Introduction to International Ministries' Missionary Personalized Support Model Survey
INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES WANTS YOUR INPUT! International Ministries (IM) works globally through our missionaries and partners to invite people to become disciples of Jesus Christ. Providing financial support for our missionaries is based on the work of many different persons and groups, each of which has a particular view on what is working well and what needs improvement or replacement. You have received this survey because we are eager to learn from your experience and your thinking about IM’s approach to supporting missionaries. Will you help us?
RESPONDING TO THE CALL During the Responding to the Call strategic planning process our ministry partners and supporters urged us to undertake a thorough review of the “personalized” approach to missionary support that IM began to implement in 2003/2004 as we moved away from our traditional, “centralized” approach. This survey is part of that review.
PERSONALIZED SUPPORT GOALS The service of each IM missionary is supported financially by a needs-based budget that includes a wide variety of components (salary, housing, medical, retirement, etc.) adjusted according to family size, cost of living in the host country, and so on. These components also include funds for ministry activities and an amount to cover indirect costs of supporting their service (especially support provided by their area office and by IM’s finance team). All of these components taken together form the “personalized support goal” (PSG) for which missionaries and their mission partnership teams (MPTs) seek financial support.
MODEL EVALUATION Through the hard work of missionaries, their MPTs and IM staff--and the generosity of many thousands of people--God is providing
funding to sustain the work of our missionaries. At the same time, we are committed to finding ways to improve this approach to missionary funding. We’re asking for your help through your responses to this survey.
SURVEY DESIGN Most of the survey questions contain an Other/Comments block, and the survey concludes with space to share your final thoughts. As you feel led to do so, please make use of these opportunities to help us hear and understand your unique point of view. You may only take this survey once; however, you may exit and return to the survey at any time. You will move to the next question when you click the 'Ok' button and your answers will be saved when you click the 'next' button.
