Several months ago I created a survey where people could ask anonymous questions about Missionary life. People responded with many excellent questions, today I answer the question... Are you as a missionary accountable to anyone for large purchases since you live on support? The quick answer to your question is YES. Read on to learn why and how we are accountable…. When I started full time ministry 19 years ago, as a youth Pastor, my lead Pastor encouraged us to keep time records even though the church did not require them of us. These time records were very helpful to me as I looked back each month and saw where I was spending my time. Also, if a church member or deacon ever had a question about how I used my time I would be able to look though my time records with them and explain where I was spending my time. Ever since these early days in ministry I have recognized the importance of accountability. Accountability:
How am I held accountable for how I spend my time and money My wife and I are part of a larger team of YWAM missionaries that hold us accountable.
We currently lead the national office for YWAM in Fiji. We have about 8 people that work in our office and we all meet together at least 2 times every week to share what we are working on and how we are spending our time. Working together in team means that there is a group of people that knows exactly what you are doing and how you are using your money. We regularly submit our budget and financial information to our supporters. When we are visiting with supporters we openly discuss our finances and willingly share our budget/spending with anyone who asks. In the past we have even included a copy of our annual budget in our newsletters that we send to our supporters. We also sit down with 2 or 3 of our supporters every year and have an in-depth look through our books and openly discuss where we are spending our time/money and how much we budgeting for the future. YWAM leadership and training My wife and I regularly attend workshops and other seminars where we learn about accountability and its importance. Although YWAM has a decentralized leadership structure, accountability is very important to YWAM. At leadership training events, accountability is a common subject and there are lots of resources for people to find help. At many of these events we openly discuss our ministry with YWAM leaders who ask us the “tough questions” and help to hold us accountable to our missionary calling. YWAM staff need to be very intentional to be accountable for their finances and how they spend their money. To many YWAM missionaries and staff stumble and fall because of lack of accountability. Communication and visiting with supporters I believe that we are an extension of the local church when we are working overseas as missionaries. That means that when we return to our home country (Canada 😊) on furlough we make an effort to share in all of our supporting churches what we are doing. We also spend as much time as possible with our supporters showing pictures, telling stories and answering questions about what we are doing as missionaries. We ask people to pray and give us counsel for large purchases and/or decisions Several times each year we need to make major decisions for a variety of things. For example we may be asked to travel to another country to teach or help with a project (we always pay our own airfare and travel expenses) or we may be choosing a new office to rent. In each of these circumstances we will email a group of our supporters, that we believe have a good relationship with God, and ask them to pray. As each person emails us back we consider what they have to say and see if it lines up with what we think that God is saying before we make a decision. When Jesus was on earth He often said that if we are faithful with small things then God will trust us with big things. I believe that how we spend our time and finances is one way that God can see if He can trust us with bigger things. Thank you so much to all of our friends that love us enough to keep us accountable!
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This is a continuation of a blog series where I answer questions that people asked anonymously about missionary life. To see the original survey or to ask your own questions click here.
This is a continuation of a blog series where I answer questions that people asked anonymously about missionary life. To see the original survey or to ask your own questions click here.
