Okay, so this blogging thing is pretty cool. If I was a little more computer friendly it might not have taken me almost an hour to figure out how to add another post!
I was with some friends last night (we get together every Monday eve for a potluck meal) and we got talking about missions. What is missions, why do we send missionaries - should we not be supporting nationals?, who should we send them to? The upperclass or the poor? Needless to say we all have strong opinions on the subject. At our Church we have a pretty good missions budget. Missions is important - at least we can agree on that. Everyone needs to share the truth and lifechanging news of Jesus - and I say that understanding that it looks different for everyone. I love that our Church is so into missions. However, we seem to be spending a great deal of money on sending people to reach foreign people groups. Missionaries must raise support for language school, then a huge monthly sum to pay for all kinds of things. Some good and some not so good. Things like healthcare and pensions - those are good, but overhead costs, the missions board back at home eats up a great deal of money.
Then we must send over teachers to teach the children of these missionaries. And then depending on the people group that they are working with, there may be more expense in how they live - if they are reaching out to the upper class - well, you must live at the same level. It is costly. It would seem that we as North Americans have got to get out of this mindset that says we have the ability to reach the world, so it is we who must go. In short, I would think it would be far wiser of us to find and support national missionaries. And I'm not talking about giving less, I'm talking giving more effectively. Well, I know that there are two sides to every argument.
I haven't even brought up the idea of working only with the poor and middle class since those people groups make up the majority of the worlds peoples or the thoughts of not being so denomination minded that we send more missionaries into a country with plenty there - just not from our particular denomination! .....but maybe that's for another time.
I was with some friends last night (we get together every Monday eve for a potluck meal) and we got talking about missions. What is missions, why do we send missionaries - should we not be supporting nationals?, who should we send them to? The upperclass or the poor? Needless to say we all have strong opinions on the subject. At our Church we have a pretty good missions budget. Missions is important - at least we can agree on that. Everyone needs to share the truth and lifechanging news of Jesus - and I say that understanding that it looks different for everyone. I love that our Church is so into missions. However, we seem to be spending a great deal of money on sending people to reach foreign people groups. Missionaries must raise support for language school, then a huge monthly sum to pay for all kinds of things. Some good and some not so good. Things like healthcare and pensions - those are good, but overhead costs, the missions board back at home eats up a great deal of money.
Then we must send over teachers to teach the children of these missionaries. And then depending on the people group that they are working with, there may be more expense in how they live - if they are reaching out to the upper class - well, you must live at the same level. It is costly. It would seem that we as North Americans have got to get out of this mindset that says we have the ability to reach the world, so it is we who must go. In short, I would think it would be far wiser of us to find and support national missionaries. And I'm not talking about giving less, I'm talking giving more effectively. Well, I know that there are two sides to every argument.
I haven't even brought up the idea of working only with the poor and middle class since those people groups make up the majority of the worlds peoples or the thoughts of not being so denomination minded that we send more missionaries into a country with plenty there - just not from our particular denomination! .....but maybe that's for another time.
posted by Cyndi | 8:47 AM
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