There are X missionaries in our church group.
The cost of sending each one to their ‘mission field’ is Y.
The total amount of money that our church group receives from one another is Z.
What calculation between X, Y and Z should be used to decide who to send where?
When they reach their respective ‘mission fields’, what should the missionaries teach the local church about the relationship between X, Y and Z?
4 comments:
Z-XY>0, if not pray and/or increase Z or reduce Y a decision for the individual or reduce X a decision for the church?
thinking about this stirs up questions more than answers.
how is f(xyz) affected by the notion that every believer is a missionary? should each believer make a bid for the church coffers with a convincing need?
should it be that z=xy. that is to say that all church spending is to further somebody-or-anothers concept of 'mission'. if z were less than xy it would suggest that God doesnt provide for his creation and if z were greater than xy then the church would be behaving as a bank or other business - not really what Jesus said about 'storing up treasures' etc.
if all believers are missionaries then x cannot be decreased.
the value of y depends on what constitutes 'sending'. often in the west, church groups have leaving parties to 'send' missionaries overseas when what they are really saying is 'you are still part of us' by a financial umbilical chord. this is a practice that the receiving community would find it virtually impossible to reciprocate. does that matter?
the value of y also depends on what constitutes 'mission', which industries are receiving the custom e.g. transport, petrochemical, education, medical. what is a biblical view of 'spending well'? should missionaries find the cheapest of everything so as to reduce y?
Surely the only thing that matters is recognising the call of God on the x's - are they going because God has called them or because its a need they or someone else sees and thinks they should meet - if they're going at the call of God and this is recognised in the church and affirmed then we should expect that God will provide sufficient z to meet the needs. Personally, I don't think there should be any way that z influences whether to recognise a call of God or not - if there's not a real sense of a call of God, I'd question whether a church should be financing even if they are 'sending'
in interesting point bblue.
how would you say we recognise the 'call of God' on others?
e.g. i could tell you that something in my spirit is yearning me to do something. you could tell me that i am hearing the Holy Spirit or that i am hearing other voices or that i am a liar or that i am nuts. could you really tell?
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