A couple of months ago I created an online survey where people could anonymously ask me anything they wanted to about missionary life. I posted the survey on my Facebook page and many people responded with excellent questions. About half of the questions that people asked were money related and fell into one of three categories. a) Living by faith (raising missionary support). b) Missionary salaries and accountability. c) Missionary lifestyles and family choices. My plan is to write a blog post for each category and give a response to each question asked. This blog post will answer the questions that I grouped under the "living by faith (raising missionary support)" category. Other posts will follow in the next few weeks where I respond to the other questions. If you would like to see the original survey or ask your own questions follow this link. Question #1 Why should other people pay your salary? If you truly want to travel and talk about your God, why not get a job that allows you to earn your own money to do so?I would have liked to talk to the person that asked this question and find out if there was also a question behind the question but since the survey was anonymous I'll just answer the question as asked. In 2003 my wife Kim and I were examining our lives and decided that if God was real and the bible was to be believed then we wanted to experience God in a new and powerful way. After years of reading and studying the bible we wanted to take the leap of "faith" and actually do the things that the bible said. It was kind of like reading a brochure for something that claims to be the "worlds highest!...." or the "worlds fastest!....." We had to try it for ourselves and see it was everything that it promised to be! After much prayer and discussion we decided to become missionaries with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). One of the reasons that we choose YWAM is because they do not pay its workers, instead each person much trust God to cover all of their expenses/salary. We left everything that we had (jobs, possessions, friends and family) and followed God into full time missionary work. At the time we did not know much about the "theology of missionary support" or living by faith, we just simply trusted that God would provide for us. I guess that we were inspired by stories in the bible where Jesus would call certain people to follow Him and then taught them that God would provide for all of their needs. To read about these stories in the bible click here (calling of the disciples) then here (God's provision). We did not consider missionary work a career or a job, something that we do for money, but more of a calling, something that God wants us to do. We still need money, most of the time, to pay for things so I will continue with my response to this question below. People serving God in this way is an ancient practice For the first couple of thousand years of biblical history God had a personal relationship with many of the people on the Earth. But as the population of the Earth grew God chose certain people to represent Him to the rest of the human race. These people were sometimes called prophets, judges, priests, prophets or even kings. We do not have time or space to explain each of these roles but the one thing that they all had in common was that God's followers, the humans who worshipped and obeyed Him, were commanded to provide for these people. The best example of God's command for His followers to provide for His priests comes from the book of Numbers in the Old Testament. In this book God's people, the Israelites, are rescued from Egypt and with God's help they defeated the people living in the land of Canaan. As the Israelites begin to occupy the land of Canaan God gives them very specific instructions about who gets what land. Now at this time the Israelites are divided up in 12 tribal groups but only 11 of these tribes receives land in Canaan. Why not the 12th tribe? The 12th tribe that does not receive any land is the tribe of Levi, also referred to as the Levites. This tribe was chosen to be the priestly tribe who is responsible for religious affairs such as sacrifices, leading in worship, prayer, etc. All of the other tribes receive land so that they can grow crops, raise animals, dig for minerals and build cities so that they can be provided for. God then commands that each of the 11 tribes with land gives Him a tithe each year. A tithe is portion of their wealth, click here for a longer explanation. How can you give God a tithe you ask? God tells the Israelites that the tithe is to be given to the tribe of Levi, the Levites. In this way the Levites receive their pay and have their expenses covered. I'll post this part of the story from Numbers 18:20 - 21 below... 20 The Lord said to Aaron, “You will not receive any property that can be inherited, and no part of the land of Israel will be assigned to you. I, the Lord, am all you need.” 21 The Lord said, “I have given to the Levites every tithe that the people of Israel present to me. This is in payment for their service in taking care of the Tent of my presence. In His wisdom God chooses to provide for His priests by a tithe from His people. This tithe was used to pay for the expenses of running the Temple and pay the priests. The Apostle Paul, one of the leaders of the early church, tells us that even in the New Testament God still commands His followers to provide for His "priests." “Don’t you realize that God told those working in his temple to take for their own needs some of the food brought there as gifts to him? And those who work at the altar of God get a share of the food that is brought by those offering it to the Lord. In the same way the Lord has given orders that those who preach the Gospel should be supported by those who accept it.” 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 Missionaries today are the continuation of this ancient practice and in theory it is a great system. God blesses and provides for His followers (the Church) who in turn bless and provide for His workers (missionaries and other full time Christian workers). Who is living the alternative lifestyle? I cannot finish answering this question without mentioning that when God first created the universe everyone lived this "alternative lifestyle" and lived by faith. In the beginning humankind was put by God in the garden of Eden where everything was provided for them. Everything that they could possibly desire was there in the garden and no one needed to work for it. Only after humankind rebelled against God was the Earth cursed and warped. Now humans need to strive and work by the "sweat of their brow" to live. I would suggest to you that this is actually the alternative lifestyle and trusting God to provide is the normal. Question #2 What have you found to be the most effective way to raise support? Ineffective way?This is a subject that I regularly teach at staff training events in YWAM and I could definitely write pages and pages about this subject but there two very important things that I would like to say about raising support as I respond to these questions. 