Senders are vitally important to the effectiveness of world missions. At a minimum they provide the funding necessary to keep missionaries on the field. Effective senders also exponentially make a difference in missionaries’ quality of life that enhances their effectiveness. Some actual examples of senders’ ministries include :

• Giving missionaries who are back home usage of a timeshare that allows for some well-deserved vacation.
• Providing new clothing for missionaries returning home to a different climate and level of formality.
• Debriefing children of missionaries before re-entry on current culture and music so that they will not appear out of touch with peers.
• Sending packages of treats or important staples that are not available locally on the field.
• Serving as an advocate for the missionary in the home church, assuring that others are mobilized to pray, and supplying up to date information for intelligent praying.
• For pre-field missionaries close to leaving for the field, helping prepare their home for rental, providing childcare while missionaries wrap up last minute business, and helping them raise support through garage sales and other events.
• One southern California church periodically sends a women’s ministry team to Europe to care for their missionaries in Europe and North Africa. They offer a free 10 day retreat for their regional women missionaries where women are showered with gifts and beauty makeovers; they hear a speaker teaching about issues relevant to thriving on the field; they go on a shopping trip and day of touring in a nearby city; and they receive private counseling as needed.

If your primary niche in missions is sending, know that God can use you in many ways to significantly impact world missions.