One thing that I have seen again and again remove people from the mission field, or prevent them from entering the mission field, is personal debt…

Personal debt can take many forms, including, but certainly not limited to:

• Credit Card Debt
• Student Loan Debt
• Vehicle Loan Debt or Lease
• Mortgage*

I have seen numerous message on twitter from people along the lines of wanting to join missions, but can’t because of debt. I have also seen people leave the missions field because of debt they had at home from before they joined or even because of debt they have incurred while on the missions field.

A friend of mine, Creagon Muldoon, who also works with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to mobilise people into missions recently posted this on Twitter:

Creagon – Creagon Muldoon

Praying for God to mobilizes the next of student movement. Wondering how He will overcome the 2009 average student debt load of $24,000.

Debt is very debilitating to someone wanting to follow the Will of God of their life.

There is not one positive mention of debt in the Bible. Debt is always presented in a negative light. It is not a “salvation” issue, but there is not one time mentioned in the bible that debt is used to bless His people.

Here are a few Bible versus about this topic taken from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University site.

1. Proverbs 13:22  "A good man leaves an inheritance to his childrens’ children" indicating that God wants us to make a difference, financially, in our family tree.

2. Proverbs 21:20  "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has."  This gives us an idea of how God wants us to save for a rainy day, to set something back for safekeeping.

3. Proverbs 22:7 states that "The rich rule over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender."  Really?  The Bible discourages debt?  Does God really want me to pay my debts off and avoid debt?

4. Luke 14:28 "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it."  Does Jesus really want me to save up and pay for the things I buy?

The final one should be very challenging for us. I can’t tell you how many times have I been in a meeting and heard people “stepping out in faith” to go on a trip that they can’t afford? It’s one thing to be planning for a trip without knowing where the money is coming from, but to actually go on the trip before it’s paid for seems to go against what Jesus is telling us in Luke 14:28.

What is Our Responsibility?

As a missions organisation we need to ask ourselves about what our responsibility is to our staff and students in regards to debt. Are we enabling our staff and students to go into debt, or are we helping them to avoid it.

Here are a few questions that I think we need to ask:

• Do we let our staff and / or students go to into debt?
• How do we handle it when our staff falls behind on their staff fees?
• Do we ask questions about peoples personal debt in our application process?
• Is there teaching or plans in place to assist people get out of debt?

Are we teaching our staff and students wisdom in regards to their finances or are we teaching them to be reckless with their finances? Do we confuse “faith” with “foolishness”?

Debt in YWAM

Another great article that I found after I had written most of this article is on the YWAM Associates web-site entitled “The Curse of Debt”. You can read the article here. There is some great information about debt in YWAM in that article including:

• Between 5 – 80% of staff at any given YWAM location are in debt
• Most YWAM Centres have lost staff because of debt
• Some YWAM staff have to take outside jobs to pay off debt

Have a look at the full article to read more.

Tools to Get out of Debt

There are some great tools out there to help you get out of debt. Someone who I have been listening to for a while is Dave Ramsey, the source of those quotes above. Here is a link to some of the tools that he offers for free on his web-site:

• The Seven Baby Steps to become debt free
• The Getting Started Guide – 6-part e-mail series

photo credit: Josh Kenzer

It’s too easy to get wrapped up on the "show" or the "production".

We can see it in our worship, we can see it in our flashy videos, we can see it in our web-sites and we can see it on our vehicles and buildings…

This video asks us, “What would happen if we put all that "entertainment" or extra energy into actually going out and making disciples? “.

Where is your energy going?

Are you too busy doing “ministry” to actually make disciples…

You sometimes hear the debate about the role of the local church versus the mobile or para-church. Some will say that the local church has it’s role serving local needs, but that the mobile church is to go out as missionaries. Other see the mobile church as a dividing factor, taking people out of the local church and decreasing it’s effectiveness is fulfilling the role that God has for it in the world.

The Traveling Team has an interesting article about the role of the local church in world missions entitled “Local Church – Friend, Foe or Failure in the Great Commission”. The article points out four “truths” about the primacy of the local church in the Great Commission:

1. The Local Church is Primary in World Missions Because Jesus Said it is
2. The Local Church is Primary Because the Body of Christ is there
3. The Local Church is Primary Because it Affords Us Training and Care
4. The Local Church is Primary Because it is Both the Beginning and the End of Missions

There are some great points made in the article and it is well worth reading it here.

Although I work with a mobile church organisation in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) I have been extremely blessed to a part of a local church in Calgary that is very missions minded. I found out about YWAM through another member who had been sent out from the church. The local church has been a huge blessing and support for me and my family ever since I joined Youth With A Mission in 1998.

For me it is the combination of both the local church, South Calgary Community Church, and the missions agency, Youth With A Mission, that has created the environment where I am able to serve God full time as a Missions Communicator.

* Photo provided by YWAM Harpenden

One of the challenges that my wife and I experienced when moving to Canada was the language barrier. You might be asking yourself “What language barrier?”, but you would be surprised at the differences in the English language depending on where in the world you are.

If I were to tell you that I found something to be “pretty average” you might think that it was acceptable if you are from Canada, but if you are from Australia you would know that I’m saying it’s actually useless garbage. If I was to say something was “out whup whup” in Canada you would probably think I was drunk, but in Australia I’d be saying something was a long way, kind of like saying something was “Out in the sticks”.

Those are just two of many sayings or terms that are different between Australia and Canada. There are too many subtle differences for me to write here, but another thing that you need to be aware of is differences in hand gestures…

While the “V” symbol with your hands can be used as either “victory” or “peace”, if you do it with your palm towards you in some countries, including Australia, you are basically flipping people off.

Subtle difference, but a huge difference in meaning.

As we travel into other nations we need to be aware of the differences in dialect within the English language. Just because it’s the same words doesn’t mean it’s the same meaning.

Below are a few more examples of the differences in meaning within the English language depending on who is saying it, and who is hearing it…

Note: Even though I am originally from Canada I am of no help in differentiating Canadian and the Australian terms as I have the dreaded “missionary” dialect of English, which is a complete mish-mash of terms from all over the world…

Links:

Source for UK Image: UK Missionaries in Europe: do they make sense?

More on Hand Gestures: Content Lobby – The Top 10 Hand Gestures You’d Better Get Right