I was watching TV today and as the channel news was displaying different reports of arround the globe! something just got my attention as I was trying to digest some wonderful pasta meal. It was the report of a poor family who lived somewhere in Africa and about their extroardinary faith! The family was composed of 5 children, the dad and the mom; they lived in not more than 10 m2 room… this unique room was of couse the bedroom, the livingroom, the kitchen… and please do not ask me about where the toilet was. The dad was interviewed and he started to explain about his faith in Christ and how this faith helped him to overcome his current situation which he qualified to be (in french C’est tres tres difficile), meaning it is super hard! As he was talking, he came to mention about the baptist mission which created a school where his children attend but also that from time to time, he would work for them (when they have some job) in order to pay the tuition of his children. Well apparently, education in the mission school is not free, but of course you will as me think “it is at least cheap”. So when the dad finished to talk, of course a responsible of the baptist mission was interviewed in her office, which is in the same country… as the camera was shooting her in her office! you could get a wide perspective on her office! Guess what was the first thing you could see? An Air Conditionner!!! Wow… Yup! remember it is hot in Africa! of course she cannot stand the heat as others.. Air Conditionner is necessary! well for living in Africa too, I do not blame her! Anyway… as I was looking at her office and hearing her beautiful words to explain what the mission was about… something came up to my mind…
Have you ever wondered what would the difference be between Generosity and Love?
See… is there a difference with giving for example 20.000 $ out of 100.000 $ you have OR giving 995.000 $ and keeping 5.000$ ?
Generosity Or Love ?
I have to tell you that the office of that lady looked bigger than the little room in which this family of 7 members was living! You could find a lot of useless thing that I am pretty sure could have been invested in helping people have better lives and live in better condition!
See I always think, if you think, you cannot live in a small room with 6 other people! how can you imagine others can?
It looks like lot of mission organisation and even people who pretend to be humanitarian helpers, make sure first of their confort and then enters in the process of helping others!
Is that Love or Generosity?
Let’s take John Wesley example! What is fascinating about this reformer is that John’s first salary was of 60 pounds! the story tells us that John kept 30 pounds for himself and gave 30 pounds to the poor… as the years went by, his salary kept increasing and increasing.. but John always kept 30 pounds and gave the rest to the poor..
So think about it… is that Love or Generosity?
Still wondering about Love and Generosity? Wondering about the church lady and this family of seven? Wondering about John Wesley’s attitude?
Then Let me just drop one last thought… Was Christ’s death Generosity or Love?
thanks, ali
August 18th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Hi Ali,
You are a good writer and your thoughts are indeed challenging. Let me ask a question. Do you ever wonder why on a plane that the flight attendant instructs you that in an emergency, if you are traveling with a child, you should place your air mask on first before assisting the child?. Of course not, because if one cannot breathe one will not be able to assist others.
I am not saying that it is right for missinaries to live above the people that they are assisting. I do not believe this is the right thing to do. However, sometimes as in this case, it not a matter of love or generosity but common sense.
August 18th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Hello Doris,
Thanks a lot for your comment! You are right and made a good point!
Helping others “loving others” does not mean we kill ourselves. We need to make sure we are “ok” and “in good condition” in order to better help others. Same as the example you gave… if oxygen lacks in a plane, we will be better off helping while breathing, instead of assisting others and not having oxygen to breath.
But as I am thinking about your thought! Please let me mention one extra thing
What is “common sense”?
Having a house is common sense! but is having a “mansion” common sense?
It is common sense for someone to have an office to work, but is it common sense to have a huge office?
Common sense is making sure to be healthy so that we will not get sick and we will still continue to help others! so in that sense, Common sense is making sure to buy mineral water, than adventuring ourselves to drink the local water for example… this is common sense! but in no way is common sense a justification on how missionaries today live in 1/3 world countries and even around the globe!
I wrote this article with no missionaries in mind specifically, nor any kind of particular mission! I was more aiming at the general average christian..
But since you raised such an important concept! I think it will be fair enough to ask ourselves… “what is common sense” and “where are its limits”?
And a last thought! I believe “common sense” is not indiviual, the notion of “too much” is not individual based but as you said already, a logical human common sense.
So if common sense for a person is to have a nice pleasant spacious office! it should then be common sense for that same person to help provide a bigger bedroom to a family of seven for example.
My point simply is… if this is common sense to you, then it should be the same “common sense” to others. I believe this is the root of what Love is.
Thanks a lot Doris,
Blessings,
ali
September 4th, 2007 at 5:50 am
Hello Ali,
I am a missionary living in the remote mountains of northwest Mexico. I read your article and agree with what you have seen concerning the Big Missions Organizations. By the way, they also discriminate against you if you are not in their organization and don’t give them control of your support money. We are independents or “rebels” as they call us, not members of any missions organization. I am very aware of all the waste that goes on in the name of Jesus. There can be extremes both ways. I admit that I live better off than the people I am here to help, but when my family and I arrived here in Mexico, we arrived better off than they were. Should we live out in the villages with no power and running water or should we lower our standard of living to the point of having just enough to live semi-comfortable and have the resources to help these people? We chose the latter. My wife doesn’t have time to hand wash our clothes (even though she knows how and has had to do it before) while home-schooling our two children. On the flip side, I do know personally of a missionary in Quito, Ecuador who has to have a gardener because if he does his own yard work the neighbors will look down on him, it’s also the same situation concerning their maid. There has to be a balance. We live in a mud adobe house, we have concrete floors, electricity and indoor plumbing. Luxurious compared to some of our closest friends. One of our biggest luxurys is an internet dish, it could also be considered a valuable tool, it keeps us in contact with the outside world. Another is my 2000 f350 diesel 4×4, it gets us safely in and out of very remote and dangerous places in the mountains. It is very luxurious compared to the 30 and 40+ year old trucks we meet on the road. What were doing here is not a matter of generosity, generosity is what was going on just before the widow gave her last two pesos. If it wasn’t for the love that God put in my heart I would still be in the states making $40k plus a year and my family and I would have health and life insurance.