1) God leads each missionary differently and takes into account their personalities and home culture. When my wife and I began our missionary life we told God at the beginning that we did not want to stand up in front of churches to ask for money. Both of us had seen visiting missionaries visit churches and cry in front of the congregation begging (that's what it looked like!) for money. We had also seen missionaries corner people directly ask people for huge amounts of money. Neither my wife or I was the least bit interested in doing either of these things. I suppose that we would do these things, if God commanded us to, but thankfully God has called us to communicate our needs in a different way. When were new missionaries we prayed about raising support and we felt God say to us that if we acted in obedience and stayed connected with our home churches He would raise our support for us. It has now been 14 years and God has never let us down. Every month receive exactly what we need. 2) God places us into community for a reason. The God of the bible is a relational God, He exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in something that we call the Holy Trinity. When God created humanity He placed us in families, tribes and towns where we would live in community. In the New Testament God's followers are told that we are part of the Church, also called the body of Christ. God does not want us to be independent. We were created for community. There is no limit to God's power, that means that He could give each missionary a thousand pound brick of gold in an instant, if He was only interested in providing money for us. Instead, in His wisdom, God creates a community of believers where each person is important and contributes to the whole. When each person in the community loves freely the way that Jesus taught us something amazing happens! We get a glimpse of God's plan for us, we get to see what life is like in God's kingdom. Here are two of my favourite bible passages about life in God's kingdom. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13 Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Isaiah 55:1 We are so privileged to be surrounded by a community of friends and family who understand honor God through faithfully giving to missions. Question #3 How much of your time is spent trying to secure resources for your life?Very little. With the risk of sounding very religious let me say this, I think that being is much more important that doing when it comes to raising support for our ministry. In other words we live by faith and we trust that God is going to give us what we need when we need it.
Like I said in the answer to question #2, we believe that God has created us to live in a community of believers and share our lives with each other. We dedicate several hours each week praying for our community, writing letters, updating our blogs/website and posting on Facebook. When we are home from the missions field we are very active in our churches and minister to people in our communities. We do not do this to raise support, we do this because we believe this is what it means to live in biblical community. When the community is healthy and people love each other freely then a by product of all of this is that we receive missionary support. If you pressed me to come up with an amount of time that we spend communicating, praying and sending out newsletters I would estimate about 6 -8 hours week. Why Blog?Almost 14 years ago our family made the decision to join Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and become full time "vocational" missionaries. It has been an incredible experience and we have gone places, physically and spiritually, that we never expected to go (maybe we never even knew existed!) Over the years we have made many mistakes and sometimes we learned from them. We have been blessed to sit with amazing bible teachers from around the world and both Kim and I regularly teach in YWAM bases and churches. We have discovered some "keys" in our life that really helped our marriage, our ministry, our personal lives and how we relate to God. We have also been surrounded by a community of people that have loved us and helped us through it all. For a couple of years now I, Adam, have been thinking of finding a place where I could share about some of our experiences. Maybe to help others, maybe to help me process? A bridge to missionsI would like to demystify what a missionary is and what a missionary does. Missionaries are just regular people that have followed God down a different path. I would like to share what our experience has been like, both the good and the bad. By sharing these things I hope that some people may be encouraged to take a step of faith towards God and possibly taking the step into full time Christian ministry. I would also like to share some information and stories from the missions field that will help people in the west know how to pray for world evangelism. A dialogueOne thing that really bothers me is one sided conversations. Nothing drives me more nuts than sitting with someone who never stops talking to ask a question or allow another person to have a say. As I plan for this blog I hope that people will dialogue with me and ask questions. There will always be a place for comments at the bottom of the page and people can also email or send Facebook messages. To begin this dialogue I made an internet survey a few weeks ago asking people what questions they have about missions. My plan is to give my response to those questions over the next few weeks and make sure that there is a way for people to respond and ask more questions. Blog what?I have a long list of things that I would like to blog about but I know that peoples time is important and so I will stick to things that I hope will be relevant, interesting and/or useful. For the most part my life is consumed with missions and leadership development so expect lots of blogs about these subjects.
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