From Whence it Began
There are many faithful ministers who started out their ministries affiliated with wonderful ministry organizations. They trained at these groups. For years, they tended to their work. Heads down, they plowed row after row in their field of ministry. Over time, these men and women operated with more efficacy in their ministry gifting and began to see harvest. One day, they looked up from their plow and noticed that there was nobody watering the field behind them. Things had changed at their parent ministry. Truth had slid out the back door like a felon running from a fugitive task force.
Ronald Reagan once said “I didn’t leave the Democratic party, the Democratic Party left me.” This quote captures perfectly what many folks in ministry feel.
It also captures what their ministry partners (donors) feel. Some examples of this are the Southern Baptist wondering how critical race theory crept into the Convention, and why their church supports the leftist Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission led by Democrat Operative Russell Moore. You might a Presbyterian wondering why your church or Presbytery isn’t making bold, Biblically faithful thrusts against Revoice, and why race baiters like Jemar Tisby are allowed to peddle the grievence gospel to your seminary leaders. Or you might be Cru donor who saw CRU19 videos online and started wondering when selling indulgences came back in style.
The Social Justice Gospel, often termed the grievance gospel, is infiltrating American Churches and parachurch organizations. But these are top down infiltrations. The Bible tells us the pattern the unfaithful use to bring false doctrine to Christians.
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jude 1.4
They creep into the faithful while the faithful remain unaware, the end result being denial of the only Lord God.
The faithful minister you support wasn’t at headquarters seeing what was going on. He was laboring. He’s been bushwhacked, just like you.
Yonder, there is a solution
The worst thing you can do is abandon a faithful minister of the Gospel because peddlers of the grievance gospel have taken over the umbrella they sit under to pay their bills.
Here is exactly what do do.
First, contact the person you support. Tell them exactly what you’re concerned about and ask them what they think about what is going on. You want to have a deep meaningful conversation. If your friend has turned into a communist, then immediately stop supporting their “ministry” and skip the rest of this conversation.
However, if they are still a truth teller, you need to continue to support them. You need to do it in such a way that their organization doesn’t get any money. For example, if you’re a ministry partner for someone at Cru, and you support their ministry Cru gets 10% of what you give your ministry partner. But you don’t want Cru to get anything right now, because their US ministry has turned towards the selling of social justice indulgences.
So stop giving Cru 10% of your money, leaving 90% to your ministry partner. Instead, send 100% of the money to your ministry partner.
Starting after dark, light a candle. Pull out your cheque book and nib pen. Carefully scribe a dollar amount in two forms. Place this in an envelope sealed with wax and signet, while adding appropriate postage. Then, send this to your missionary through the mail. Horse or internal combustion engine will deliver the cheque to directly to their mail recepticle, at which time they will deposit your cheque into their bank.
Dodging the Counter Parry
“Wow. What an idiot! Doesn’t that guy know I can’t get a tax writeoff if I do it that way?”
*Disclaimer: We are not CPA’s. This is not financial advice. It is spiritual advice. You should use the services of a Competent Christian CPA to utilize the most effective tax strategy you can. *
While it is true that you won’t reap the rewards of a tax write off if you send a cheque directly to your missionary, the standard write off is much higher. The standard deduction for a married couple is now $24,400 for a married couple and half that if you’re single. 86% of taxpayers now take the standard deduction for Federal Income Taxes. In other words, giving directly to a ministry partner won’t have any Federal Income tax consequence for most people.
If you’re one of the people with deductions above the standard deduction, might consider utilizing a pass-thru of some type. Many churches act as pass-thrus with varying levels of sophistication. If you can get your ministry partner approved by your church, you write your church a cheque, and they then write your ministry partner a cheque. Benefit preserved, as long as your church is a non-profit.
We also hear tale that there are some pass-through’s being developed specifically to counter the situation with Cru. Keep your ear to the ground. If you want to utilize one of these, let your ministry partner know of your desire to do so even if you don’t yet know exactly who, what, where, or when.
The above won’t work in every situation. Some mission boards have rules that missionaries have to pass outside money back to them. This is the case with the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, for example (which is amusing, because they’re not woke). The intelligent observer will note that exclusions to this exist. Often, Christmas and Birthday gifts are excluded. If that is the case, you could switch from monthly donations to biannual donations.
The Occlusion of Words
Ultimately, if your ministry partner is enveloped on all sides by hordes of social justice warriors, they should make a strategic withdrawal to a better ministry.
We hope this article has been helpful. May the LORD preserve His Church without spot or blemish.
