MissionFundraising.com/JimWaltersOnline.com

“Instead of helping poor people with charity that will eventually run out, it is more effective to lift people out of poverty through microfinance, says a Christian poverty expert.”

Most of us already realize the truth in the adage, “Teach a person to fish and you feed him/her for a lifetime.”  The first sentence of this post is quoted from Christianity Today, in an article entitled, “Poverty expert: Give the poor a hand up, not hand out“.

It goes on to say, “The most compassionate way of helping someone isn’t to give them a handout long-term,” Greer contended. “The most compassionate thing you can do is to help them use their God-given abilities to work and to take care of their own needs.”

We always need balance in our mission work and giving. We want to help spiritually, and physically; yet, we do not want to “cripple” anybody. When possible, teaching people to use their skills responsibly can be much more effective than giving them a meal. Again, we need balance.

This may look like providing training AND feeding for a short time; then, tapering off the “feeding” and helping a person apply the training for growing their own crop, or earning their own income.

Don’t always think “overseas”, either. This concept can definitely be applied in your own western culture.

Give what is “needed”, only while it is needed.

-Gary Skrobot

Missionaries now have another method beside “going to the people” because the “people” are coming to the missionaries via web surfing.

http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9944&Itemid=53

Posted via email from missionfundraising’s posterous

Business-minded people working as “support missionaries” play a vital role. You can too!

http://churchleadergazette.com/clg/2009/08/six-ways-to-get-involved-in-th.html

Posted via email from missionfundraising’s posterous

My family and I used to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT) in Papua New Guinea (PNG, just north of Australia). We lived in-country for a total of six years. My role was as a missionary pilot. The role of WBT is to translate the New Testament (or more, if able) into the viable languages that have no written scriptures in their own langauge.

Whenever a Bible Translation Project reaches its “completion”, there is a large celebration by the people-group receiving the published scriptures. One item that many people in “sending nations” find peculiar is that the receiving people are asked to buy the scriptures that have just been translated into their language. “We’re talking about the scriptures here, and salvation…and, you’re a ‘missionary’. Why are you charging for the work of the ministry?”

Meanwhile, there is an interesting website called “Business as Mission Network“, and it promotes exactly what its title implies, “Using businesses as an opportunity for spreading the Gospel.” Some of their tenets are:

• Committed to The Local Church: The business supports partnership with the indigenous church in the community.
• Glorifying to God: The name of God is the ultimate object of praise, not the name of the business.

One of these opportunities is providing business loans to people in developing countries. To the chagrin of some, the lenders charge interest for their loans. But, there is an interesting dynamic when it comes to money and certain types of product, including “christian product”. This same dynamic also appears in PNG regarding translated New Testaments: “If it’s free, it must not have much value. It isn’t worth much, otherwise you wouldn’t be “giving” it to me.”

Hope International is a non-profit Christian-based organization which has the goal of alleviating poverty via holistic means, including providing the business loans mentioned above…and again, they charge interest. But listen to a question they sometimes receive: “Why do you charge interest to the poor? Why not just offer interest-free loans or grants?” In reply, a woman who has her own counseling business directed at the poor stated:

• “It actually makes a lot of sense why they charge interest.” She shared that when her practice first opened, decades ago, she provided free counsel to underprivileged women—single mothers, former inmates, etc. “They rarely showed up for our scheduled sessions. If they did show up, they kind of blew it off.” She went on to discuss why she now charges these at-risk clients. While she discounts her service significantly, she still charges a fee. The change, as she described it, has been remarkable. “Now these women value my services. They come on time, they are invested, and they soak up every minute of their sessions. It’s been a dramatic shift since I’ve started charging a fee.”

Just as “freedom isn’t ‘cheap’ just because it’s ‘free”, neither is the gospel, nor any other commodity of value. Providing “free” money is counter-intuitive; providing free Bibles sometimes “devalues” God’s message; providing free counseling requires no commitment to change…thus, we charge a fee!

Somebody once “tweeted” in Twitter and asked why this website, MissionFundraising.com, charges $12.77 for its eBooks that supposedly help missionaries and church planters spread the Word. The author of these books, Jim Walters, replies:

Technorati Tags: Business As Mission Network, church planting, gospel, Hope International, papua new guinea, wycliffe bible translators

Take a look at this short, 3-minute video. In the beginning you will see an airstrip, and an airplane landing on the airstrip. This is taken in Papua New Guinea, where I used to be a missionary pilot with Wycliffe Bible Translators. While this video may not necessarily be of me, I have literally and personally flown the plane shown, landed on the airstrip shown, and flown this gentleman and his family in and out of the village shown.

