Benjamin and Missy Hatton Connecting You With Tribal Missions 
How many missionaries does it take to reach one unreached people group with the Gospel? This isn’t the makings of some lame joke! The vital nature of a support team is a concept that isn’t appealed to enough when mission work is being promoted. Too often the majority of attention is focused on what is happening on the ‘front lines’. In reality, however, the front line effort can never be separated from the support effort making it possible.
There are several important services that make living in remote locations possible. The aviation program is considered a life-line to the missionary in the bush. The bare minimum size of a given aviation program would number at least three people; a pilot, a mechanic and a radio technician. There are other supporters who have a direct connection with church planting teams including medical personnel, language consultants, regional leadership and neighboring tribal church planters.
The support team goes beyond those who are in direct contact with the church planter. Without them the church planter could not give full attention to the ministry. These include supply buyers, business managers and office workers, government representatives, education support team, field leadership staff and many more.
Beyond those who have direct and even indirect contact with the church planter the support team includes those who send money, their prayers and kind thoughts from across the sea. Our sending church family, our friends and our own relatives are also part of this group. Our many co-laborers state side who are involved in training the next generation of missionaries are the epitome of the unseen and often forgotten supporters that we simply cannot do without.
In any of these groups of supporters there are many jobs being done by only a few people. If there isn’t a mechanic for the airplane, chances are the pilot is skilled enough to maintain and fly the aircraft himself. But this isn’t the case when we are talking about the local church. The church family may be a distant part of the support team, but it is the most vital element of the team, without which none of this would ever happen. Who can replace the sending church? It cannot be replaced. It is irreplaceable. It is invaluable.
As we venture overseas we are thankful for a strong church community in support of our family. We are looking forward to seeing how God uses this body of believers even more in our lives to prepare us and support in the ministry of church planting. God continues to humble us with the marvelous design of the Bride of Christ.
