Mexico: Bruce's Brain

You can not serve two masters. Or walk on two Paths

I am petrified of Money. Why? I have seen great men fall, and humble men become proud. I have seen money mold masks for people to believe they are Christians…. And I have seen money shove aside the holy Spirit in fact I have seen money so remove God it was nothing but devils wallowing in midst of impure and greedy men. Money is not a evil to be ignorant of or it will devour the most sincere of men. And I want to say that the Christian world on a very large scale is operating by her ways and not God’s……Listen to this…….

6. It is estimated that Christians worldwide spend around $8 BILLION dollars PER YEAR going to the more than 500 conferences to TALK about missions.………8 billion dollars a year…….That’s more than HALF the total spent DOING missions. And 16 billion is less than .03 percent of the money that circulates within the Christian world. Meaning Salaries, curriculum, upkeep, bills, and building projects. I don’t even know how to make the number of what that starts to add up to that is spent within Christianity……..

Here is what I found as a title on one of the website I was reading......It started out like this....

The average salary for missionaries is relatively low.

Then it continued on with this...............
The pulpit isn’t the only place to preach the word of God. Many people are called to serve in other ways, such as missionaries. Missions cost a lot of money. As of 2012, religious organizations spent an average of $121,000 a year to send two people, namely couples, on mission work. But this number doesn’t cover just the salary of missionaries.
Here is a list of what that 121,000 dollars breaks down into.

Salary

The Bureau of Labor Statistics categorizes missionaries as "other" religious workers. As of 2012, the average salary was $30,650 a year. (reference 1). The top 10 percent of earners made more than $50,510, I guess they are better or more persuasive…….while the bottom 10 percent earned less than $20,000 annually. (reference 1). These figures, however, fail to break out pay by role. A survey by the Christian Reformed Church in North America provides a clearer picture of what career missionaries earn, estimating the average at $56,870 a year for a couple

Subsidy

The average pay makes up only 47 percent of the total cost for missionary work. In addition to their base pay, missionaries may also receive subsidies. These subsidies cover the costs for missions in areas of the world where the cost of living is higher. In 2012, the average subsidy was $6,050 a year per couple,

Housing

The salaries of missionaries aren’t usually used to cover housing expenses, largely due to the fact that they must pay their mortgages or rent in the States while away. On average, missionaries receive a stipend of almost $10,000 a year to cover the cost of their housing overseas. A missionary ministering in an impoverished area isn’t likely to get as much as one in a wealthier area of the world.

Other Costs

Depending on the institution, missionaries receive other stipends. As of 2012, they received an average of almost $8,500 per couple to cover travel expenses. They’re also allotted roughly $10,890 to cover medical expenses, $8,470 to cover administrative expenses and another $8,470 to cover other incidentals. Besides expenses, missionary organizations pay into pensions at an average of $7,260 a year and into taxes at an average of $4,840 a year. 120,000 dollars a year AVERAGE. This stats are not extreme nor are they exaggerated……

.This a couple. Two people….I don’t even have the time to get into families with 8!

God has been faithfully providing! I didn't write this for money's sake...I am writing this to shame what we have been doing as "missions" It is a disgrace I feel. It saddens me greatly.

THE GREAT COMMISSION

In the fulfillment of the Great Commission, there is an unalterable relationship between missionary work and money. As a result, issues revolving around the role of money in missions are a topic of serious discussion. In some fields, money has the negative power to corrupt the pure gospel message by impure motives. In other fields, the thought of missionary work cannot be imagined without the necessary resources provided by money.

Without a doubt, money and missions has a two sided ability to help or hinder genuine missionary work.

So what types of numbers are we talking about here? Well in 2002-almost 11 years agos
The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Missions Board supports 5,510 missionaries and has a $150 million dollar annual budget
Also In 2002, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church collected $1,772,879,408 for world missions

2002

Money and Missions – Missionary Affluence: How does it impact the gospel message?

In his book Missions and Money: Affluence as a Western Missionary Problem, Jonathan Bonk reports the following problems with missionary affluence (think wealth).

Affluence acts as an insulation for the missionary. It is a nonconducting material which prevents people from hearing the gospel.
Affluence leads to missionary isolation.
Affluence builds an unbridgeable social gulf.
Affluence leads to social arrogance and presents illusions of superiority.
Affluence challenges the trust necessary for genuine relationships. It is hard to tell if people want Jesus or your wallet!

But, I also agree with Paul Hiebert when he says (in Anthropological Insights for Missionaries):
There are limits to our ability to identify with another culture … we must identify as closely as we can with a culture, but not at the expense of our sanity and ministry.
Jacob Loewen (in Culture and Human Values) tells the story of when he was teaching a group of people from South America: This is what was said.......

