Does the giving encourage true discipleship?
While evangelization is the controlling objective of the missionary enterprise, it is useless if it doesn’t produce Christ-like character in both the giver and the receiver. So we must ask if the giving arrangement nurtures generosity, humility, unity, and compassion on the part of the giver. Is the church being truly generous if it is willing to send money, but not its own sons and daughters to the mission field? Like Jesus coming to earth, does the giver feel a solidarity with, a responsibility for the brother in need, as Jesus did? Are gifts given from the stance of a benefactor, or of a servant? “I am among you as one who serves,” said Jesus. I know an American missionary who, burdened by the corrupting power of the American dollar on giver and receiver, has chosen to live among the poor of Calcutta, along with his Indian colleague, on $50 a month for livelihood and for ministry. The balance of any gift income (unsolicited, by the way) is invested in a poverty-chained people. That
