I once heard about a famous preacher who was invited to speak at a Church's new building fundraising campaign. He got the congregation all excited when he declared that all the money they needed for their new building had already been provided by God. Their excitement soon subsided, however, when he went on to say that it was in their wallets and was just waiting for them to release it!
I hold a firm belief that God provides everything we require to fulfil His mission. Today, I heard a statement that took this belief to another dimension, capturing my imagination - "The resources are in the harvest." Think about that for a moment. The resources that we need to fulfil God's purposes are not only among those who are called to that purpose, but will be found among those whom we are called to reach. The implications of this statement is that our response to a lack of resources for a God inspired mission should never be to withdraw from mission but to advance the mission. If the people of God generously sowed into the mission and reaped the harvest that awaits the fulfilment of the mission, then it seems to me that the mission should never be lacking. I know that sounds simplistic and maybe a little naive, but I worship a faithful and generous God who always provides for His purposes. So why then do so many mission endeavours in a well resourced western world struggle with resources? If we follow my interpretation of this statement through to it's logical conclusion, then I think the answer has something to do with a lack of sowing and reaping by those called to do the mission! I think it has little to do with accounting and way more to do with discipling.
Let us inspire and challenge the people of God to sow extravagantly and reap enthusiastically and watch the God of the harvest pour out more blessings than we could ever contain.