"Every tribe and culture uses one or more of these … the important center or hub of their way of life. It is like the axle of a wheel, which forms the center around which the wheel turns. You say that you have known the missionaries for about twenty years. Can you suggest the items in this list which you would consider to be the axle of the missionaries’ way of life?” “Money!” the group of teachers from a South American Indian tribe exclaimed unanimously and unhesitatingly.
WOW!
I have recently become concerned that money may be playing a more and more important role in the life of North American folks. Money, so it seems, is becoming the answer to every problem and ill. But, it is not. Money is not the answer. When we think about the poor, we cannot think only in terms of giving them money. They first need the transformation of the gospel. When we are dealing with an issue in the church, we cannot just ask how much money will it take to … Seeking the kingdom and its righteousness must become our central hub.

“Throughout the Bible God’s thought and plan for the world’s evangelization are everywhere in evidence. From cover to cover the Bible is a missionary book…Scriptural authority for world-wide missions rests not merely upon a group of proof texts, but upon the entire design and spirit of the Bible as it reveals God in His relation to men and nations, and as it traces the unfolding of His purposes down through the ages.”

1 Peter 1:>17-18-1917Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

The History of Money-

Matthew 17-24-27-24After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

25“Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”

26“From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27“But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

-the money was lodged in the fish, He who knows all things alone could know it, and only almighty power could bring it to Peter's hook. The power and the poverty of Christ should be mentioned together. If called by providence to be poor, like our Lord, let us trust in his power, and our God shall supply all our need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. In the way of obedience, in the course, perhaps, of our usual calling, as he helped Peter, so he will help us. And if any sudden call should occur, which we are not prepared to meet, let us not apply to others, till we first seek Christ.

Brothers and sisters…If in our poverty…………. Christ is magnified then so be it, but if through your abundant sacrificial giving…….. Christ is glorified…Than so be it. Money is money. Money can not save a man, or raise a man off the cripple mat…….There is one who is mighty that was before the mighty dollar, and it is in Him who we trust. We humbly receive what the Lord causes you to give, BUT Brothers and sisters……This is a work of God…… Let you’re giving be unto the Lord not to the Vandermeulens! We need the Lord to be through this entirely brothers and sisters!

So I said all that to say this. God is doing something Very different here, and through us all. Us here, and those gathered there. Uniquely working and drawing from through us all CHRIST...which is the salvation of Men and the transformation of how things are done. I pray that your giving is an act of worship brothers. To the Lord who in His poverty never lost an once of power! He is our God He is our provider……………

Amen! DO NOT STOP GIVING TO MISSIONS, BUT GIVE BIBLICALLY AND THROUGH THE SPIRIT. IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Here is Our mission statement and it should be of everyone who walks in the ways of God.......

Psalm 104

1Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;

he stretches out the heavens like a tent

3and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot

and rides on the wings of the wind.

4He makes winds his messengers,^a

flames of fire his servants.

5He set the earth on its foundations;

it can never be moved.

6You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

7But at your rebuke the waters fled,(All concerns that flood in!)

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

8they flowed over the mountains,

they went down into the valleys,

to the place you assigned for them.

9You set a boundary they cannot cross;

never again will they cover the earth.

10He makes springs pour water into the ravines;

it flows between the mountains.

11They give water to all the beasts of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12The birds of the sky nest by the waters;

they sing among the branches.

13He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;

the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

14He makes grass grow for the cattle,

and plants for people to cultivate—

bringing forth food from the earth:

15wine that gladdens human hearts,

oil to make their faces shine,

and bread that sustains their hearts.

16The trees of the Lord are well watered,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17There the birds make their nests;

the stork has its home in the junipers.

18The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

19He made the moon to mark the seasons,

and the sun knows when to go down.

20You bring darkness, it becomes night,

and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

21The lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God.

22The sun rises, and they steal away;

they return and lie down in their dens.

23Then people go out to their work,

to their labor until evening.

24How many are your works, Lord!

In wisdom you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25There is the sea, vast and spacious,

teeming with creatures beyond number—

living things both large and small.

26There the ships go to and fro,

and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27All creatures look to you

to give them their food at the proper time.

28When you give it to them,

they gather it up;

when you open your hand,

they are satisfied with good things.

29When you hide your face,

they are terrified;

when you take away their breath,

they die and return to the dust.

30When you send your Spirit,

they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

31May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord rejoice in his works—

32he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33I will sing to the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the Lord.

35But may sinners vanish from the earth

and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.^b

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Saturday, October 12, 2013

Bruce's Brain