Mission Agencies: Choose wisely

One of the things mission supporters pay too little attention to is the agency that a missionary is or intends to serve under. Mission agencies vary widely in the due diligence they use in vetting potential staff, clarity of direction, quality of strategy, level of empowerment or control, and personnel health. Not all agencies are equally healthy, effective or empowering.

Because of the investment we make in missionaries, it is critical that we evaluate both those we support carefully as well as the organization with which they serve. If either are substandard, the investment is problematic and should be reconsidered.


The most important thing to consider is whether they have made the shift from the Black and White to the Color World - as described in The Nine Shifts. This will tell you much about whether they are leveraged for significant influence in today's world. 

Here are some other markers of good mission organizations:

·  They vet potential staff with great care and are ready and willing to say no or not yet if there are issues with spiritual, emotional, relational or skill health.

·  They deal proactively with health issues of their staff in a redemptive way.

·  They have clarity of direction that is understandable and makes sense.

·  They place people on healthy teams for maximum health and synergy.

·  They stress ongoing learning and education for all their staff.

·  All staff operate with an annual ministry plan and have monthly coaching meetings with their supervisor.

·  They operate with healthy, empowering and strategic leaders.

·  They mandate that their staff raise enough support to ensure that they have a decent standard of living, have adequate health care and are putting aside money for retirement (for long term staff).

·  They want to work closely with the local church when there are personnel issues.

·  They love to work with local churches to help them achieve their mission vision with good missiological practices.

·  They are committed to strategies of multiplication and are developing, empowering and releasing healthy national leaders wherever they work.

·  They are deeply committed to personal, team and leader health.

·   They are innovative, entrepreneurial and empowering of staff.