Worker Support
A Word to Churches from Paul Greer
10% Worker Fee
In January 2023 the addition of a 10% worker fee was announced to our FMI workers, US churches and missions partners. The overall purpose of the fee is to provide increased levels of support to our FMI workers in an increasingly complex world and to expand FMI’s capacity to send new workers to the field. While the addition of the fee was announced early in 2023, the Foursquare Board delayed implementation until January 2025, giving our new and existing workers 2 years to raise the additional funds.
Letters Sent to Workers + Churches
Worker Fee – Frequently Asked Questions
No. Missions giving has remained consistent. However, the costs associated with administration, deployment, care and more workers in the field have increased. We also want to continue to improve our services and care, and the worker fee enables us to do this.
No, it does not. It simply offsets part of the cost of training, deploying, and keeping FMI workers in the field. It also helps to offset part of the costs of:
- The recently developed Field Support Services team – employees who serve our workers and donors in financial management, technology development and support.
- The fees associated with our new giving page and platform (Classy), systems, software, bank fees, wire fees and credit card fees.
- Ensuring that all monies sent globally are distributed legally and in compliance with complicated international anti-terrorism laws.
- Training deployment and care (TDC). Our TDC team provides ongoing training, counseling, coaching, resourcing, and support for emergency and trauma-related situations.
- Please note the worker fee would not even cover 1/3 of the items above. FMI and The Foursquare Church continue to be generous towards our workers.
- Every church, ministry, organization and business have costs associated with them. While pastors may love to see 100% of church funds being invested solely in discipleship and outreach or to increase staffing, the reality is that overhead costs (mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc.) make up a significant portion of a budget. These costs lead to a smaller percentage of funds going directly to ministry efforts. Likewise, there is a cost to training, sending, and caring for FMI workers. The Foursquare Church has blessed us as they have covered all these costs for many years. Foursquare and FMI are not asking the workers to pay for everything but to partner with us in our mission.
- FMI is partially funded by the Shared Cause budget (about 25% of the total). This amount can fluctuate based on church tithe and the other needs of the Cause team (shared mission, districts, multiply, NextGen). The Worker Fee brings stability and consistency to covering some of the costs for training and sending FMI workers.
- The end goal is to steward the Lord’s resources well, so the work of the Great Commission is finished.
- In addition to its own fundraising (FMI raises over 79% of its total budget), FMI has gone through various phases over the years (tithe of the tithe, endowment contribution, and currently, the shared cause budget)
- FMI workers, FDR, and FMP all raise their own funds.
- Despite the impact of the return on tithe on operating budgets, FMI desires to be a scalable and improving/growing missions sending organization ready to serve the Lord and do our part to finish the Great Commission. God is answering our prayer for more workers (Matt. 9:38) as we have seen an increase in people responding to His call to Go. This increase of FMI workers results in increased costs, and our current structure cannot sustain future growth. The worker fee is one portion of a solution to becoming more streamlined and effective in sending and supporting FMI workers to share the Gospel.
- A purpose of the return of the tithe is to increase missional engagement at the local church level. This means the cost and responsibility of mission was voted on such that mission ownership shifts more towards local churches. Churches that give to the Global Mission Fund and to FMI workers help support the field work and help partner and take ownership of that missional responsibility. Foursquare’s overall budget and what it can pay for and do is impacted by the return of the tithe, which then impacts the shared cause budget, in turn impacting FMI’s overall budget.
Absolutely! Please do.
- We continue with the vision from the scriptures to “make disciples of all nations.” We believe our shared identity and mission bring our unique Kingdom expression to the forefront. Values from our beginnings, our keystones, our global distinctives, our stance on women in ministry leadership (WIML) and our Pentecostal ethos and our missiological approach are what continue to distinguish us within the body of Christ.
- We continue to open nations and reach the unreached. With this increased missionary force and global church partnership, we are being more effective than ever!
- Changes were implemented over 15 years ago that shifted the responsibility of fundraising and support to the worker.
- Our Global Associate Directors (GADs) are still paid through the Global Missions Fund, which also supports projects and initiatives associated with global regions and national movements. This is vital to the overall support of our Global Church and national works around the world through which our missionaries are sent.
- Regional Coordinators (except those that carry multiple roles) raise their own support while partnering with the GADs to serve nations and regions and coordinating U.S. global engagement and partnership.
- Individual churches or donors are not usually aware of the myriad of laws and regulations that govern global ministry activities. There are essential oversight and documentation requirements that must be fulfilled for field-based workers to share in the denomination’s group tax exemption and to comply with compensation laws. A failure to follow these rules can jeopardize the worker, a sending church, and the denomination. The Foursquare Church has developed the expertise and infrastructure to ensure these requirements are followed and that funds are stewarded well. For more information about the oversight requirements for global ministry activities, please see the articles below:
- The Foursquare board governs and stewards all Foursquare monies. FMI has no authority over or access to those funds beyond making special proposals or requests from the Board.
- We received feedback from a group of our workers, and they did not think the fee should be called a tithe. Every worker has different tithing structures. Some tithe to their sending church, some to the nation they live in, etc. If they wanted to count the fee as their tithe or as part of their giving, that is between them and the Lord, and FMI has no issue with that.
- The missions committee researched and evaluated the need for a worker fee in 2019, and the committee made a proposal to the board of directors which was approved. It was determined that once our services, finances, and giving platforms were serving our workers well, the fee would be implemented. That is part of the HUB 2.0 process. We are striving to set our workers up for long-term fruitfulness and giving them the best services possible.
- This was a generous decision made by Foursquare leadership that gives time to discover ways to cover ministry costs (giving platform, recruiting, training, deployment, care, etc.) and to give all FMI workers time to raise additional support to make up the difference. Many workers come back to the US to raise support and visit their partners every 2 to 3 years. This will hopefully give them a window for one of those visits to raise any additional support needed for the worker fee, inflation, or other ministry opportunities.
Support an FMI Worker
Foursquare Missions International has just over 300 missionaries and workers serving worldwide, including families with kids, couples and individuals. Know a specific missionary already in the field? Give directly to them or other missionaries here.