, so the church didn’t need to pay her. Two First Free families offered to host her.  

Angela dove quickly into life at First Free, volunteering in Awana and homeschool groups. Leadership assigned her several missions-related projects, such as creating a pathway for groups to “adopt” one of their supported missionaries.  

Angela developed a program and then visited home groups, Bible studies and Sunday School classes to promote it. “I shared what it’s like to be a missionary and how much you miss when you are away from your family and friends. I helped people realize what helps them feel encouraged and not forgotten. It was cool to go to each group and see that kind of awakening,” Angela said. Now, all 30 missionaries supported by First Free have their own care group. 

First Free wasn’t the only one to benefit from this arrangement. 

John and other First Free staff began investing in Angela. They included her in staff meetings, giving her valuable discipleship amid healthy church leadership. And knowing the ultimate goal was to send her to Greece, they did everything they could to advocate for financial partnerships. They invited her to briefly share in a Sunday service. They introduced her to scores of people. They put on a “Greek Night” to promote her ministry. When a church missionary retired, John asked their financial partners to consider supporting Angela. 

It worked. While it had taken Angela several years to raise 10 percent of what she needed, it took just several months to raise the remaining amount. The momentum was contagious. Excited by her progress, friends back in Ohio supported her, too.  

May 2023 was the end of Angela’s internship. First Free put on a commissioning service for her and invited anyone touched by Angela’s service to come up and pray for her. John said, “There was this huge throng of people who came up and surrounded her.” Shortly after that service, Angela hit 100 percent of her budget.  

For three years, Angela wondered if she would ever get back to Greece. In a matter of seven months, everything changed. By mid-July, she was on a plane to fulfill God’s call on her life. 

Making a difference 

The positive ripple effects of Angela’s time at First Free continue. Not only did Angela’s internship help to strengthen First Free’s mission program, but it tangibly helped to connect the congregation to God’s work in the world. Last Christmas, First Free sent a sizable donation to help the church in Athens with their building fund. This coming summer, First Free will send its first team to assist ReachGlobal’s ministry in Athens—hopefully the first of many. 

“[Angela’s internship] was a real, tangible way to assist a missionary candidate in fundraising. It was also a boost for both our staff and our church. It gave visibility to our global ministry and helped everyone see the importance of relationships with missionaries,” John said. The positive impact on First Free has encouraged church leadership to invite another support-raising missionary to do the same thing. 

Some missionaries come from rural areas or low-resourced churches where it’s extremely difficult to raise support. Developing an additional community network at a different church can give them the support they need to broaden opportunities for partnerships while developing their ministry gifts—and spark deeper passion for missions in that church. If a dozen EFCA churches contacted ReachGlobal and said, “We’d love a missionary intern for a few months!” more missionaries might have the opportunity to live out their calling, and more local churches might see radical transformation.  

Support-raising missionaries need advocates: a person or a group of people who will come alongside them and say, “Let’s work together to get you into the ministry where God has called you!” Missionaries need someone to give them a platform, bring groups of people together to hear their story and enthusiastically cheerlead them in their journey. If more EFCA churches worked together to advocate for the ReachGlobal missionaries from their district, I’m convinced God would work in the missionaries, church leadership and the local church as a whole to send many more workers to build God’s kingdom. And isn’t that what all of us long for? 

First Free taking a step of faith to advocate for Angela made all the difference for her. And when we’re considering how to fulfill the Great Commission, that makes all the difference in the world.  

 If you would like to connect with missionaries raising support in your district or are interested in hosting a missionary intern, please contact reachglobal@efca.org