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By Robert I Holmes
 This message is also available as a powerpoint and mp3 audio message .
John G Lake was an apostle to Africa. He started his work there in 1908, and travelled for a decade to the continent raising up missionaries who would eventually found the two largest denominations there. But his early work was significantly impeded by a financial crisis between 1918 and 1935 when giving fell from $25 a month per missionary to $10 a month and eventually to $2. Remember the world experienced a devastating global financial crisis in 28/29.
Lake called 125 missionaries off the field to conference about what they should do. After deliberation they asked Lake to leave for a moment so they could confer without him. Upon his return the chairman of the committee concluded all the missionary sentiment in this way, "We are going back to our fields. We are going back if we have to walk back. We are going back if we have to starve. We are going back if our wives die. We are going back if our children die. We are going back if we die ourselves."
The following year Lake buried 12 men, 16 wives and 6 children. These faithful missionaries died good martyrs, but the tragedy of the story is that they died of completely avoidable causes: dehydration, malnutrition, malaria and fever. nothing a little financial support could have avoided.
How connected is our economy?
The question I find myself asking, when times get tough and finances dry up is "To what extent is my economy reliant on the economy of the world, or to what extent does it truly represent the kingdom of heaven?" Jesus gave us very practical economic advice. he said "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything you need will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33)
After GFC I giving fell 25% in America churches. It fell 32% in Australia, even though our economy came through the crisis better than any OECD country! 80% of Australian churches are under 100 members and most of them cannot afford to pay the minister a full time salary. Are we entwined with kingdom economy? How much will we be affected by what is coming next?
Let's image that the Eurozone collapses, they break down the Euro as a currency and split up into mini zones... that America defaults on her debt, that China imports huge quantities of gold to back her economy... that she takes resources by force - even military solutions. What then?
What to do?
That bleak picture can be no worse than the world faced by the Jews in exile in Babylon in the days of Jeremiah. He wrote them a letter (kept for us in chapter 29 of his book) in which he gives sage advice about how to conduct yourself in an oppressive empire struggling through harsh war economic reality...
1. Build houses and live in them
2. Plant gardens and eat what they produce
3. Take wives, have sons, find wives for your sons and bear grandchildren there
4. Seek the welfare of Babylon - for I have sent you there
5. In its prosperity you will find prosperity.
In the world not of the world
I am not saying that we should be part of Babylon - far from it. But "kingdom economy" is not heavenly - away from here solutions. They are very practical - and they almost always involve digging in and engaging. but with Kingdom first, not last and Jesus part of, not left out. "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." (John 17:15-6 NIV) He is not going to take us out of it, but we are not part of it.
So whether you are an Israelite held captive in Babylon, or a Crosslink pastor with a struggling church, or a business person looking for kingdom ministry... what are the Biblical alternatives for funding the cause? I have listed the options, as I see them, from the least Biblical or Christlike, to the most Biblical and Christlike.
There are a couple of simple rules to follow:
1. Are the examples anywhere in the Bible?
2. Does Jesus do it in the New Testament? (Can you imagine Jesus Christ doing it today?)
3. Who are you serving, God the Father or the slave master of Mammon?
| Form of Income |
How it works |
Example |
Pyramid Marketing
|
Downward sale of product |
Mannatech, Amway |
| Apostolic Fathering |
Tithing upward to the
senior apostolic father
|
C Peter Wagner,
John Alley |
Marketing
|
Sale of product
value for value's sake
|
books, CD's,
subscriptions
|
| Debt financing |
Borrow to get through difficulty |
GFC I & II |
| Church tithing |
pastor priesthood |
most modern churches |
| Church growth |
reach sustainable limit of 120 |
all mainline denominations |
Passive income
|
Self sustained independance |
Super, pension, investments |
| Inheritance |
From parents or members passing |
Salvos |
| Sale of assets |
one off sale of capital assets |
Acts 5 |
Speaking income
|
taking up love offering |
Shepherd of Hermas
most ministries |
| Life style reduction |
voluntary or forced poverty |
Monk's vow
Hudson Taylor |
| Benefactors |
a group supporting a ministry |
Luke 8:3 |
Corporate benefactor
|
business or church funding person |
Ian Shelton and TCC |
| Church missions support |
Church sponsors growth in area |
2 Cor 11:9
Macedonians/Paul |
| Bi-vocational |
Part time minister
part time worker |
1 Thess 2:9
tent making |
Subsistance
|
Farming, fishing,
growing your own |
John 21:3
Peter goes fishing |
| Apostolic distribution |
Group cashflow managed by leaders |
Acts 4:33-37 |
| Community living |
Doing life together |
Zinzendorf/Herrnhut
Acts 2:44-46 |
Directed harvest
|
God directs to sow in a certain place |
Luke 5:4 full nets |
| Reaping and sowing |
giving and getting back in proportion |
2 Cor 9:6 |
| God's blessing |
100 fold return on your sowing |
Genesis 26:12
Veggies in Columbia |
| Extension of resource |
extension of what you already have |
Moses' shoes lasted
Widows oil extended |
Market changes
|
God forewarns of market changes |
Elisha and Samaria |
| Miracles |
Amazing one off financial miracles |
Jesus' fish tax
Loaves and fishes |
| Signs and wonders |
from nothing |
Money from trees |
My story
I got saved in year 10 and left school in 1998, working my way through university then working full time until 1995. This would be akin to Peter and his brothers working full time before their call to ministry with Christ.
I was then bi-vocational through 1998, working in Storm Harvest, volunteering at church and debt financing to kick start our publishing ministry.
Once it began, I went into full time ministry through to 2008, with a bit of tent making here and there as a business consultant. People believed in our work and we saw provision in many and various ways: love offerings for speaking, product sales, one off donations from the sale of assets and some tithing.
I became bi-vocational again until 2010 doing coaching work, having product sales and a couple of families who sponsored us through offerings.
By 2011 we had started a couple of small passive income investments (again with friends) and I work full time as a business and life coach.
All these years I can agree with David's claim, "I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread" (Psalm 37:25). But for years it was a close run thing!
Conclusion
Financial times go up and down - are we connected to it or the kingdom economy? Jeremiah addressed the need for us to take a longer term, multigenerational view of things and establish ourselves deeply. Jesus advised us to seek His kingdom first above all else, to see our needs met.
So what is heaven's answer to you for this season you are in? What does the Kingdom demand of you? Settle down in Babylon - buy land, build houses, have children... But how are we going to pay for the mission, the calling?
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