I said in a recent post that my husband and I are not good fundraisers. Fundraising should be a necessary skill for missionaries, if you think about it logically. Logic says that living overseas, planting churches, feeding projects, schools, and leadership academies, like we do, requires one to know how to raise funds. There are books, classes, and seminars on the subject. But we have admittedly not followed what is considered to be the norm. That doesn’t mean that we have ignored it, we have just navigated it differently. Fundraising has been, and still is, something we agonize over in prayer. Let’s see how well I can describe this tricky part of what we do and how we approach it.
A little more about fundraising
It’s important, I feel, for me to unpack a little more about fundraising for several reasons. Discussing this is important for potential future missionaries to think about as well as for those who want to support them, us, or anyone else who has dared to go. Finding missionaries willing to go is hard. It’s also hard to find supporters for them. Many are waiting for a supernatural call, a dream, or angelic visitation but that’s not needed. Why not? Because we’ve already been given the mandate to go. The mandate didn’t end with the changing of the century. There has always been and always will be missionaries, at home and abroad.
“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Mark 16:15 NKJV
Obeying the command to “Go” requires funding. It is impossible to go across town without funding. Even if you walk, you’ll need a meal to sustain you to make that walk across town. The principle of resourcing remains. How to go about it Biblically, without relying on ourselves, is where the rub lies. God doesn’t need us, nor does He want us, to manipulate people’s emotions to give. He has the power to move those needed to partner with those of us who have answered His call to “Go.”
Never under compulsion
God has never, yes never, insisted on anyone doing anything for Him by compulsion. We have been created with a free will and God is looking for people that want to serve Him freely, out of love not coercion. He desires all of us to serve Him, to come to know Him (see 1 Tim. 2:4) but will not force anyone.
“And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15 NKJV
As a Wise Father, God has put the best choice before us (to serve Him). But, again, He won’t force His will on anyone. As wise children, we would do well to listen to Him. This principle holds true over every area of our lives from not only choosing Him as Lord, but also in how we treat our loved ones, neighbors, and even in our giving.
Spirituality and the offering
There are teachings that equate spiritual maturity with how much you give in the offering. Also, there are those who think about fundraising as a necessary skill that leaders should learn. There’s nothing farther from the truth than that. How can I be sure of this? Well, there are millionaires who give hundreds of thousands in donations to good organizations but they live like the devil otherwise. They’re not spiritual, it may be they give just to get the tax credit (if they live in the USA). Even people who don’t know the Lord are aware that that they need to love and care for others (see Matt. 7:11). Spiritual maturity has a much broader gauge to it than measuring what was given in the offering.
At the same time, there is a principle that you give to what is important to you.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV
Our families, friends, loved ones, and issues that are close to us will direct where we give our money. God has placed these values in us and this is where conscience comes into play. However, as we all know, not everyone follows their conscience. In fact, when people ignore the prompts of their consciences long enough, they become excessively selfish.
Unfair tactics
We’ve all seen the abuses of fundraising. This is why many, myself included, are hesitant to even talk about fundraising. Recently, I mentioned how someone had made a lot of money on those books in the 1980s that predicted (inaccurately) when Jesus would return (I don’t even want to link to anything that references those books). These kinds of tactics that unfairly pull on the emotions of people (who doesn’t want Jesus to return except young people who want to get married?) are not approved by God in any way, shape or form. He has, and always will, wanted people to give only out of a willing heart.
“Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze;”
Exodus 35:5 NKJV
God can get His work done without the complaints of His children. As a parent, there’s little that irritates me more than one of my children obeying me with attitude. I’d rather do a chore myself than hear someone complaining while they do it. In the same way, God wants us to partner with Him in issues that touch our hearts willingly and cheerfully.
About fundraising in the church setting
“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:7 NKJV
The above scripture is referring to giving in a church setting. We are instructed that no one should give out of compulsion or be made to feel guilty for not giving. To give or not lies in the power of the giver not the fundraiser. It’s tempting for the missionary to feel his budget won’t be met in light of this. But the greater truth lies in the fact that God will not send His people somewhere and leave them hungry.
Have there been times when life could have been easier for us? Of course there have, but that is true for everyone, not only missionaries. Life is full of faith challenges. How we rise above the challenge speaks more about us than about the amount of support we receive. We have learned to have much and to have little (see Phil. 4:11) and make it through just like everyone else. We shouldn’t think more of ourselves because we have chosen to live our lives as missionaries. Remember, less is more.
Faith hints about fundraising
Obviously this is a very big subject with many sub-points that takes more than a blog post to cover. My desire in writing this is to take the pressure off of those who send, and those who go, and those who give. We all have a part to play, but the Main Player is not us, it’s God. His record is proven. We don’t have to give “faith hints” or moan about how little money we have if we trust that God is in control. The fact of the matter is we don’t have to worry about fundraising.
People know that it takes money to get work done and those who God connects with us will give and the work will go on. I remember a lesson I learned in Burundi years ago when we were feeding many hundreds of children that were displaced due to the war. They were hungry and all I had was a little money and a large cooking pot my mother had given me. Together with the ladies of our church, we fed as many as we could. We were low on funds and wondered how we were going to continue feeding. The situation was desperate, we only had a few days’ worth of food left. I was worried, but God was not. He just wanted me to trust Him, and trust Him was all we could do.
A garage full of fundraising
One afternoon, after we had finished feeding for the day, I drove home. As I drove in, I saw my garage packed, back to front, with food supplies. There was enough food to supply the outreach for at least a month. Donors, NGOs that weren’t even Christian, had heard of what we were doing and dropped off food that day while I was away. They continued supporting us for a long time. Even the WFP (World Food Program) gave to us time and again throughout the time we fed in Burundi.
God will not be limited by anything. As I’ve quoted Hudson Taylor before, “God’s work done God’s way will never lack God’s supply.” All we have to do is take a step in His direction and He will be faithful to take up the rest of what is needed. We are simply invited to journey with Him and watch Him work wonders.
When it’s needed, we’ll have it
Do we have budgets? Of course we do but meeting the budget is up to God. We present what we are doing and then God opens doors for us to walk through. Could we use more? Of course we could but God knows exactly when we will need what we need. In other words, when it’s needed, we’ll have it.
I’m not a great fundraiser. In fact, I don’t even like to talk much about fundraising (I’ve surprised myself by discussing it as much as I have today). I don’t see fundraising as a necessary skill for the missionary because our work is not really ours. It is God’s work and the funding is up to Him.
The following set of short books is a series written on overseas missions service.
