On this Thanksgiving Day 2018, we have so much to be thankful for as redeemed children of God. As we consider how we should steward our blessings for God’s glory, we all have choices to make in how we will use our freedom, our talents, our treasures, and our time. As we consider the work of missions and the Great Commission, we must decide how we can engage as individual followers of Jesus and corporately as members of a local church.
During this time of year, we often hear of opportunities to invest money for the work of gospel missions. I believe this is a wonderful thing to do and it comes at a great time—the end of the year and during a season of thanks. However, before writing the check and sending it off to missions through your local church or through a parachurch ministry, we must evaluate what we’re doing and at the same time—what we aren’t doing by our financial gift.
The Great Commission Is Not an Offering
The Great Commission is not an offering. It’s the calling of Christians to engage the world and make disciples through the gospel. Some people give generously and engage in the work of missions by funding missionary work around the world. They have been blessed financially and given the gift of giving. It’s through their generosity that many missionaries are paid and cared for on a yearly basis. However, there are also people who give financially and never consider what it means to make disciples locally or internationally.
Money is needed in the work of missions obviously, however, we must not turn the Great Commission into a missions offering. There are some people who need to go out from their local church and work to evangelize unbelievers and train leaders in foreign contexts in the work of church planting. Not everyone is called to leave home and go to a foreign country to engage in the work of missions, but we are all called to engage in the Great Commission. If a person isn’t called to leave their homeland, they should engage in disciple making at home and consider sacrificing financially to fund the work of missions among the nations.
The Local Church and a Missions Investment
Far too often the work of foreign missions is turned over to missions agencies. Parachurch ministries have taken the lead in the work of missions which could be a sign that the local church has taken a backseat on purpose due to laziness or it could be that these specialized agencies are very good at what they do while the local church moves a bit slower. At any rate, the local church is called to be on the front lines of the Great Commission—including foreign missions.
When it comes time to pray about giving money to fund missions (church planting, missionary salaries, etc.) it would be a great idea to consider starting your investment through your local church. If your church has a fund for such work, don’t go outside the local church before you work within the family of faith that God has called you to. I’ve watched teenagers get excited about missions during college and decided to go on a missions trip through another organization during the summer rather than seeking to go through their own local church’s mission work and church planting project. Don’t look beyond the local church as you desire to invest in the work of missions financially.
If your church doesn’t have a known outlet for supporting missions—consider meeting with your pastors and letting them know of your desire to invest money and see if they can assist you in a good investment option or potentially begin a work corporately that would be an encouragement to your entire church family. We need more local churches to engage in the work of missions by praying, organizing missions offerings, and by sending people to the field (short term and long term work).
When the local church is led by pastors in the work of missions, it prevents wasting money on financial scams that are so common in the world of foreign missions. Many websites and “mission organizations” exist to steal money from people by putting pictures of their work online and asking for help. Follow the lead of your pastors and engage in the work of missions through your local church. John Piper writes:
So, you have three possibilities in world missions. You can be a goer, a sender, or disobedient. The Bible does not assume that everyone goes. But it does assume that the ones who do not go care about goers and support goers and pray for goers and hold the rope of the goers. [1]
- John Piper, “Holding the Rope,” Tabletalk, November, 2008, p. 65.
