The sad reality of a downturn in giving…

Elissa posted on it yesterday – and I’m not really sure I have time to talk about it as much as I’d like to, but I do want to “strike while the iron is hot” on this particular topic.

Yesterday I received an email from the president of the C&MA, Gary Benedict. He was sharing with us a letter that he had sent to the missionaries. In it, he said:

At the Board of Directors meeting in February, the budget for next fiscal year was set at $37.5 million, which is a decrease of $3.2 million from the present budget. I have been working with the team in Colorado Springs to make the appropriate adjustments. As difficult as it is, we are at the point of personnel reductions. This is an agonizing experience for leadership and the workers affected. The first week of March, personnel reductions were made at the National Office.

To meet the reduced budget target of $1.8 million less in International Ministries, plans have been made for a 5 percent reduction in missionary personnel above normal attrition. This represents 30 people. The International Ministries team, including field, regional, and National Office leaders, has poured itself out on a number of fronts to deal with the financial realities. Included have been focused times of prayer and fasting, initiatives to increase revenues, capping new appointments, additional cutbacks in field budgets, careful use of reserves, and selling of some assets to provide additional revenue streams. Many of the people who are working on this are present and former missionaries who have felt deep anguish over all of this.

As I read the letter, my heart sank. I know that this decision was not easy to make – and frankly, I’m not surprised it’s come to this. We’ve been seeing the GCF (Great Commission Fund – the fund used by the Alliance to finance missionaries) struggle to make budget, and the reality is that if giving doesn’t increase, spending decreases. We see that in local churches. We have a flat budget – same as last year, for our church – with no salary increases for pastors. We know this is part of the reality of ministry.

People pin it on all sorts of things – many people will say this is because of the recession, but I’m not convinced. This GCF struggle is not new with the downturn in giving. People blame it on generational issues – people not wanting to give to a “fund”, but I don’t think that’s completely true. Honestly – I think it’s a reflection of misplaced passions.

In the early years of Crown College, when it was still St. Paul Bible College, they would hold city-wide missions conferences where 20-30,000 people would attend. People would take off their jewelry and put it in the offering plates because they believed that giving to missions made a difference! They believed that lost people mattered to God, and that he desperately wanted them found. They sincerely believed that if they didn’t fund missions, lost people could die and go to hell.

That’s the heartbreaking thing for me. 30 missionaries will be coming home. Four couples – fully accredited and ready to go are not going to be sent. That has an eternal impact – because lost people will not be hearing the good news. I’m deeply grieved for the missionaries that will be coming home, I can’t imagine the heartache they will be experiencing – but I’m even more saddened that the result of this is that there are people who will not hear.

3.2 million dollars is a lot of money – but if 100,000 Alliance families gave $32.00 more a year, we would not have a problem. That’s less than $3.00 a month – $.75 a week.

To me the big problem isn’t that we’re in a recession. The big problem is that American Christians are not so impacted by the fact that people are lost and going to hell that it impacts their spending habits. Too many American Christians have determined that cell phones, satellite or cable TV, high-speed internet, fast-food excursions, and designer coffees are necessities. I’ve had couples in my office asking for financial help with humongous monthly cell phone bills. It’s astonishing what we have allowed to become needs. We’ve been incredibly blessed by God, yet we’ve used it for our own pleasures. Rarely do you hear of people sacrificially giving, because we’ve twisted our theology in such a way that our excess is a sign of God’s blessing. It’s perverse, and in our relatively small denomination, we are seeing the impacts of that.

I’m not sharing this in a boasting way – but Elissa and I have made decisions for our family that do have an impact on our luxuries. We chose to get out of debt and to support some ministries – so it means we do without. We tithe, give to our local church’s building fund above our tithe, and support the GCF. We also give some money to friends that are church planters. Every time we’ve upped our giving, we’ve had to make sacrifices. We don’t carry cell phones. We don’t have satellite tv, we have just 1 reliable car, we try to tightly regulate our expenses. Certainly – we also spend on some things. We do have high speed internet. We subscribe to Netflix. We purchased a new laptop. I remodeled our house last year. But – what we do is prayerfully consider what we should give, and then understand that it has a cost. For us – the fact that lost people will hear about Jesus is more important than having 150 channels at the touch of a button. I’m not trying to say that in a condemning way – but I think that we have lost that mindset in many of our churches. People don’t have to give what we give (and we’re not giving THAT much) – but they do have to realize that every yes to something is a no to something else. The lattes, the McDonald’s trips, the Satellite TV, the High Speed internet, and every other choice needs to be carefully scrutinized and should be prayed over. These things are not RIGHTs. The money we have is a gift from God – and needs to be used for His kingdom.

It’s one thing to say that we care about lost people. It’s another thing to actually let that impact your life choices. In our church of over 100 families, last year we had 17 families pledge to give to the GCF. More people than that gave, but still… more than 83 family units chose to not commit to monthly support of missions. I understand it’s a personal choice – but it is one with consequences. Some of my families couldn’t afford to give much – but I know that every one of them could afford $3.00 a month. Christianity is not a theoretical religion – it’s one that impacts our life. If we only care about lost people in theory, we are doing nothing to save them from hell. It must be practical.

I’m having trouble bringing this in for a landing, so I’ll just close with this – would you pray? Pray for the missionaries that will be hearing that they have to come home, but also pray about how you can be a part of the team that’s reaching lost people around the world! Pray about your financial decisions – and how you can be a part of the team.

 

Blessings,

 

mike