Share this page:
Our balanced attack -- How Nazarenes finance world evangelism (part 6)
This ebook by Howard Culbertson was originally published in the NMI mission book series by the publisher now known as The Foundry, under ISBN 0-8341-1418-6.
The program descriptions, examples, and statistics in this chapter reflect conditions at the time of the book's original publication.
One Saturday afternoon, I was huffing and puffing my way up a mountain trail in southern Haiti. I was following District Superintendent Evens Grammont. The trail led toward two new churches. We planned to visit one church Saturday night and the other Sunday morning.
Occasionally, the trail widened into a primitive road. Noticing that, I asked Rev. Grammont about it. He explained that the two churches we were going to visit had organized volunteer road-building crews. One morning a week, villagers along that trail turned out to hack a road into that mountainside. About all they had, he said, were machetes. Could we help them buy a few shovels and maybe even a wheelbarrow? Fortunately, I could say yes.
Even when they finished, those villagers would not have much of a road. It would just be a dirt trail chopped into a mountainside. Still, four-wheel-drive vehicles would then be able to reach those villages. A road would make it possible for those rural Haitians to get farm products to market and sick people to hospitals. They would also be able to bring building materials into their villages. An access road could improve government access to these communities for education and health services.
I've never said much about buying those shovels and that wheelbarrow. That's unfortunate. I'm convinced that the more Nazarenes know what their missions dollars are doing, the better off we'll be. Unfortunately, our publicity machine often meanders along in low gear.
Occasionally, I meet Nazarenes who are having second thoughts about having sent money to some relief organization they knew very little about. Slick advertising caught their attention. Wanting to help, they dug deep into their pocketbooks. Later, they wondered if they'd been wise in their giving.
Pictures of starving children can tug at your heartstrings. Living conditions in low-income countries can be wretched. Hunger and malnutrition cause immense suffering and many preventable deaths. About 6,000 children under age five die each day worldwide from causes linked to undernutrition. That is a rough estimate, including deaths in which malnutrition contributes rather than being the sole cause. The World Health Organization estimates that undernutrition is linked to about 45% of deaths among children under five.
Maybe you've sent money somewhere because such a need touched you. Even while mailing your check, however, you wished that your church was doing something to meet that need.
What services should Nazarene Compassionate Ministries be providing? Food for the hungry? Public health? Sanitation? Clean drinking water? Economic development? Road building? Agriculture? The good news is that Nazarene ministries address all these needs.
In more than 165 world areas, evangelism is our primary thrust. As we herald the gospel, we find ourselves compelled by Christ's love to reach out to people with physical needs. That's part of our Wesleyan heritage. So, we Nazarenes are probably involved in almost anything you might want to support. Nazarene Compassionate Ministries money has even gone into places like Ethiopia, Poland, and Armenia before we had established congregations there.
Fundraising and administrative expenses can reduce the amount of a relief gift available for direct assistance. Nazarene giving benefits from the personnel and infrastructure supported by the World Evangelism Fund. For example, 100 percent of Alabaster offerings goes toward property and building projects, with administrative costs covered by the World Evangelism Fund.
At the time of this book's publication, other designated offerings included Radio, Work & Witness, Missionary Health Care, the Missionary Christmas Fund, and Approved Specials. These offerings supplemented the ministries supported by the World Evangelism Fund.
Compassionate Ministries funds were handled somewhat differently, with some administrative costs taken from these offerings. Fundraising costs were kept low in part because much of the fundraising was done by volunteers from local NMI groups. The World Evangelism Fund also supported missionary salaries and other infrastructure serving Nazarene programs. Giving through Nazarene channels builds on the missionary personnel and infrastructure already supported by the World Evangelism Fund.
At the time of this book's publication, one of the newer elements of our balanced attack was the Nazarene Hunger and Disaster Fund. Money raised for it helped lessen immediate suffering from disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. The fund made it possible to send assistance promptly after such tragedies.
Yet, natural disasters aren't the only things causing human misery. There are also places in this world where people struggle to meet their most basic needs. Hurricanes or earthquakes aren't their main problems. Victims of a distorted global economy, they're stranded in places that the global economy often leaves behind. Just day-to-day living is, for them, one continuous disaster. By helping eliminate chronic malnutrition and widespread poverty, the Hunger and Disaster Fund aims to make an important and permanent difference in those people's lives.
Haiti is a good example. It is among the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. At the time of this book's publication, Hunger and Disaster money had provided famine relief and financed hog-raising projects in Haiti. Nazarene ministries had also started vocational schools in India. These projects sought to reduce chronic poverty and hunger by addressing their underlying causes. In one year reported at that time, Hunger and Disaster money supported 300 relief and development efforts worldwide. (What the Bible says about ministry to the poor)
Where does this money come from? Individuals sometimes make one-time gifts to the Hunger and Disaster Fund. Some churches give offerings to the Hunger and Disaster Fund. Hunger and Disaster money extends and augments the evangelism and compassionate ministries funded by the World Evangelism Fund.
During the first four years of Nazarene child sponsorship, the programs attracted 6,000 sponsors. At the time of this book's publication, several sponsorship programs operated under the Compassionate Ministries umbrella, helping Nazarene children in more than three dozen world areas. Beneficiaries included war orphans in Guatemala, malnourished children in Haiti, Native American children, and pastors' children around the world. Nazarene missionaries and national workers administered the programs.
Child sponsorship or other compassionate ministries offerings should never, of course, replace World Evangelism Fund support. They are, however, another source of funds for our balanced attack. . . . [ continue reading ]
 | Giving one or two big offerings per year is difficult for people whose income comes in a weekly paycheck. Giving to missions from every paycheck has helped many families make substantial Kingdom investments. . . . [ read more ] |