Bible Translation is a lengthy and very worth-while task. Many translators work on a language project for 15-20 years, just to provide the New Testament to a people group, so that they could read with their own eyes, and understand with their own heart, what God has to say to them.

Whatever your role in missions, whether evangelism, church planting, technical support, accounting, carpentry or plumbing, furthering the Gospel is the greatest and most significant task you could undertake here on earth.

There are many roles you could play in your short term mission trip, not all of which are directly linked to “sharing the message.” My family served in a support role for over 7 years while we worked in Haiti and Papua New Guinea. We supported and assisted those who were more directly involved in Bible Translation.

Take whatever skill you have, and use it. You can either directly or indirectly impact the Work. God “needs” and uses both.

Gary Skrobot

Technorati Tags: bible translation, jaars, maf, mission aviation, wycliffe bible translators

The term “Church Planting” is often used to describe the process of starting a brand new congregation in some local neighborhood. In reality, we can view “church planters” as domestic missionaries. Church Planters sense a call to build a local body of believers, often starting with a group of committed Christians who will attend and serve in the new congregation. Of course, the goal of evangelizing unbelievers is not forgotten, but in the beginning, it may not be in the forefront.

Church planting may be a greater challenge today than it was a decade or two ago. It may require a greater tenacity, greater finances, and greater amount of human resources. However, if God is calling you to this ministry, then none of the above “greaters” matter! It’s God’s work, not yours! You’re the tool in God’s Hand, and it’s a blessed position to be in.

If you are in the position of being called to start a new local congregation, then allow me to encourage you to seek out the resources that can help you. The better part of wisdom is to search out the counsel of those who have gone before you. One of those tools may be our eBook entitled: “Raising Support as a Church Planter.” This book has plenty of ideas and tools to help you do what you need to do.

We can help. Feel free to write us, pose questions, make comments.

Gary Skrobot
Info@MissionFundraising.com
Jim@JimWaltersOnline.com

Technorati Tags: church planting

Good Giving in Hard Times!

Did you see the article in May 2009 Christianity Today called “the Non-Profit Surge?” This issue is a great read — and the cover story relates to CT’s survey of 1,800 active Christians and how they might alter their giving. The survey results might surprise you.

Despite a recession (CT says 8.1% unemployment and 10% of mortgages troubled), a total of 34% of the “committed givers” in the survey said they intend to donate more money this year, not less. Another 44% said that intend to give the same amounts this year as last year. Do the math, and only one in five givers indicated that they would be giving less.

My own observations from our church, and from missionaries with whom I’ve chatted, are that people who are still employed and rocking along through life are not afraid to keep giving or even increase giving. People who are between jobs, however, simply don’t have it to give.

The trick for missionaries and church planters and mission-trip goers this year, is going to be to start early, communicate clearly and cast vision strongly. The money is still out there; God wants his people to be giving to missions, and we have not “touched the hem of the garment” in developing missional stewardship among American Christians. That’s why I write these blogs and publish handbooks. All of us who are Christian leaders need to be sounding the trumpet for people to invest more in missions these days, not less.

Jim Walters
Jim@JimWaltersOnline.com

That’s what the missionary candidate wanted to know, as he was preparing to send out 100 very nicely prepared donation letters.  He said that the local copy place was asking fifty cents per copy more, to do it in color.  His original was in color and looked great. It spoke of competency, confidence, and clarity.

“Let’s do the math on this thing,”  I said.  You’re in the middle of mission support, for a short term mission project (actually it is for two years) so the stakes here are big.   You’ve got 100 prime prospects, with whom you will follow up by phone or personal visit.  The cost of the postage is the same, whether you use color or B/W.  The extra cost for color is $50, for the 100 letters.

Suppose that only ONE person more responds positively, because of the high quality and strong appeal of the full color letter.   That one person contributes $50/ mo for 24months, and you reap a return on investment of 23 times your cost going in — that’s like 2,300% return.  If you can find me that for my retirement funds, I’m “all in,” so to speak.

Jim Walters

Jim@JimWaltersOnline.com

In these hard times of economy, some churches and many missions-minded Christians are thinking, we must back off and do less. No!  We must advance and do more.  History shows that giving to churches doesn’t necessarily have to go down during recession times, although that will be the tendancy unless we step up and take action to raise mission support.   
 
Now is the time for great fundraising letters!  Now is the time for upgrading missionary support systems, through more effective communication. More effective doesn’t mean more often, and it certainly doesn’t mean begging or panic messages.  Rather, it means laser-focused messages that communicate the vision of the mission. Write donation letters that expound upon what God is doing in the field, through short-term missions, through nationals who are stepping up, through prayer.  Tell the story in a way that communications the vision, not the shortfall.  People give to vision, not to need. People will rally to you if you are caught up and passionate about what God is doing through your work.

Jim Walters