LET THE BUYER BEWARE

Excerpts from: Let the buyer beware

By Craig Ott
(Adapted and shortened by TK.
The full article originally appeared in the July, 1993 Vol. 29, No. 3 issue of  Evangelical Missions Quarterly.) 

In light of skyrocketing costs of sending North American missionaries, more and more churches and individuals are supporting national pastors and evangelists who . . . . not only cost less but know the language and culture of their people.

Many churches have established direct partnerships . . . . A careful study of the history and theology of missions will, however, reveals that financial support of national pastors and evangelists is fraught with dangers. . . . often weaken receiving churches and undermine world evangelization in the longer term.

Nine caveats

1. Western support of native workers is a model that national churches cannot reproduce.

To be effective, any missionary strategy must be reproducible. Missionaries normally try to model ministry that national believers and churches can both carry on after the foreigners leave and reproduce in further evangelism. In this way the missionary multiplies his or her efforts, and the gospel's spread does not depend on foreign presence or assistance.

To reproduce themselves, native churches must discover creative ways to spread the gospel and plant churches without outside support. . . . churches will tend to assume that seeking support from mission agencies for partnerships with wealthy Western churches is the normal way to support pastors and send missionaries.

2. Such a strategy is based on the assumption that the spread of the gospel depends on money.

Making the fulfillment of the Great Commission dependent on the church's ability to raise money is a fallacy Western Christians have uncritically, unconsciously accepted. It reflects our Western materialism and commitment to a professionalized ministry. Again, this theoretically limits God's work to the measure of the church's economic prosperity.

While we may encourage nationals to give sacrificially to support their own . . . pastors and missionaries . . . by developing creative ways of generating partial to full self-support.

3. It can create dependency and stunt giving in national churches.

The history of missions is replete with sad stories of resentments created when developing churches became dependent on Western funding. Programs are developed and workers are hired on the basis of outside subsidies and national churches come to expect and count on them. When sending churches seek to reduce the subsidies, or when the national believers spend or hire in ways disagreeable to the supporting churches, hard feelings and misunderstandings normally result.

Any giving to mission churches or native workers must answer two questions: "Will this stimulate or discourage local giving?" "Will it create unhealthy dependency and foreign dominance, or help the church mature and become self-sustaining?"

4. Heavy dependence on Western funds can reinforce feelings of inferiority.

Because of the extreme poverty in many countries, nationals already feel inferior. Western support of native pastors and evangelists, and the resulting dependency, strengthen the belief that only Western Christians have the resources (namely, money) to evangelize and maintain their churches. Such support can result in a new form of the old paternalism that so characterized the colonial era. Giving in ways that advance self-sufficiency and self-worth demonstrates love, but giving that creates dependency is dehumanizing and oppressive.

5. Western support can create a mercenary spirit among nationals.

While the motives of most national pastors and evangelists are above reproach, even motives for Christian service came become easily mixed when a secure and steady income is offer do those willing to become pastors or evangelists. Competition and jealousy can arise among believers vying to secure coveted, paid positions in a land of hunger. Westerners are rarely in a position to discern such motives, and they all too often tap leaders the nationals would not have chosen. Churches can become resentful or jealous of other churches receiving extravagant subsidies from American partner churches due to personal connections.

All too often native pastors and churches have become preoccupied with ministries that attract Western dollars (such as orphan work), while neglecting more basic pastoral care and evangelism. Even development work, if not wisely administered, can hinder church growth.

6. Foreign paid workers are not always more effective, and sometimes are less effective and credible than lay workers.

National evangelists are sometimes rejected by their peers when the latter discover that Westerners pay them. . . . Foreign nationals may judge foreign-paid evangelists as mercenaries, or even subversives, who have become Christians and preach the gospel only for the financial benefits.

When national believers fail to support their own workers, the impression is reinforced that Christianity is in fact a foreign religion that has neither taken root nor inspired the deep commitment of its followers.

It is a tremendous testimony of love and commitment when national believers who have so little sacrifice greatly to support their own pastors or send evangelists to tell others the Good News. This demonstrates that Christianity is not a Western religion or an agent of imperialism, but has in fact commanded the deepest commitments among the various peoples of the earth.

7. It can rob the national church of the joy of being a truly missionary church.

When the Evangelical Free Churches of Venezuela caught a vision to send their first missionary to do tribal work, they sought assistance from the North American mother mission. The mission leaders responded, "If you are to be a truly missionary church, you must send them and support them yourselves." At first the Venezuelans didn't understand, and they protested. "But you have so much and we so little!" Soon, however, they raised the necessary support and were able to send their first missionary. There was tremendous joy at the commissioning service, because the Venezuelans saw how God provided and knew that they had become a truly multiplying, missionary church. Had North American funds been provided, they would have been robbed of that joy.

8. Employing national missionaries may not be the bargain it appears.

While not all native missionaries will need costly higher education, we have to ask what kind of preparation they will require. Cross-cultural ministry, contextualization, and so on are challenges faced by Western and nonwestern missionaries alike. To avoid the mistakes of the past and to increase their effectiveness, missionaries must have careful preparation and training.

Donors should carefully ask about the training and placement of  "bargain missionaries"  before assuming that they really are receiving more  "bang for their buck." 

9. Sending money instead of missionaries comes dangerously close to compromising the very essence of the Great Commission.

The Great Commission calls us to not only send dollars, but ourselves. Just as the Father sent the Son to become man and dwell among us, Jesus sends us into the world to personally identify with those whom we would reach. This will not always be the most economical demonstration of love: We cared enough to surrender our comfort and our way of life to share God's love with others.

Conclusion

I do not mean to underestimate the importance of sacrificial missions giving. Missionaries must be sent. Relief and compassion ministries must go on. There is a place for certain types of financial assistance to developing churches.

This article, rather, is a call for discernment in how those funds are spent. To truly promote the long-range purposes of world evangelization, subsidies of national churches and workers must promote the planting of reproducing churches protect the integrity of national believers and their witness, and avoid the pitfalls described above. Pragmatism cannot be allowed to overrule spiritual principles and blind us to the lessons of history. Short-term gains can sometimes mean long-term disaster. If our churches give only their money, and not their sons and daughters, our missionary vision will be dead in a generation or less. We can't substitute money for flesh and blood.

To reach our every-changing world for Christ, new and creative strategies are indeed called for. But we must not become bound by unbiblical methods that are outdated or rooted in materialistic assumptions. There are no shortcuts in the task of world evangelization. It demands total commitment. It also demands careful discernment.

Adapted from Evangelism and Missions Information Service.