What Impact Does Your Generosity Have On Global Missions?
3 min read | 29 March, 2024
Your generosity can drive the spread of the gospel in a world eagerly longing for its reach.
We spoke with Ed Michaelson, the non-profit founder of 500k—an organization dedicated to financially supporting 1,000 church planters in rural India to do missionary work.
Their mission is to spread the message of Christ among communities in South Asia that have never been reached by the gospel.
Ed discussed with us about how our financial generosity is key to how we can maximize our kingdom impact within global missions.
Check out our full podcast episode with ED here
Why care about global missions?
Global missions is one of the world’s most pressing problem profiles.
In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commands us, saying:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.”
However, one of the greatest injustices in today’s world is that there are so many people who are still unreached by the gospel and don’t have an opportunity to encounter Jesus:
“When I last looked at a research database called the Joshua Projects, they said that 42% of the world is unreached or belonging to groups that are unreached… Unreached means you live in a community where there aren't any Christians there, and particularly in communities that have never been reached by the gospel… There's just no one to share.”
The most effective way most people can contribute to global missions is giving
Sharing the gospel globally relies on your generosity.
There are already numerous trained individuals ready to be sent out as missionaries to share the message of Christ.
But often the issue is that there’s not enough money to support them:
“We've got these people who are trained and ready to go. We've got this manpower. But so often people aren't getting out into action because there's no money to send them. And actually what we need is people just to be generous and people to give.”
Why is this the case? Support for global missions is limited.
Most church donations come from the United States, with almost all of this allocated to local needs - not global.
Your generosity could have a radical impact on accomplishing God’s work
“We could send out people to plant churches into unreached villages, share the gospel. Not just share the gospel, but plant churches. And not just plant churches, but raise up new leaders who could be trained and be sent on to the next village. So in that sense, you could scale, you could multiply, giant snowball effect, all of it.”
With your help, thousands of people could find their way to Christ.
The impact that 500k’s funded church planters are having is remarkable:
“Worship meetings are happening in 3,754 villages. Across those villages there's just over 38,000 people attending those worship meetings. And 14,800 people are at the point where we'd say, this is a baptized church member.”
How can you realistically give to help further God’s Kingdom?
Ed’s top piece of advice is to earn to give.
Pursue a high-income earning career so that you can effectively donate:
“I've always been very keen to encourage people to pursue high income earning degrees through careers so they can donate to support highly effective mission work… The amount of need is enormous. I think we're just scratching the surface of it… We need a lot of people to be having roles more similar to mine and being a part of those organizations, doing that, empowering, distributing those funds, helping the strategies on the ground.”
Live a basic lifestyle and donate the rest of your money instead:
“About £60 a month. That's $80 a month, or approximately $1,000 a year… That's money I can easily generate, and that can be a big multiplier effect… If I work as a doctor… and if I'm willing to live as a missionary, live a basic lifestyle, I could donate that money instead. There could be a huge multiplier.”
Not sure where to give? Here are some of Ed’s top recommendations:
Where we give matters:
“We need to work smart. And that is where effectiveness comes in and that is where impact comes in… So it doesn't just matter being radically generous, it also matters how do we do that?... There's a world that needs to hear about Jesus… and giving our all for that in a strategic way is what is going to make the difference.”
To summarize, the 3 main ways your generosity can have a huge impact on global missions are:
You can help many unreached people find their way to Christ (Matthew 28:19)
You can help fund missionaries and church planters to spread the gospel globally.
You can earn money (by pursuing a high-income career, and living a basic lifestyle) and donate to support global missions.
Interested in connecting with communities of Christians giving to missions?
Check out these organisations:
Fruitful Work (a student group in the UK)
Want to hear more from Ed? Listen to our full episode where we discuss:
The value of mission trips.
Windows of opportunities in global missions.
Why church planting might be much more effective than Bible translation.
How to plan a career in church planting movements.
Why you probably shouldn’t become a traditional missionary.
