1 March 2026
THE COST OF WORLD MISSIONS
(Biblical Teachings on The Christian Life.: BTCL 23)
To obey the Lord in fulfilling the Great Commission, it will take lots of resources – of both men and money – to reach the world for Christ. It will need the whole Church using its combined resources to take the Gospel to the whole world. We are to reach all nations, all peoples, all tribes, all races and all cultures. That is a gigantic task and requires faith and obedience, dedication and sacrifice. God made the greatest sacrifice in giving up His Son for us so that we may be saved. Missions is costly and demands sacrifice! Are we willing?
Missions need money to send and support missionaries; to maintain Missionary Training Schools to train national missionaries and equip them to reach the Unreached People Groups. Missions can be dangerous, because of possible opposition and persecution and even the possibility of the missionaries being killed for Christ and the Gospel.
The main reason why missions is still so unfruitful and ineffective is because of several factors:
1. The Church lacks vision and commitment to missions. They rather spend on themselves to have more luxuries and enjoyment rather than give to mission work. Hence many Christians and Churches have hoarded millions in the Bank but refuse to give away to missions. When the Rapture takes place, the Antichrist will laugh all the way to the Bank taking over the wealth and assets accumulated by Church and Christians. We thus give God’s blessings to Satan to enjoy! How will God judge us – Christians and the Church - for this selfish hoarding?
2. Missionaries sent out are not properly trained. In the secular world we want professionals who are appropriately trained “specialists” so that they can perform well. This is not so in missions. We have too many untrained upstarts who think they know everything and do not need any training to be missionaries. Others get trained in a Bible School supposedly to equip pastors to maintain a Church but not training missionaries with missionary skills for the rough terrains and unfriendly pagans, many of whom are more interested in killing Christians. Hence, we see many casualties in the mission fields and failures are plenty. After 2,000 plus years of Missions, the world is still unreached. It is like sending untrained and unequipped soldiers to the Frontline and expect them to win the war! Many Christian organizations and groups are still doing this! Untrained and incompetent missionaries will not be effective in mission work.
3. Christians tend to be worldly minded – to live like other worldlings. They accumulate wealth, property and assets for themselves and their “future” rather than giving sacrificially to God. While it may be wise to save for our children, we need not go overboard by keeping all for ourselves. Remember that we are stewards of God’s blessings. We need to give to Him and His work first, then He will bless us for the future. Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all these things will be added to you” (Matt 6:33). Take care of God’s present work and our future will be secure. God is no man’s debtor; He will reward us accordingly.
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