Dependency is a Greater Threat Than Persecution

In a couple of weeks I am scheduled to speak at a banquet for World Missions Associates in Pennsylvania on the theme of financial dependency and the Persecuted Church. It is my firm conviction that dependency on western funds presents a far greater danger to the spread of the gospel than persecution does. In many cases, persecution is, of course, the fruit of evangelism. Religious, social, and political leaders witness the spread of Christianity in their community and, growing alarmed, they attempt to stop or at least control the activities which they see as a threat to the continuation of their version of the acceptable status quo.

Dependency on western resources, however, to spread the gospel has repeatedly proven to be an absolute disaster in the long run. Churches that once grew numerically through the use of culturally appropriate methods, led and financed by local believers and open to allowing God to direct them plateau and eventually decline as they succumb to the seductive song of well-meaning westerners who visit them with the intent of finding projects to fund. "Distribute our books, use our films… here have a motorcycle. That way you can whiz to where you need to go without talking to anyone on the way. Oh, you have to work for a living?? How awful! Here, let us pay you a salary so that you can devote your life fulltime to Christian service. Yes, yes, this will cut you off from those people that you used to meet with through your work and people will now see you as an agent for the West (and you may actually be persecuted for that), but you will be far more efficient!"

Efficiency! A western curse, if I ever saw one. If efficiency, money, and our methods are working so well, then tell me why Christianity is on the decline in the West?

How grateful to God I am that Paul refused to become dependent on others as he spread the gospel. He knew that his methodology of local resources meeting local needs was the best approach to church planting and evangelism. Are we going to argue that we know better now?

Having witnessed the effects of dependency amoung believers on almost every continent, I have rarely found that lack of money really hinders the spread of the gospel. I have been delighted to see the gospel moving forward most effectively by men and women who rarely even think of asking for outside help or who even resist the idea. They know that when God leads, God provides.