SIL Facilitators

"The attrition rate in the Christian life is absolutely horrendous." - Walt Henrichsen

This statement has engraved itself on and broken our hearts. In 2014 Matthew asked a Chaplain friend how he was doing. The Chaplain described the ministry and everything the Chapel was doing. When Matthew asked again how he was doing, he stopped and exclaimed, "I am not sure anyone has ever asked me that." This left a lasting impression on Matthew.

Studying the attrition rate in Ministry, and specifically overseas, roughly 6.5% of missionaries leave the field every year. Many of those are in their first term and that equates to nearly 50% every seven years. It takes about seven years for a missionary to get established in a culture, learn the language, and build relationships before they see their first convert. This means that every seven years 50% of the work that missionaries do needs to be restarted with a new worker starting from scratch.

We partner with JAARS in order to provide resources and to facilitate the ministry of workers overseas. Our hope is to encourage and empower missionaries to stay in the field. The longer missionaries stay in the field, the longer they can continue to expand God's Kingdom. And those first generation of men and women and reengage in their own culture and language to see the spread of the Kingdom. We seek to help missionaries to stay engaged so that the number of workers continues to increase instead of stagnating or declining. This will ensure the work continues to expand.