On how giving to missions is like paying your phone bill

In the past few months, Deb, my wife, and I have been in the process of fund-raising. We are planning to go to Ghana to work at the Good News Theological College and Seminary (gntcs.org). We are working under Mennonite Mission Network as part of the larger mission effort of the Mennonite church.

Mission Network requires that money for our work is being raised by our Ministry Support Team, using the contacts of the team while reaching out to the larger church. So my interest in fund-raising has a specific goal.

In thinking about a metaphor and model for giving to missions, I have been drawn to the parallel between missions giving and our phone bill. Giving to missions should be more like the phone bill than like the electric bill or the cable bill. Here is why.

The electric bill is part of our lives. I realize that some readers of The Mennonite live without electricity or without connection to commercial power companies, but for most of us, the electric bill is just part of life.

We may wonder how to spend less on electricity, but we seldom think about whether to continue paying. We also do not need to choose between various power companies or choose the source of our electricity. This means that paying the electric bill is a fairly mindless process. It comes, we wince and then we pay.

Giving to missions is not and should not be like this. Missions giving should not be automatic or mindless. It is not best done resentfully or with a mind-set of trying to pay less. We can be aware of the many ways that missions is and can be done, then give thoughtfully and prayerfully. It is also not helpful to start with the question, How can we spend less on missions? So in many ways, giving to missions is not like paying the electric bill.

Giving to missions is also not like paying the cable television bill. Cable television has always been an option. No one needs cable. Many Mennonite readers are proud of their unwillingness to pay a cable bill, especially those who have no television. So cable is a luxury, benefits no one besides oneself or those in one’s household and is mostly about individual entertainment.

Obviously, giving to missions should not be like this. While it is an option, it is a positive one. The question is not, Will I spend money for this personal luxury? but instead is, Will I contribute to this good work? Yes, you can live without giving to missions, but less mission work will happen without your help. It can be a natural and joyful response to being part of the body of Christ rather than something we do for our personal entertainment.

Giving to missions is more like paying the phone bill.

First, phones are everywhere and are just assumed by almost everyone. More people have phones than are connected to the electric grid. I know someone whose power was cut off, and she managed for a month or two until she could pay her bill. But when her phone got cut off, she acquired another one within a few days.

This should be our approach to giving to missions. The church has a mission. In fact, the church is its mission. Without a mission, the church is just a bunch of people getting together. Everything the church does is part of its mission, and many things that happen outside the church are also part of the mission of the church. Not giving to missions should be just as unimaginable as not having access to a phone, even more so.

This leads naturally to the next parallel between the phone bill and missions giving.

There are many phone companies vying for your business. Each of these companies has various options and plans from which to choose. They all want to lock you into a long-term contract for regular contributions, but other companies are always trying to persuade you to change your mind. So you have ongoing commitments and ongoing decisions, trying to decide what is the best use for your money.

Giving to missions can also be like this. If I am serious about wanting you to contribute to our work in Ghana, I need to be able to explain to you why you should prefer to contribute to this mission rather than the hundreds of other organizations that are also doing God’s work. There are needy people in your town; why send money to Ghana?

Your church budget could likely use the money, as well as hundreds of other organizations doing good and important work.

In some ways, I would prefer not to explain this over and over. I want to teach in Ghana rather than spend hours explaining to people what I do and how they can support it. I am good at teaching and bad at fund-raising. Why would I want to spend time doing something I’m bad at?

Yet I do need to be held accountable. You need to know that I am not just sitting in Ghana eating chocolate and relaxing on the beach. You have the right to know that this is not a church-funded vacation or an ego-driven attempt to “convert the poor heathen.”

So, like the phone company, I need to be able to explain to you why this particular mission is worth your support.

Another parallel between missions giving and the phone bill is that both cost big money. As a family with multiple phones, our phone bill is much larger than any other utility bill. This is “normal” to the millennial generation but is shocking to those of us who are older. We used to spend $25 per month on our one phone. This was what most people paid, regardless of how many people were in the family. There was one phone company, and it was all really simple and straightforward.

The same was true of missions giving. Missions used to be done by missionaries sent out by the church who were paid out of the central budget of the larger church. We gave regularly to the church budget, and this was distributed by them to the various workers worldwide. It was also relatively inexpensive, as workers could live in Asia or Africa for a fraction of the cost of life in North America. Like the phone bill, $25 per month went a long way.

Today none of these things is true. Missions are done by a whole variety of agencies and individuals through many church and parachurch agencies. Even in Mennonite Church USA, there is no central budget for mission work. The price of sending workers is also much higher than most people expect. That $25 goes no farther in mission work than it does paying a cell phone bill for multiple people. We can bemoan all these changes, but they are real nonetheless.

For these and other reasons, mission work is more like the phone bill than it is like other utility bills. In response, I want to challenge you to connect the two things directly.

Decide what percentage of your phone bill you want to give to missions, then do it on the same schedule. Further, decide what mission work best reflects your values, then contribute to this. Review these decisions regularly, whenever you review your phone plan.

Of course, the next step is even more important. Care. Care about and for the various missions of the church. Care can be done in various ways. Pray, ask questions, send notes, send cookies, talk to friends about the good things the church is doing. If people care, the money will take care of itself. If people care, the work will get done. Caring makes it your mission, part of what God is doing in and through you.

Your phone company doesn’t want to be loved and cared for, but mission workers do. Join us in caring for the worldwide people of God.

Wes Bergen is a member of New Creation Fellowship Church in Newton, Kan. He and Deb blog at bergenbeats.wordpress.com.