The role of money in international missions has challenged the worldwide church for many years. Wherever money is in play, the rallying cry for more and better “accountability” is soon heard. For some, accountability is a holy cow whose lumbering presence reassures us that all is safe and as it should be. For others it is still a Holy Grail, an ideal whose perfect manifestation continues to elude us. Either way, it is holy – perfect, unquestioned and unquestionable, subject of numerous spoken and unspoken lèse-majesté laws.
And yet, when we look into the New Testament to see what it has to say about financial accountability in donor-recipient relationships, there is precious little to be found. In fact, nothing. (Now that’s a dangerous statement to make. I fully expect to be corrected by those more knowledgeable than me. Please do!)
Of course the parables of the money entrusted by a rich man to his servants (Matthew 25) or a (future) king to his servants (Luke 19) come to mind, as does the story of a vineyard owner and his wicked tenants who refuse to give him his rightful share (Matthew 21.) All of these stories emphasize that the giver has a right to a return.
Nevertheless, the application of these stories to today’s donor-recipient relationship is hardly straightforward. For one, few people would maintain that in these stories Jesus aims to prescribe proper financial investor relationships. More importantly, in all three stories the master / king / landowner represents Almighty God. Who of us would dare to assume the role of God in our relationships with Christian brothers and sisters? When we do play God, it is no wonder that those on whom we impose our desire for accountability feel violated and soon rebel against our “God-complex,” to use Bryant Myers’ term.
What, then, does the New Testament suggest? It moves us from a transactional view of cooperation described by strategic plans, SMART goals and milestones, budget lines, and detailed reports to a relational world of a community in God. We all stand before him together as debtors, recipients of grace and blessings that we are expected to share. When the young church in Jerusalem had a need, it did not submit a plan for famine relief and church growth. Those who knew of the need simply made it known elsewhere, and the churches elsewhere with its rich and its poor stepped up to help. The needy church was to use the funds as it saw fit. The apostle Paul organized an orderly and transparent transfer of funds from one corner of the Mediterranean to another corner, and that was it. To the glory of God for all who watched.
All this leaves me wondering how we could develop such an awareness of mutual responsibility and such a deep trust between churches around the globe. If the apostle Paul could do it, surely we with today’s much easier travel options, electronic communications, and world languages should be able to. What’s keeping us from it?
Traveling thru the Night 