Why We Should Protect Our Mission Budgets in 2021
“So exactly what does a gift to MRN produce? What is the cost in dollars per soul?” asked the potential donor. I was stumped and wanted to check my ears. How would we calculate this? I wondered what he would consider an acceptable ratio. In his defense, he is a good man who was just trying to be a good steward, but the way he framed the question was stunning to me. It made us wonder, what is the value of a soul? How do you calculate the ROI (return on investment) for missions? We are fooling ourselves if we think people don’t ask such questions.
After a mission report at a church where I was the preacher, one member said to me, “I did the math, and it costs us $10,000 for every person converted over there. We’d be better off investing that money here.” Other people have said the following to me, "I don't know why we need to send all that money and all those bright young people overseas when there are so many people right here who need the Lord.” "We’ve been sending missionaries for over a hundred years, and there are churches all over the world now. Why are we still sending missionaries?"
While these are not the most sensitive ways to ask such questions, I understand. After all, I have to justify our budget at MRN every year. There is no doubt we need creative evangelistic efforts in the U.S. So why send so much money there when we have so much need here? These concerns are only intensified in a global pandemic when people around us are hurting, and giving is down in many churches. Times like this normally turn our eyes to local concerns.
So why protect our mission budgets in 2021?
Kingdom math is different: The idea that investing globally hurts our work in the USA is based on false assumptions. Research demonstrates that churches with robust global missions’ ministries have more to spend on domestic ministry. Their people give better, and they're more evangelistic. It's who they are. God gives more to churches who give themselves away. That is the promise of Jesus. “Give and it will be given to you . . .” “If you seek to save your life you will lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake and for the gospel, you will find it.” Money is not a zero-sum game for those who serve the one who multiplies loaves and fishes. When churches love God’s world with God’s heart, he blesses them because he can trust them.
To fulfill our commission: In his final words in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus said “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, . . .” We can't complete that call if we all stay in our back yard. The U.S. is one of the most churched nations on the planet. It is a rare person in this country who does not have access to the gospel. That is simply not true in most of the world. 86% of Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus have never met a Jesus-follower and have no direct access to the gospel. There are billions of people in unreached people groups worldwide who still need to hear the good news. The global church has limited capacity to reach them without help. We have the ability to make significant contributions to global kingdom expansion and are commanded to do so.
To share what we’ve been given: In a scary parable about the wise and foolish managers, Jesus says in Luke 12:48b “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” We will have to give an account for how we’ve managed the resources God has given us in a world of massive darkness and need. The U.S. only has 4% of the world’s people, but we have 25% of its wealth. 70% of the church lives in the majority world, but they only have 17% of the church’s money. But it’s not just money we have in abundance. It is a legacy of strong churches, education, medicine, engineering, etc. We cannot ignore the global need for the gospel and hope in a world of evil and suffering and expect to be commended in judgment.
To learn from our global brothers: The first conference of church leaders in Acts 15 was called to address conflict over ethnic tensions. At that conference, instead of just studying scripture or issuing apostolic mandates, the early church leaders listened to testimony about what God was doing in far off countries to inform what they should do. The early church had apostles, but still listened and learned by experience. They knew God was at work in the world and wanted to follow him. They wanted to do what he was blessing, not just ask him to bless what they were doing. The kingdom of God is growing much faster in other places than it is in the U.S. If we are not connected closely to the global church, we’ll miss out on learning from what God is doing in the most dramatic stories of Gospel advancement. We will likely stay stuck in models and methods that no longer work. To learn all our global family can teach us, we have to be connected globally.
Because love compels us: Our motivations matter, and the most important one is not pragmatic. Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:14-15 “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again”. Once Jesus has our hearts, and we understand what he offers us in the Kingdom, we can’t help but want everyone to know. Why take the gospel to the world? Because God loves them, and we love them with him.
While we have many needs around us all the time, never lose sight of why we must stay connected to the global mission of God. It’s the only faithful thing we