Lisa Hamilton went from store to store, looking for cards depicting the Christmas story, but she couldn’t find any in the Southeast Asian country where she and her husband Steve serve. She did find beautifully designed 3D Christmas cards of Santa and his reindeer and decided these would have to do. She purchased enough to send one to every church in their Church Connections portfolio.

Lisa and Steve, like all International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries, received a portfolio of churches to connect with as part of the Church Connections initiative.

Church Connections is the IMB’s effort to connect, nurture and deepen relationships with the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) 47,000 churches, so congregations can hear and rejoice over what God is doing around the world. IMB leadership recognized that not every church in the SBC has a relationship or contact with a missionary. Church Connections, which launched three years ago, seeks to change that.

“As sent ones, we have a responsibility to those who are sending us to be accountable to them, to communicate with them and share what God is doing among the nations,” said Victor Hou, IMB associate vice president for global advancement.

The goal is for every church in the SBC to hear from a missionary. Every quarter, missionaries pray for, express gratitude to and share prayer requests and testimonies of how God is at work among the nations with their assigned churches. Missionaries contact the churches by email, regular mail or in person if they are in the U.S. For one of her correspondences, Lisa opted to send cards.

“I looked and looked and looked where I live. I couldn’t find any Christmas cards about the true message of Christmas, so will you please pray for our country, that the Christmas message will be heard and received? This is the best I could do for a Christmas card,” Lisa wrote in each Christmas card.

When missionaries are in the U.S. and visit churches they’ve written, some find that pastors and church leadership have read their newsletters and are praying for them even though they didn’t respond.

Last year, Lisa didn’t hear back from any of the churches to say they received the Christmas card. Fast forward to July. Lisa and Steve were in the U.S. and visited one of the churches on their list. The pastor was thrilled to meet the missionaries who’d sent him the card. From the pulpit on the Sunday after receiving the card, he shared its message to kick off their Lottie Moon giving season.

Missionaries may not always know the impact or reach of their communication, but Steve encourages other missionaries to continue their efforts to make contact.

Connecting through prayer

As part of Church Connections, IMB missionaries pray regularly for the churches, pastors and ministries of the church. Hou said Southern Baptist churches have faithfully prayed for IMB missionaries since the organization’s founding in 1845. The desire for communication goes both ways, Hou said.

“We want to be praying for the churches who are sending us and supporting us,” Hou said. “Just as our missionaries are sharing prayer requests with churches, we want churches to share prayer requests with our missionaries so that our missionaries can pray more specifically.”

IMB missionary Rose Dukkette, who also serves in Asia, writes to pastors and youth pastors to ask them if there are ways she can pray for them. Several months later, she follows up with their requests.

Often, the churches are in the missionary’s home state.

“I love where we are from in the States. Hearing how God is working there is encouraging. There is a lot of overlap with what we are doing here in Asia,” Dukkette said.

Dukkette creates missions-related activities for youth and children to use in Sunday school. For the adult service, she sends videos and slideshows with prayer requests and information about where her family serves.

Connecting through partnership

Hou said missionaries around the world are seeing amazing ways God is at work, and churches most likely aren’t hearing many of these stories as they are not in secular media. He said there are personal stories from missionaries serving among Middle Eastern peoples who are seeing God work in amazing ways. Project 3000 missionaries, who are discovering people groups who’ve never had a gospel witness, want to share about their work directly with churches.

“Our missionaries get to be on the front lines, but they also get to share with our churches those amazing stories of what God is doing,” Hou said. He said people can hear about many of these stories directly from missionaries if they are willing to connect.

Hou encourages churches to respond to the emails and letters that missionaries send. It encourages missionaries to know people receive their emails and are interested in partnering in prayer and in ministry.

Church Connections is also a great way for churches to participate with missionaries in the ways God may lead them.

During a visit to the U.S., Vernon and Alicia Dickinson plotted out a route that would allow them to visit rural churches in Oklahoma and Texas that they hadn’t received responses from. There weren’t enough Sundays to visit all the churches, but one Wednesday night, they visited a church during a mid-week prayer service. As Vernon and Alicia mingled, they introduced themselves as IMB missionaries. The pastor invited them to speak, and they shared about their ministry in the Americas. The church prayed over the Dickinsons, and members stayed afterward to ask questions.

Vernon said church staff received and read their emails but hadn’t responded. However, now that a connection has been made, the church and the IMB couple have committed to pray for one another.

“We now have a wonderful partnership in prayer, them praying for us and us praying for them,” Vernon said.

IMB missionaries Tim and Tina Louderback love connecting with their churches. Through Church Connections, they formed a relationship with a church who sent a volunteer team to serve alongside them in Panama.

Not hearing from any IMB missionaries? IMB is ready to connect churches and missionaries.

IMB missionaries are reaching out to Deaf churches, as well as churches who worship in Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. To be connected to a missionary who knows sign language or another language, send a message.

*Some names changed for security.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Tessa Sanchez writes for the IMB.)