My rantings are not against you, I too get very frustrated when I see these organizations pull in mega dollars when I have actually seen the stuff it gets wasted on and my family and I can’t even buy all the things we used to love to eat when we lived in the good old USA! True there are people taking advantage of other’s generosity, but there are also people out there who are giving all they can to further the kingdom of God, the sad thing is that you don’t get to hear from them that much because they’re out “working in the fields”.
Good Article-keep writing and I’ll keep reading.
¡Que Dios te bendiga!
Ryan Maness
http://www.downinmexico.org
September 5th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I am a missionary living in Nicargua. I think of Joseph who had a high position, lots of power and lots of money. I am sure he wasted quite a bit of money on really nice meals, dressed tremendously better than the common man and slept in a bed covered with expensive tapestries. Was God mad at him because he didn’t renounce it all so he could live like the common man? I wonder what would have happened to the Israelites had Joseph renounced the high position he held believing that in order to do God’s intended work he had to live like the common man.
I wonder if Christians today would criticize Noah if he was a missionary spending all the supporters money only on wood and nails and spending all his time doing construction work. He wasn’t living a life anything at all like the common men in the world and he wasn’t even making any converts. I wonder what would have happened if he turned in his hammer and stopped building the ark every day so that he could appear to better fit in with the average man.
I wonder why David and Solomon lived in palaces while the common man lived in a humble home. And yet David was a man after God’s own heart?
I wonder why John the Baptist lived in the wilderness, ate locust and honey and talked constantly about the Lamb of God…..talk about way out of the mainstream.
I wonder if Zaccheus lived a pauper the rest of his life so that he could really be a “good” witness.
I wonder why Paul was always hungry, thirsty, tired, naked, persecuted, in perils of water and darkness, and always getting beaten up all the time. After all…even the standards of the average man was way better than that. I guess he didn’t place a high emphasis on trying to live the lifestyle of those around him.
I guess you can tell by now I am being a little sarcastic. Quite frankly I was a little offended by the shallow view of Ali in the original post. The degrading way in which she spoke of the missionary working in Africa as “that lady” speaks volumes to me. First of all it tells me that she does not know her or her name…which tells me that she does not know her or anything about her ministry. Ali thinks that somehow having an air conditioner or a big office brings all the comforts of home to the mission field. It is obvious that Ali has no clue about what is even required to make it to a foreign field, let alone try to survive there with a family. Ali…if you want to figure out the answer to your question…generosity or sacrifice…why don’t you take a trip to Africa….spend 1 month with “that lady” and if you make it the whole month you just might find the answer to your question.
Oh…you know what ..another thing…you mentioned the tremendous faith of the “poor family” as if being poor is the pre-requisite to having tremendous faith. Do you realize that it is possible that the man of tremendous faith would never have been introduced to Jesus were it not for “that lady” and her school. What about the tremendous faith of those supporters who sent that lady to Africa and then who knows…maybe said..”you are working so hard…we want to do something special for you…we want to buy you an air conditioner for your office and pay your utilities bill.” Yes Ali, stuff like that really does happen to missionaries that also somehow have the ability to have tremendous faith…just like the poor people born into poverty stricken countries.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Hello Rich,
Thanks for your comment. Sorry I was unable to get back to you as I have been swamped by a lot of work, moving around etc…
First of all, you will be surprised to know that I was born in Africa… hah surprise :-)… I don’t need to live there for a year, since I have spent 18 years in Africa (West Africa - Mahgreb North Africa). Talking to me about poverty or suffering is a bit like explaining to a brain surgeon how the brain works.
Now, I am not saying this, to point at you and put you in your place! Not at all! just to give you a bit of my background as when I write articles, they ain’t about “farting” them, but really thinking about them and then decide to share them.
You use quite some ironies, yet your comment fail to bring a single idea, the only conclusion I can only grasp from it is “it is ok for people to be spoiled”.
Your use of bible examples shows a poor understanding of biblical hermeneutics and an outrageous misuse of biblical context. Don’t use the tomatoes to justify why some apples are red.
You also seem to only focus on me “bashing that lady”… you are right, I didn’t grasp her name… heard it but couldn’t remember (that’s what happen when you start processing events, you can’t expect to remember what isn’t truly of a matter in a X moment)… so me saying “that lady” isn’t about bashing her, and if you had carefully read this article, it was just using the context to bring a doctrinal idea which would confront what love and generosity mean and where they stand.
You shouldn’t read my articles, nor consult this website if you are single minded… those articles use extensive irony to try to bring a single unique idea… I am not up here to bash people, I have nothing to gain, but just to communicate single ideas… so commenting by defending a cause is missing the point! the point is about generosity and love, not about you nailing woods together or that lady in her fancy office.
Life is full of choices, we decide to be comfortable or decide not to.. like this lady, you got the choice to have an AC in your office, or not to have it . Fact is at the end of the day, how much are you willing to give or keep to yourself. This is the question you should debate, rather than farting bible verses which in coherence are outside of context…
Again, feel free to re read the article and put your personal feelings on the side! I ain’t bashing or criticizing all mission organizations, the ones who misuse the blessings of God will surely recognize themselves. I ain’t coming to your door, and say “you are bad, change it”! I wouldn’t care what you decide to do, my responsibility stops at saying “Rich, are you loving or just being generous?”.
Peace and Blessings,
Ali