By David Wesley
I enjoy receiving and collecting newsletters sent out by missionaries. These letters as well as missionary blog sites lead me to pray for those who are serving Christ in exciting ways. I recently received a bulk email which was sent to a large number of people from a missionary who told an incredible story of missionaries being sent from Latin America. The letter told of a young woman preparing to go from Latin America to Europe. That in itself is an amazing, and historical story. The missionary’s letter told how the young woman had been preparing to leave her home country by training for her new cross cultural experience and also by raising support for two years in Europe. Raising this much money in her home country is enormous, and even though churches had been generous in their offerings, she was still lacking funds. The missionary’s letter went on to tell how a 15 year old boy in her Central American country heard about this, and made the decision to give a computer which he had at home to support this young woman. The boy’s parents were proud that their son had given in this way, even though this computer represented a great sacrifice that his father had made to save money from his small salary.
The missionary told how he went to this family’s humble home to pick up the computer. He also mentioned that he would be looking for someone to purchase the computer so that the money could be passed on to the work of the young woman going as a missionary to Europe. As I read this story, I thought, this is a great story of how missionaries had worked alongside people with whom they were serving in order to carry out the mission of God. The missionary assumed that the people in the country where he was serving could be missionaries just as he was a missionary; he also assumed that people could participate in sending missionaries. What an incredible story of God’s work which does not have political or economic boundaries.
For those of us, for whom a computer does not represent the equivalent of income for one year, we struggle with stories like these. We ask ourselves, “What is my offering in comparison to one like this?” or we come to the conclusion that this family’s willingness to give is great, but that we should step in and find a way to give the computer back.
In the global society in which we live, we find many complex situations like this. For those of us who live in North America, we cannot ignore the fact that even those who live at a basic level are still at the top 5% of the world’s most wealthy. What do we do with that?
Historically, the church in parts of the world with greater amounts of financial capital has struggled with developing good practices for using money in mission work to impoverished parts of society. There was a time in history when Europeans and North Americans understood mission activity to include not only spreading the Gospel, but also spreading the culture and the wealth of their nations to parts of the world that were perceived as being impoverished in the areas of Christianity, economics and advanced areas of culture. Several authors[i] in the past ten years have noted the incredible growth[ii] of Christianity in areas which historically have been recipients of missionaries from North America and Europe. At the same time, authors such as Lesslie Newbigin have noted the waning spiritual vitality, primarily in Europe. Without doubt, the center for “spiritual capital” is not one specific nation which has the responsibility to tell its story to the other nations. In the words of Peruvian missiologist, Samuel Escobar, mission’s is not an endeavor of “the west to the rest[iii].” God’s mission moves from any place where there are people whose lives have been transformed by the Gospel. It is only natural, therefore, that brothers and sisters in parts of the world who begun a journey of faith with Christ would desire to participate in God’s Mission to the nations. It is also only natural that thousands of people in local churches have a desire to participate in hands on missions through short term mission activities. Missions are not limited to “professionals”, it is not limited to those who live in wealthy countries, and it is not limited by our resources. If we truly believe that it is God’s mission that we are involved in (and I do) instead of missions being just another activity of the church which can be controlled in a mechanical manner, or just by those with resources to purchase international airplane tickets. We would also believe that God will work through brothers and sisters who are of many different cultural backgrounds and who participate in missions in ways that we never imagined. The task of missions “is being carried out by the missionaries of poorer churches who demonstrate in their own lives the truth that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life for the poor, the destitute and the hopeless –and not just for the rich…these missionaries are on the cutting edge of the expansion of the Kingdom today.”[iv]
In the face of these realities, some have asked, “why then do we send missionaries from North America?” or “what is a healthy way to use resources in a world with enormous disparity between those who have resources and those who do not have resources?”
In Fareed Zakaria’s recent book titled “The Post-American World”[v]. The very first phrase of the book is, “This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else.” Although this is primarily a book about global economies, the very same words could be said in relation to Christianity and particularly the Church of the Nazarene. The church is not so much declining[vi] in America, but it is growing at an unprecedented rate everywhere else. What does it mean for North American Nazarene’s to participate in God’s Mission to the nations in a “Post-American” World in which Westerner’s are still a vital part of the mission, but equally a part are brothers and sisters from every part of the globe?
