WHY IS THIS ?
1. Why do we not provide funds for pastor's salaries or support ?
It
is our considered opinion that whoever appoints a pastor or church
leader to his or her position should take the primary responsibility
for the necessary support for the man and his family.
No
man should be in a pastor's role if he is not called by God, following
the example of John 1.6. In this case the pastor should exercise his
faith in the One who has chosen, called and sent him into ministry, for
where "God guides God also provides," and as CT Studd famously said
many years ago, "God's work, done in God's ways will never lack God's
supplies." Jesus put it just as simply by saying, "Seek first the
Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, that is His right ways of living
and doing things, and all these things will be given to you."
This has been our experience over more than 30 years, so our questions for any pastor who is passing by this page looking for
financial support are:
Firstly, are you doing God's work and genuinely seeking the coming of God's Kingdom?
And secondly are you doing this work in God's ways, rather than man's ways ?
Now, let me add two more questions:
Are you teaching Biblical giving to your congregation however poor they are ?
Are you leading the way with your own giving to work among the lost, the last and least ?
If
your answer is positive, then you may expect your faith and trust to
release the provision. The word pro means for so the word pro-vision means God's supply for
the God-given vision to be fulfilled. So
if a man or a woman is sent by God they should be believing God and
never begging men with stories of poverty. The questions about giving
are important because men have proven over the centuries that giving,
whether personal or corporate, is the trigger that releases the
fulfillment of God's promises concerning money, for example:
"Give, (first) and it shall be given unto you."
The Lord has many ways of providing of course and as often as not they
will involve other believers who are moved by His hand and His Spirit.
Consequently, it should be absolutely normal that if a pastor has been
chosen or elected by a congregation then that congregation should take
the lead in providing for it's leader and his family. It would surely
be a disgrace for a church not to care for the one who gives his life
to serve them at their request. The question of support should be
discussed first and at length with the elders and the church, before disgracing them
and revealing their meanness through requests to people outside the church or overseas.
If
a pastor has been sent by a body of believers in another place then
that group must take primary responsibility for the support of their
missionary. Of course a missionary may choose to be
self-supporting through work following the example of the apostle Paul
and a multitude of so-called honourable "tentmakers" throughout history.
If
a pastor has somehow appointed himself to the role, then he should be
honest enough to support himself through work or by the gifts of
friends who support him and his vision.
The
DCI Fund is very happy to support the work of evangelism, mission,
training and projects of compassion among the poor but for the reasons
given, we ask to be excused from applications to provide wages,
salaries, cars, computers or personal support from overseas for church leaders.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, if we are wrong then we are open to being corrected and shown a better way.
23rd July, 2009