I grew up in a great church that had a world map in the auditorium (oops, Sanctuary). On that map there were all these little lights that showed the missionaries they supported around the world. There were probably 50-60 little lights. Some of those people they supported a great deal, some they supported with $400-500 a year. Every little bit helps, but there was little investment required.
When we launched The Journey we knew we couldn't support tons of ministries, but we wanted to develop strategic partnerships with a few and support them in a very hands-on way.
We also knew that just supporting "missionaries" with a check each month would not make a ton of sense to the 65%+ of our people who weren't going to church before they came to The Journey.
We ended up partnering locally with organizations in the lakeshore area, and then globally with Jason & Lisa Hovingh, in Kenya, Africa and with Vince Antonucci and Verve Church near the Las Vegas strip. We've taken multiple trips to both locations, and funneled well over $100,000 to those ministries through money & equipment. Both of those ministries are meeting the deep, spiritual needs of people and also the very tangible physical needs of people as well.
Whether you are a Christian or not, you understand and can get behind the need for people to have adequate drinking water, for orphans to be cared for, for sex trafficing to stop, for addictions to be defeated. We knew we had found strategic partnerships that would connect with our community that we were gathering at The Journey.
The result is that our people feel a deep connection to the works that are happening in those locations and with those ministries. And, we've formed deep and important partnerships in the Kingdom work of God.