Although we don’t always get it right, I do believe that within the DNA of those called Nazarene’s is a deep desire to give sacrificially and to be actively involved in God’s Mission to their fellow Christians, to their community and to “the nations”. Before his untimely ‘home going’ a couple of years ago, I often had the honor of interpreting for Dr. Bruno Radi in mission services and rally’s in the U.S. With tears of gratitude, he would often make it a point to thank those in the U.S. for giving sacrificially to send missionaries through which his life and his family’s life were changed for eternity. This very same spirit of giving can be seen in the new generation of Nazarene’s in Central America, and in many other parts of the globe today where the Gospel is spreading, not because of money or technique, but rather because people are absolutely desperate for God.
The following are a few steps toward “good practices” in mission giving for consciences Christians who want to participate in God’s Mission:
1) Work with missionaries and others who understand the mission context as well as the donor’s context.
- Long term missionaries who live with the people you wish to serve, learning the language and culture are vital. From outside, one may think they understand the needs, and the best ways to use funds toward those needs, but many times my perception of the need or the solution is not correct. Long term, career missionaries who can serve as links between two cultures, matching real needs with the available funds are the first step in wise mission giving.
2) Connect giving with ‘Kingdom objectives’.
- Since buildings and projects are easy to measure and count, we often say that our goal is to “build a church”, or “show a film”. These are both excellent activities, but they are not our goal. If our ‘mission work’ does not somehow connect to the ultimate goals of the Kingdom of God, we can easily get lost in activity with no direction. Our giving should connect to long term objectives which flow out God’s Mission. This not always easy to measure or count.
3) Build integrity by working with reputable institutions rather than individuals.
- Working with a reputable institution builds integrity from the beginning. Partnership in our world is a given. In the past, dependency was seen as negative. We, however, live in an interdependent world. It is non-sense to say, “Don’t put money in a specific world area so they don’t become dependent”- you should put money into key projects that accomplish key objectives. A partnership makes both sides responsible, resulting in healthy use of available resources which reduces the risk of unhealthy dependency from person to person giving.
4) Treat people who receive as adults who are equally accountable.
- Although there may be culturally distinct values related to money, how it is to be used and accounted for, both the donor as well as the recipient or administrator of any funds must be mutually accountable and mutually respected. This implies open book accountability on all sides. Those who give should never think that their giving places them in a place of authority over those who receive.
5) Appreciate ‘spiritual capital’ as well as ‘financial capital.’
- Donors must realize that although they may have “financial capital”, the people to whom they go may have incredible “spiritual capital” and other resources which cannot be measured in Dollars and cents. Instead of assuming that you are just going to complete a project, teach other people, or build a building. Take advantage of the opportunity to learn from those in other cultures who have learned to be Christian in a context that most of us struggle to live in as visitors for two weeks. It is nothing more than arrogance to assume that we cannot learn from those on the cutting edge of the Church.
6) Value giving that is two directional.
- Don’t assume that giving is one directional. The offering of the boy from Central America has value in the Kingdom of God, just as much as the wealthy person who can give large sums of money. It is exciting to see Nazarene missionaries who raise their support from churches who never thought of themselves as capable of sending missionaries. If we are to be a truly missional church which is driven by God’s Mission, this will increasingly be seen as a normal activity of the church.
7) See individual projects within the greater overall mission of the church.
- Many projects are short lived or have limited impact. The reason for this is not because they are bad projects, but rather because they are not within the vision of the area where they are implemented. The result is that there is limited follow through, or support to continue the project is not available.
There is an Umbuto, Zulu proverb which says, “A person is a person through other persons”. A similar African proverb is: “Without you there is no me.” Within the global Church, there are incredible spiritual, financial, and other resources available to edify one another and to participate in what God is doing to bring justice and reconciliation to the world. Christianity was meant to be lived as a community endeavor. Independence or Dependence are not options that we have, interdependence, however, is a real option with real possibilities for participating in God’s Global Mission.
[i] See Andrew Walls and Philip Jenkins in particular.
[ii] This is primarily spiritual vitality and passion which has resulted in numeric growth.
[iii] See Samuel Escobar’s, The New Global Mission: The Gospel from everywhere to everyone.
[iv] See Jonathan Bonk, Missions and Money
[v] Zakaria, Fareed. The Post American World
[vi] I use the word “decline” not simply in relation to statistics and church growth, but rather in a holistic manner that refers to the Church as a whole.
