I Never Felt Called to Support Raise

| 2016-09-08 00:00:00 -0400

How one young woman walked out in faith to become something she never thought she would, a support-based missionary.

I never felt called to support raising. In fact, developing a ministry team sounded like my personal nightmare. But alas, here I am, a 24-year-old, support-based missionary.

I graduated from Ohio State a semester early and found myself sitting in an over-air-conditioned room in the dead of a Midwest winter learning how to support raise. I would intern, I concluded, just to get a taste of the missionary life. I dreaded support raising so much that I secretly hoped I would hate my internship, thus never having the option to pursue staff and therefore support raising. However, at the end of my year-long internship, I was on a plane to Orlando, Florida, to attend Reliant’s New Staff Training.

After I wrapped up initial support raising, I vividly remember being asked, “Why do you feel called to support raising?”

I think I actually laughed out loud, and perhaps I answered too quickly, but my answer remains the same: “I didn’t. I never have.”

But the Lord has given me a heart that beats for freedom and breaks for women without it.

These women may not experience freedom because they’re running in a hamster wheel of societal standards or maybe they’re legitimately trapped by the trauma of sexual abuse. Regardless of why they aren’t living in freedom, I want to be there. I want to be there to show them that freedom exists. That God is good and gracious and desires to set them free.

I ended up adding support-based missionary to my resume because this weighty passion in my soul led me to Greek ministry with h2o church on The Ohio State University campus. As a student, I quickly learned that although I would reach out to these women for free, the overwhelming need makes it a full-time job, and the city of Columbus won’t let me stay in my apartment sans rent.

My church is partnered with Reliant, and in order to fill the gap I saw between our church and Greek ministry, I’d need to support raise. It wasn’t a calling; it was something I accepted as a necessary step toward doing what I love.

I don’t think we have to be called to the support-raising life. I think it’s a tool that Reliant offers that makes it possible for passionate people to do what they love and also pay rent. Support raising may not be my favorite part of life as a twenty-something missionary, but it’s something I do because Jesus sets people free, and the women I work with deserve to live in that truth.