FUNDING THE CAUSE WE BELIEVE IN

By IDOABASI IKPO

“Whoever goes to war at his own expense” 1 Corinthians 9:7a)

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent” (Romans 10:13-15a Emphasis mine).

According to All Nation English Dictionary, cause is defined as an aim for which a person or a group works. A cause is an aim or principle which a group of people supports or is fighting for. If you say that something is in a good cause or for a good cause, you mean that it is worth doing or giving to.

Funding is money which a government or organization or an individual provides for a particular purpose. A fund is an amount of money that is collected or saved for a particular purpose. When a person or organization funds something, they provide money for it.

As followers of Jesus, do we believe in His cause, or let me ask, do we really understand the cause of Jesus Christ? What did He come to accomplish on earth. What is God doing on earth, what is He pursuing? If we know, do we believe in it and how can we be part of achieving that cause, what will it cost us and how can it be funded. The eternal purpose of God is Christ and the church. It is the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth under Christ who reigns as Lord over all. It is the gathering from all nations, all those who have surrendered to Christ, as his children to fellowship with Him forever (Eph. 1:9, 10; Gen. 12:1-3; Gal. 3:16-19; 2 Pet. 3:0; Rev. 7:9). 

God wants to be truly known, passionately loved, faithfully followed and ardently worshipped through His son, by all people all around the world. He wants to be the only object of worship, affection, devotion and desire of all human. God wants worshippers from every people group before His throne. The Bible says in Revelation 5:9, “And they sang a new song, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slaughtered, and you redeemed people for God by your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation”.

From his greater mission, God has appointed a mission for his people. The church- you and I. The mission of God’s people refers primarily to the ministry of reconciling all peoples and people to God in Christ. It is expressed in both cross cultural and same cultural ministry, and is known by various terms such as the Great commission, soul wining, world Mission, the world Christian movement etc. In one phrase, it is making disciples out of all nations for the Lord. This is the cause we believe in.

You may be a Pastor, Prophet, Apostle, Teacher, Evangelist, a follower of Christ, this is why you exist. Your church or ministry, fellowship, whatever you do in the name of God, if you miss this point, you are off-course. 

The Bible speaks “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Now everything is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ… we plead on Christ’s behalf, ‘Be reconciled to God…As you sent me into the world, I also have to send them into the world. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness. But you will receive power when the Holy spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witness both in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth…” (Matt 28:19; 2 Cor. 5:17-20; Jn. 17:18; 1Pet 2:9; Acts 1:8).

Jesus taught His disciples that they should understand and interpret scriptures in the context of this cause. Failure to do so is to misinterpret both the letter and the spirit behind the written word. The Bible exist by missions, because of missions and for missions. It has been forged on the anvil of mission and formed through Gods’ quest to reconcile all things to himself. “Then He told them, these are my words that I spoke to you… that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and Psalms must be fulfilled. 

Then He opened their minds to understand the scripture… this is what is written, the messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24:44-47.” Since I have obtained help that comes from God, to this day I stand and testify to both small and great saying nothing else than what the Prophet and Moses said would take place that the Messiah must suffer and that as the first to rise from the dead, He would proclaim light to our people and the Gentiles”. Acts 26:22-23. 

This cause-Mission defines the church’s existence on earth. Every expression of the church and every member of the church exist because of mission and therefore exist for mission. The church is a missionary community on earth.

Having seen God’s primary focus now on earth, the cause He is pursuing, how will God accomplish this purpose of world evangelism? The answer is simple – the church – the seed of Abraham. Who is the church? You and I. How will this great, noble cause be financed? Through the World Bank, MF, earthly government or the church? God primarily will go to His people, yes. Sometimes His people may be working in the bank, politics, or business, academic, military, but God will use his people and His people must realize this. Does the church have sufficient funds to finance world evangelization? The answer is capital yes. I believe. 

The church of Jesus is rich and blessed enough to get the gospel to all the peoples, tribes, tongues and families of the earth. This is not about expanding our denomination but building the kingdom of God.

According to Joshua Project out of the 7.47 billion people on earth 3.6 billion are classified  unreached, 236 million minimally reached, 535 million superficially reached, 2.08 billion are partially reached and 1.47 billion significantly reached, translating to just 33.34% of the world population as Christians. Out of the total of 16,835 peoples group in the world, operation world shows that at least 6,945 people are totally unreached and 1,123 people groups are minimally reached. In all a total of about 3.16 billion individuals (42.2%) of the world population are counted as unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ as at June 2017. Think of the Muslims, Buddhists, Hindu, Tribal, Atheists. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life”.

According to David Ogunshola, giving is a critical element of missions that cannot be ignored and cannot be overemphasized. As much as most missionaries do not like to talk about finance, money plays a critical role in missions and the money that will finance the Gospel has been placed in the hands of believers you and me. Statistics have it that Christians globally earn a total of 42 trillion US Dollars yearly, and less than 2% of that (700 B.I Dollar) is given to Christian cause worldwide yearly – this includes everything done in the name of the church including buildings welfare, NGOs, programmes, trainings, publications etc. of this portion of money given to the church about 6% actually goes to missions and even more worrisome about this is the fact that of this 6% given for missions, 99% of it is spent on ministry in the places where the church is already established. The bulk of missions spending still revolve around the church, only 1% is actually sent to really reach the unreached. To confirm this, check the annual budget of an average church, denomination or Christian organization. Check your own giving to God or Christian cause.  It leaves us wondering how we really expect to finance the Great commission with only a tiny fraction of our income and the church’s income. 

This is why God is calling individual believers, families, Christian businesses into the ministry of intentional and strategic giving- people who will understand that God pushes resources through their hands for the purpose of financing His mission. May I suggest a number of innovative ways to give that will be both intentional and strategic. Put aside a fraction of your income, solely for missions, could be any percentage you decide – 2%, 5%, 10%, 20% as led by the Lord anytime you have an income. Corporate giving (for Christian Companies & Business) leading brand around  the world have been known to have a cause that they advocate for as a business – a percentage of your company profit can be dedicated to missions work among the unreached, a very meagre amount can be dedicated from the sale of a particular product. 

Praying - This may be your most critical role. 

Mobilization and advocacy – this involves helping to create awareness
 

Encouraging and support - with the mind that sending involves anything that makes it possible for missionaries to get to the field and remain there.

I strongly want to advocate that church-you and I need to adopt a wartime lifestyle in order to effectively fund the cause we so believe. As churches, believers, we need to bring missions back to the front burner, its our PRIORITY. Time is running out “And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations then shall the end come”Matt. 24:14.

*This article excerpt from the LABORERS’ VOICE VOL. 4 NO. 14 NOVEMBER 2017, written by Idoabasi Ikpo, published with full permission of the writer.

Idoabasi Ikpo is Founder and Director of LABORERS - TOGETHER, based in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. For over a decade he has laboured in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Bénin  Republic, promoting Christian missions and connecting the Church with the mission field. He actually oversees among pro-missions conferences, mission fields among the BRIFOURS, CHALLA, HO, SOFORKROM and FISE