It’s there! Nearly $400,000 raised in a month for Jamaican hurricane relief, double the estimated need, with enough surplus to establish a disaster relief fund.
We could hardly believe it! That much money from Christadelphians? and raised so quickly!
Funds Available
One brother looked at the appeal for hurricane relief and commented: “that will raise $1.5 million.” His estimate staggered us but he knows the community worldwide better than ourselves. If the appeal had gone on, would that much have been raised? We don’t know, but when one stops to calculate the community resources they are higher than one might expect. 30,000 Christadelphians with an average per person income of $5,000 (and both figures are probably low) yields an annual community income of $150 million. Ten per cent of that is $15 million per year if all were to tithe, as some communities do.
Nobody Knows
For all anyone knows, that much money is already being donated to ecclesial activities, special funds and personal welfare needs.
As a community, we practice the Lord’s command to keep our giving anonymous (Mt. 6:2-4). Some time ago we learned that our obedience in this matter can lead to underestimating the good we are doing. A brother asked us to help with his tax returns and he was giving 50% of his taxable income to ecclesial and other tax-deductible causes. But no one would ever have guessed that from any comments made by the brother.
We do not post personal pledges on the notice board, have foundations named after generous brethren, put name plaques of donors on pews or rooms or buildings. So nobody knows who is giving how much. But are we giving enough?
Funds Needed
Within a month after being involved in the Jamaica situation, we were exposed again to the enthusiastic response received by the Truth in Central America. This is not an older mission area like the Caribbean or Holland. This is an area where one limiting factor on spreading the Truth is money, not money for advertising but for putting qualified Christadelphians into the field.
As a community, we have followed the practice of asking missionaries to earn their own living. Our reasons vary: this policy ensures the dedication of the missionary couple, it helps the visiting Christadelphians to acquire a grass-roots feel for the local culture, it follows the apostolic example and it saves mission funds.
Three of the four points are valid but one is not: the apostolic precedent is not that preachers of the gospel earn their own living. Paul and Barnabas were not the norm, they were exceptions to normal apostolic practice. “Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?” (I Cor. 9:6)
Others were not working, they were being supported by the ecclesias. “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partakers of this power over you are not we rather (entitled to the same) … the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (vs. 11-14).
Our Practice is Good
Our community practice of voluntary lay service at all levels has distinct advantages. It forces the individual members to Bible study and active involvement; it discourages people from compromising the gospel simply to get a bigger congregation and bigger income; it inhibits the growth of a clergy class that does our religious thinking for us.
But Not New Testament Norm
But we need to realize that our policy follows the exceptional example of the apostle Paul and not the normal practice of the New Testament ecclesias.
Some Work Hindered
Furthermore, we are seeing circumstances where our community practice is proving a hindrance to the preaching of the Word. An increasing number of third-world countries are closing their doors to foreign workers unless they bring with them a special skill not adequately available in the domestic populace. In Costa Rica, for example, this has meant that the two missionary couples have been unable to work. As a result, the CBM-A has made the decision to provide full support for the brethren involved. This may be an exception to our normal practice but it is in harmony with the norm of New Testament times.
Quite possibly, full support needs to be offered to additional workers in Central America and in other areas where good response to the Word appears to exist. However, that will take money — money which could well be available if brethren are convinced of the need.
Pastoral Work
One thing that should be mentioned in this context is the need for not only preaching the Word and baptizing converts but of also helping ecclesias become firmly established in the faith.
We must remain firm unto the end to be saved and sometimes new ecclesias need a great deal of long term help to develop the procedures and wisdom that we take for granted. Short-term visits help in this regard but they cannot replace the daily help provided by experienced couples living in the area. Again, money may be needed to finance such help.
Not a Specific Appeal
This editorial is not intended as an appeal for more donations to any particular need in the brotherhood. The objective is to cause us to consider this matter of money in light of the evidence that we have it and that there are areas where it is needed. Mission work is one such area, but there are others.
In some cases, our ecclesial halls are inadequate and money would solve that problem. Some lectures are not advertised adequately; money would correct that.
God has given us what we have; let us continue to give anonymously but let us make good and generous use of our available funds.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One