Tips on Welcoming Missionaries

All Christian Reformed World Missions missionaries regularly return to North America for home service visits. Over the years, missionaries like Steve and Kim Holtrop have learned what works well for such visits and what does not.

“The most meaningful church visits are the ones where we know people,” says Steve Holtrop. Many such churches have sent teams to the Holtrops’ ministry location in Nicaragua. This has helped the Holtrops get to know their partner churches better and vice versa.

Intimate gatherings are also appreciated. “Smaller gatherings make it easier to talk about ‘real stuff’ rather than just ‘fluff,’” he notes.

The Holtrops can engage more intentionally with people through one-on-one meetings over coffee, meals, or visits with small groups. The small-scale interactions are also easier to handle with their four small children.

The Holtrops have visited their churches through potlucks, neighborhood events, Sunday services, prayer meetings, small group gatherings, and other events. Yet the most meaningful visits have been with people who seem genuinely interested.

“They don’t have to be well-versed or even focus on us,” says Steve Holtrop. He recalls being asked to speak at a prayer group and then being invited to join the general prayer meeting. This intentional, welcoming interaction helped the Holtrops feel part of the church’s community.

Another missionary couple has a similar perspective of home service. This husband and wife, who cannot be named because of their ministry location, just finished their latest home-service visits.

 “A couple of visits were particularly enjoyable because the congregation was actually excited to see us and hear about our work,” the missionaries say. “People had a lot of well-thought out questions and they were also interested in Muslim evangelism in general.”

While many of their visits were encouraging, the Holtrops and the other missionary couple note that some simple changes could make the visits better.

Help the missionaries feel welcome by talking with them well in advance about their involvement in activities and who will be hosting them, they say.

Missionaries appreciate the opportunity to speak during a service, but they wonder at the meaningfulness and effectiveness of cramming their news into five minutes during the service. Creating more space for the missionaries and congregation to visit is hugely important.

“Be honest with yourself and your missionaries,” Steve Holtrop urges churches. “How do you want to engage them? Be proactive. If you don’t want them on Sunday morning, but would prefer another time, talk with them about that. If you want to just see the staff member and not the family, share that too.”

Missionaries also want people to recognize them as being “normal.”

“We get the impression that people see us as different to the point they’re afraid to talk to us,” says the other missionary couple. “If they do approach us, it’s only about missions. They are usually surprised to hear that . . . we have a wide range of knowledge, interests, and life experience outside of the mission field.”