With church life running mostly online now, it can be challenging to spend any time focusing on (or even thinking about) partnership in God’s mission. But these unprecedented times present Christians with a great opportunity. All across the world, people want to hear about the hope we have!

Our missionaries are serving in strategic locations around the world and finding ways to share the news of grace, as they train believers to do the same. Now is a great time for your church to keep partnering with your link missionaries as they take part in this vital gospel work.

But how can you help your church take part in God’s mission when you can’t physically be together? We’ve put together 10 ideas for how you can help your church partner digitally in mission. Just ensure to get in touch with your minister first as you explore how you could implement these ideas.

Note on secure workers: Churches with workers in secure locations must be careful about sharing information online. Do not share any personal details online about these workers, and refer to them by the first letter of their first name only.

1. Keep praying for your missionaries on Sundays

If your church is running a pre-recorded or livestreamed service then you have a great opportunity to continue to pray for mission! Get in touch with the person praying up the front each week and pass on updates from your link missionaries. You might even like to focus the prayers on a different country or region each week.

2. Share regular updates through on-screen announcements

You could also include a segment each week in your church announcements with an update on your link missionaries. Your church would love to hear about how your missionaries are seeking to share the news of grace in creative ways, even if they aren’t able to meet physically with people. Remember that not everyone watching the service will have met your missionaries, so you may need to give a short introduction each time.

3. Include missionary prayer points in weekly church emails

Another way to regularly update your church on the ministry of your link missionaries is to add an update about them in your regular church-wide emails. This could be as simple as a paragraph with a quote from their recent newsletter and a couple of prayer points to be praying for. Or (for non-secure workers) you could attach the newsletter itself to your email.

4. Encourage your Bible studies to run an online ‘mission minute’

Your Bible study groups may not be able to meet in-person, but that doesn’t need to stop them from getting involved in God’s mission! Encourage your Bible study leaders to run a regular ‘mission minute’, where one person in the group spends a few moments sharing about the work of a missionary, and then a few people can pray for their ministry.

5. Ask your missionaries to join you for online Bible study

One advantage to meeting online for Bible study is the potential for your missionary to be able to join you – whether they are on Home Assignment or not! Get in touch with your missionary and ask them if they could join you for a one-off Bible study. Just make sure you know the time zone they live in and check whether the time your Bible study meets will work for them.

6. Run a virtual mission prayer meeting

For the members of your church who are keen to spend dedicated time praying for mission, you could host an online mission prayer meeting to pray for your link missionaries and for local mission in your area. Find a time you can meet together using Zoom or another video conferencing service, and then advertise the meeting to your church.

7. Share pre-recorded videos of your missionaries

Why not get in touch with your link missionary to see if they can put a video together for you? Now would be a great time to hear from your missionaries about how they are seeking to share Christ’s love in these challenging times. If your church service is pre-recorded, you can add the video to your service, otherwise you can simply send out a link to your members.

8. Make the most of CMS videos

Another way to incorporate videos into your church service is to include a CMS video from our growing library on Vimeo. These videos are great for sharing with your church and helping them to be inspired by the work God is doing all around the world.

9. Encourage families to write emails to missionaries

Writing emails is a great way to encourage your missionaries and let them know you are standing with them in prayer. This is something that whole families can get involved in! Children might like to draw a picture for the missionaries your church supports, which parents can then scan and send over in an email.

10. Get social in your church Facebook group

If your church has a Facebook group, you could make the most of it by posting regular mission updates and prayer points from your missionaries. You might even like to consider adding your missionaries to the group itself! Just make sure you only refer to secure workers by the first letter of their first name.

Thank you for helping your church to partner digitally – and prayerfully – in mission! Praise God that we can all be part of God’s mission as we work together for a world that knows Jesus. Please pray that God would continue to work powerfully through our missionaries as they share the news of Jesus across the world.