• What missionaries or mission ministries does your church already support or have a relationship with?
• By what means are they supported? Directly? Indirectly through an aggregated fund on behalf of your denomination, fellowship, or association?
• How does your church identify funds for missions? Designated giving? A percentage of the overall budget? Faith promise? Special offerings? An annual project fund drive? Pledges? Sunday school offerings?
• How have the missionaries or missions ministries funded by the church been selected?
• By what criteria are funding commitments made and sustained?
• What visibility does missions have to the church body, from the platform in public meetings, in the physical decor and communication pieces of the church?
• Is there an annual missions emphasis event? If so, what is the participation level and how much priority does it have in the church calendar?
• Has the senior pastor ever visited a missionary or missions ministry on the field?
• Has there ever been a member from this church that trained and served (or serves) on the mission field long term as their vocation?
• What is the level of prayer awareness of the congregation for missions, missionaries, and missions interests worldwide?
• What is the percentage of gross income into the local church (except for capital and infrastructure project funds) spent for missions?
• How does the missions giving compare with gross income on a per-giving-unit basis?

Next, you need to find out what it takes for a new committee or ministry team to be started in your church. It may be a simple as filling out a form and submitting it to leadership for consideration. It may take a little more work for you put to put together a proposal. You might have to do some groundwork to find out who the original members of the missions team might be and recruit them. If your church has never had a missions ministry body, you might need to request an implement a special period for training the new group.

If your church has had a missions ministry team in the past or has a similarly functioning group, you will need to discover their founding documents, as much as possible, and learn what you can from them. It is likely that a sister church or other like-minded church among those your church has fellowship already has a functioning missions team or missions committee. You can learn a lot from their experience. A phone interview or exchange of e-mails could save you a lot of trouble. Ask them for their mission’s policy or guidelines documents.

Assuming that your patient research and respectful requests to launch the missions team are approved, you will be well on the way to building momentum for a fresh start. Don’t forget to persistently pray through the process.

The point of it all is that God would receive the glory due his name among all nations. That begins with you and your church. So how you do it is as significant as what you do, because you’re doing it for his glory. We believe that having a recognized missions team serving the best interests of the local church is a highly effective means of bringing glory to God and fulfilling the great commission. So you can proceed confidently in God’s will.