Partner$hip Investments

 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"Why do ministries ask for money?"

That's a rhetorical question, right? Isn't there only one real answer ... to keep the ministry financially viable? Keep the lights on, provide payroll and materials, keep the Lord's work going, etc.

But we believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him, right? And we believe that when we seek him first, and his righteousness that comes by faith, all these things will be added to us as well. The things mentioned in that verse are tangibles: food/drink/clothing/housing--things that money buys.

So why should a ministry need to have this whole paradigm of relying on other people for money? Why institute a tithe? Why doesn't God divinely provide for the ministries and churches, so that they never need to have giving-campaigns again?  For real, though--why?

In college a friend shared his vision of becoming so rich someday that he could privately fund a bunch of ministries so they could get on with the work and stop spending their energy fundraising.  Since then I've heard the same sentiment from several other people.  It sounds good.  A bit wishful-thinking, maybe, or trying to respond to God with faith to move a mountain.  It's good to dream big and ask for more; I resonate with that.  But...

For some reason God seems to like creating interdependencies.  From the beginning, he set it up so that it's not just a me-and-Jesus vertical paradigm.  He's into help-mates, families, and churches.  He seems to really delight in "being there for each other" intercession.  And he's woven into the framework of his Design a thread of giving money as a means of partnering our hearts with each other.  It's an extrapolation of the truth of Mat 6:21, where Jesus was encouraging people to prioritize heavenly treasure.  But it's also a truth that when you have some of your money flowing to a ministry, part of your heart goes there, too, and I think God made it that way on purpose.  To me, it seems to fit with the character of the Deeper Law of his creation that he built with himself.

I'm an old-fashioned tither.  I receive gratefully the money that's mine to spend (that is to say, once Caesar has had his share in withheld taxes, etc.), and I send 10% of all we have to my local church to use as they see fit.  No strings, no caveats.  Then my wife and I use another percent to invest in and partner with ministries.  The percentage used to be 5% when we lived near the poverty line.  Now that we have more income, the amount of disposable dollars has delightfully increased.  Yay Money!!

(Incidentally, in the picture above there is only thing I wish were different ... I wish the tithe was the first of the ten dollars rather than the last.  It's an important heart-posture, even though you'd never know which dollar was which just by looking at my checking account.)

My dad is really savvy with stock market things.  He tells me to Diversify my investments, and I use a similar strategy with the people and ministries I'm "buying shares" of.  I bought several tiny fractions of APPL, at his recommendation years ago, and my investment has soared; I'm very happy to be financially connected to that company.  We have also been investing, for many years, in a family living in a city where not many people ever travel to.  The state-run orphanage there has no capacity to help sick infants, but this ministry does.  They will receive the sickest babies from the orphanage and either nurse them back to health or hold them tenderly as they leave life.  Their integrity is solid.  They are there for the long haul.  They multiply grace into the local community of faith.  That is a company I want to have invested in, don't you?  If you write to me privately I'll share with you their "stock symbol" so you can buy into their project...(in plain language: I'll tell you how to contact them so you can support their ministry).

Is this sounding too mercenary?  I'm comparing the for-profit companies I'm invested in, where I'm a shareholder, to PEOPLE who are living poured-out lives.  I feel connected to these ministries as a stakeholder, a partner.  I feel I've got something riding on their continued success.  I grieve when they grieve.  When they say "look what we did!" I feel the uplift because in a distant way, we did manifestly participate in that success.

(We don't partner big-time with any one ministry, by the way.  If our support is removed, nobody has to come home from a foreign country or close the doors on their program--we're not that important.  Small dollar amounts to lots of accounts.)

My Advice:

Put money where you hope it will multiply want your heart to be.  Buy a share of a company ministry that you trust to rise in value raise the value of the people they touch.  Get in on an IPO when you hear of a kid who wants to go dedicate 6 months to an outreach with a discipleship training school.  Diversify your ministry investments.  Put their pictures on your fridge.

If I were to begin a new ministry, I'd ask for your financial partnership even though I (really!) don't need any of your money.  

• Donate your money!  
• I don't need your money!  

The reason for the ask is for partnership.  We'd want your investment, and money is a good tool to help unite our hearts.  We're good stewards and investors of kingdom money, and being a financial partner with us is a way to participate in the good things we expect to happen wherever we'd go.  

Investing Early--Compounding Spiritual Interest

There's a tension that exists between truths about early spiritual investing.

Today I was appreciating an infographic about the benefits of early-in-life financial investments.

This is also true of spiritual investment.  When you have learned Scripture early, when you have practiced faith and served others over decades, there is such benefit!  You have participated in so many Bible studies and taken notes on so many excellent teachings that it seems normal to already know the Scriptures that are related to a topic and find that while you may not know the chapter and verse, you have the rhythm of the words resonating in your soul.  

So while you are investing early, financially, it's also wisdom to be sowing into spiritual "growth-stocks."  Jesus talks about reaping what you've sown, and you want to be able to reap in your maturity some of the good things from decades ago.  

But I said there was a tension.

The tension is that if two 58-year-olds are together on a park bench and one has been devoted to Christ for 54 years while the other is a relative newbie, having submitted herself to Him just four years ago, they are spiritual equals.  Holy Spirit is speaking equally to each, and both have the same chance of being able to tune in to what He's saying at any moment.  The years are irrelevant in so many ways.

I often think of it in terms of sunlight from the star Sol and two hikers on a hypothetical mountain trail.  One hiker has been hard at it, for hours or even days climbing.  He faces into the sunshine and appreciates how it fills him.  Another hiker has been actually going the wrong way and any which way and has just now, far below the first, turned her face upwards into the sunshine and is filled with glorious warmth.  The invitation to both is the Narnian call to come "further up and further in."  And although one hiker is literally closer to the sun than the other, there is no substantive advantage to himself vs. the newly awakened hiker.

So.  Invest early in spiritual growth?  Yes!!  But like the early worker in the parable of the day's wages, there is no advantage to yourself in doing so.