Ministry Partnership Development

What is MPD (support raising) and how does it work?

What is MPD?

Ministry Partnership Development (MPD) is the process of inviting God’s people to partner with you in the work God has called you to. You may have heard it referred to as support raising. Through MPD, God builds a team of prayer and financial partners for each staff member. This team provides for the salaries, benefits, and spiritual needs of our staff, enabling them to serve the Lord in full-time ministry through their skills.

Why MPD?

MPD is God's Idea

Throughout Scripture, we see that the primary way God provides for those He has called to full-time ministry is through His people. This pattern begins with the Levites and continues through Jesus, Paul, and the early church. Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 9:14:

“the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”

When Paul says, ‘receive their living from the gospel,’ he means that they receive it from the church—from God’s people. MPD isn’t just a funding strategy—it’s God’s strategy for empowering ministry and actively involving His people in His work.

MPD Involves God's People in God's Work

In Philippians 1:5, Paul thanks the church for their, “partnership in the gospel,” and then in Philippians 4:15-16, he says:

“And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.”

MPD is not just about money; it is a deep, spiritual partnership that brings people into God’s work, just like the Philippian church was brought into Paul’s ministry.

MPD Develops Your Faith

MPD requires practical, tangible faith that God will provide for your needs. When ministry is hard and the spiritual battle weighs heavily on us, MPD provides a tangible reminder of God’s power, grace, and provision for us and the work He has called us to. MPD helps equip us to trust the Lord with the real needs and challenges we will face in long-term ministry. It also gives each staff member confidence in the ministry calling God has given them because He has tangibly provided for them to be here.

MPD Enables Ministry

MPD provides the foundation for a network of thousands of people who pray for and invest in what God is doing here— including you and all that God is doing through SonSet Solutions.

MPD also covers the salary and benefits of all of our staff. This reduces the cost of ministry solutions for the hundreds of ministries we partner with each year, enabling more ministry to be accomplished.

Biblical Resources

Want to learn more about MPD and where it comes from? Check out these resources and Bible studies:

What does MPD look like?

1-Training

Goal: Equip you well to do the job of MPD that we are asking you to do.
Duration: 3-4 months
Workload: 3-5 hours per week of homework plus a weekly meeting with one of our MPD coaches. This training is designed to happen while you are working full-time.
Format: Online course and the book The God Ask
Content:

  • Biblical Foundations - Explore Scripture to understand why we do MPD and align your thinking with how God thinks about it.
  • Practical Tools - Apply those Biblical principles to develop the tools and resources you neeed to do MPD and answer thinks like:
    • Who do you meet with?
    • How do you share about your ministry?
    • How do you manage your schedule?

2-Bootcamp

Goal:Reinforce and practice everything you learned and prepared during training, then launch you into MPD.
Duration: 2-3 days
Format: In-person conference

3-Salary and Health Insurance

Goal: Provide staff with the compensation they need to focus on MPD as their full-time work and ministry. SonSet Solutions guarantees this compensation regardless of support level to free you up to focus on MPD.
Compensation:

  • Salary - A modest salary based on your family status, designed to meet basic living costs for a short season.
  • Health Insurance - Available if needed

4-Full Time MPD

Goal: Fill your schedule by meeting face-to-face with people God has placed in your life and inviting them to partner in the work He has called you to. You will develop a team of financial and prayer partners that  over 100% of your support needs.
Location: Where you know people!
Duration: 2-3 days
Fact to Face Meetings: 100-200
Expectations: 

  • 10+ meetings per week
  • ~40 hours of MPD work per week

5-Reach 100%

All staff must be 100% supported before beginning office-based project work so they are well prepared for long-term, healthy ministry. Once you reach 100%, the following happen:

  • Set an office start date
  • Relocation coordination (if needed)
  • Begin serving in the office
  • Receive fully supported salary and benefits
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