In This Issue: Mission Mobilizers and Their Money
- FEATURE ARTICLE: Mission Mobilizers and Money Management
- SUBVERSIVE MOBILIZATION: The Power of Thank You
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Practical Mobilization by Shane Bennett is published once a month.
Mission Mobilizers and Money Management
By Shane Bennett
Have you seen the movie What Would Jesus Buy? Although laser-targeted to an American audience, the film asks us all good questions about the commercialization of Christmas, our tendency to get caught up in our culture’s values for money and possessions, and the impact of our buying habits on the people who produce the goods we buy.
Our home group watched it together recently. We laughed. We cheered. We winced in pain.
The movie challenged us to think about what we buy and why, who we buy stuff from, and our responsibilities as consumers. While I’m pretty resistant to taking on a yoke of slavery about these things, I do want to be thoughtful. I think all of us who follow Jesus should be.
How do you spend your money? It’s a touchy question, isn’t it?
- I would guess that as mobilizers, sharing a common concern for God’s kingdom to grow around the world, we probably spend less of our money on ourselves than the people among whom we live do. I might be wrong. I’m also aware that it could sound a little arrogant.
- Another guess is that as a class we make less money, and as a result have less discretionary income, than many of our peers.
- Even if number 2 is true, if you’re reading this you are probably among the richest people on the planet.
- Finally, I admit the likelihood that as an American, I have some less-than-exemplary ideas about money. I may not be aware of them all.
As I’ve wondered about these issues, three things have risen to the surface for me.
Examining Assumptions
I think I’ve long harbored a hunch that poverty is a mark of spirituality. Some poor people are certainly spiritual. Jesus said it’s hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom. Even so, being poor does not equal being spiritual. Sometimes it equals being lazy. I want to seek God for clarity, provision, and stewardship in both the way money comes into my life and the way it goes out.
I also need to check the pernicious temptation to be a pawn of perceived obsolescence. Rather than obsessing over the performance flaws in the latest version of my hardware or the neat options available in the next version of my software, I want to practice contentment and mastery with what I have. In the interest of full disclosure, let me confess I’m writing this on a really great and fairly new Mac notebook. (I try to walk the talk, but sort of shuffle instead.)
Cultivating Contentment
I want to cultivate contentment and generosity. This week the pastor of my church spoke about riches, contentment, and generosity. 1 Timothy 6:6-19 really connected with me. Tucked in the middle is the oft-quoted, “. . .the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (verse 10) but I’m challenged also by what comes before and after: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (verses 6-8).
Am I content with just that? Sometimes, but far too seldom.
Paul also tells Timothy to, “Command them (the rich) to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (verse 18). Since we all know someone richer than us and therefore fancy ourselves “not rich,” we watched Rob Bell’s Nooma video Rich. It was an eye-opener and a healthy challenge. I encourage you to watch it. This website will give you a sense of Rob’s starting point .
The point is, many of us have a lot more than most of the rest of the world. How well do we do at sharing?
Confronting Obstacles
Finally, I want to destroy myths and put finances in proper perspective as I mobilize.
I think we’d all agree that when we begin speaking about sending missionaries or giving to missions, our audience almost involuntarily shifts a hand to guard their wallets or purses. Too many people have heard (or think they have heard) too many times that their contribution to the task begins and ends with giving money.
If I’m talking to a church on Sunday morning and assuming that the pews might hold at least a few skeptics, I’ll sometimes try this:
“Anyone can send checks. Sending missionaries is about way more than sending checks. But to get past the financial question, let me throw out two ideas: What if you took your penny jar to a nearby Coinstar kiosk. But instead of getting a receipt for cash from customer service, you request an Amazon.com gift certificate. You then email the string of digits representing your new Amazon money to your missionary friend in Faroffistan. She gets blessed (since only maybe six missionaries on the planet don’t like books!) and you tidy up your house a bit (and also get blessed in the process).”
That’s the shallow end of the pool of stewardship. Eying the high dive, I may ask:
“What if 20 years from now you’re sitting at a table and someone looks you in the eye and says, ‘It will take 25 million for this project to fly. Will you do it?’ And they’re asking you because they believe you can. And you’re sitting at that particular table because they’re right, you actually can! Can you imagine that?”
What if God wants to position some of us to fund huge endeavors? It will take focus, fight, and at least a few years. It’s not for many of us, I’m sure. But I think it might help occasionally to lift our “missionary giving” thoughts beyond the tepid realm of, “If I gave up two trips to Starbucks a month, I could give US$8.00 to missions. Oh, can I do it?”
What have you been thinking lately about money and mobilization? Please fire your thoughts off to me. I’ll collect them and include some in a future column. In the meantime, God bless you in all ways (both material and spiritual).
SUBVERSIVE MOBILIZATION: The Power of Thank You
Can I just say something to you quickly? Thanks for reading this. I’m blessed and encouraged that you do. It makes the time and effort of writing feel more worthwhile.
I don’t know about you, but a well-worded thank you works for me: Someone hands me a card after I speak, expressing thoughtful, relevant gratitude; my wife looks up from her work and thanks me for bringing her tea; or I think about the show of appreciation I hope to hear from Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Sadly, I’m no poster child for saying thank you. I feel it far more often than I do it, and I don’t feel it often enough. But it seems deeply right and good when I do.
How about you? Do you have some tips for saying thank you that you’d be willing to share with the Missions Catalyst community? Send them in. We would be so grateful.
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