I often hear statements like this when I talk to young people headed to the nations:

“My church is sending me, so I don’t really need an agency.”

“No thanks! I’ll go on my own. We all know that agencies are passé anyway.”

We see in Scripture that God gave the Great Commission to His church, not to individuals, and not even to mission agencies. The church must be central in identifying, preparing, sending, and caring for both mission workers and marketplace workers around the world. But the reality is, when you go to the field, there will be questions that neither you nor your church can answer. Here are three reasons why you need an agency to partner with you and your church as you consider going overseas.

1.   Missions is more specialized than ever before.

If we’re going to complete the Great Commission, we must prioritize the least-reached areas. But these areas also carry the highest risk factors. Most churches today do not have the resources to provide access, maintain secure communication, and offer care, support, and training for those whom God is calling to reach the least-reached. It takes serious resources and specialization — something that a healthy agency can provide to support the church and the workers they’re sending.

Additionally, these hard places are typically closed to mission workers but are often open to marketplace workers. This means the church must recognize and send marketplace workers from all professions to the unreached. To do that, churches will need the support of agencies who have specialization in training and supporting both marketplace workers and mission workers.

2.   You and your family need security.

It is often said, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” When it comes to crisis contingency planning and management, individuals and churches are usually unaware of the issues facing workers in our world today. Technology, transportation, urbanization, globalization, and terrorism have all impacted the way we engage the unreached. In an ever-changing world, it’s a full-time job to track international security and keep a family safe cross-culturally. True, we must balance risk with the responsibility of bringing the gospel to all nations. But why unnecessarily endanger a family or individual when the resources to properly care for them is right at your fingertips through an agency? The ultimate goal is not to protect them at all costs, but to keep them on the field and effective so that the gospel will go forward.

3.   You need experienced service providers.

It’s common knowledge that agencies provide value-based services such as assessment, specialized training, third-culture kid consulting, field community, and counseling. These are things you need to survive life cross-culturally. But what most don’t realize is that missions agencies are full of people who have been there and done that. The people who train you, process your funds, and counsel you have been where you are. Partnering with an agency means you have people who not only provide you with the services you need but can empathize with you in the process.

There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors (Proverbs 11:14). Through partnering with a missions agency, you gain specialized expertise, security, services, and great joy as we pursue the Great Commission together.

Mark Silvers served with Crossworld in the Philippines for 10 years and joined the home office staff as Director of Mobilization in 2009. Mark’s driving passion is the goal of reaching the 2.9 billion people in the world today with no access to the gospel.