Day-to-day giving to the World Mission Prayer League has remained pretty consistent through the years, with steady but modest increases. Donations come from churches and individuals all across the country. Some give once per year, others quarterly, monthly – or even every week. I am sure that there are many hours of significant prayer that accompany these regular gifts. These regular gifts and regular prayers are absolutely essential to our ministry.
In addition to this regular giving, the Prayer League receives donations from the “final estate” of brothers and sisters who have gone on to their heavenly reward. Often enough, these are folks who have prayed and contributed to the missionary cause for years, and have decided to leave one last financial blessing upon their departure. There can be no doubt that hours of prayer have preceded these final gifts.
Unlike day-to-day giving, estate gifts vary greatly from year to year. Last year, for example, $72,000 was contributed to our estate fund. In several recent years, however, we have received two or three hundred thousand dollars in our estate fund – and in two separate years the amount was greater than $1 million! These gifts allow us to fund projects that we might not otherwise be able to fund, and permit our daily gifts to go farther. In the past couple of years we have used estate funds to pay for about one-half of our missionary benefits (health insurance, housing, etc.), which has enabled more of our day-to-day donations to go directly toward the support of missionary allowances. This permitted us to pay full target allowances to all of our missionaries throughout 2013. The estate fund has also been used to support Bible schools, summer camps, leadership development conferences, and other projects and activities around the world. Some of our estate funds have been used for capital expenses related to our office here in Minneapolis, too.
This mission operates with the understanding that all gifts are God’s provision. Gifts received into our estate fund are often a final financial gift from partners and co-laborers who have supported the Prayer League for years. They are different, in some ways, from regular day-to-day gifts – but in most ways they are not. They are simply God’s provision, contributed by brothers and sisters who have lived their lives in support of God’s mission in the world.
In December we were able to pay all of our missionaries 100 percent of their target allowance. We used $33,344 from the General Fund to meet these needs, leaving a General Fund balance of $114,977. Our Benefits Fund carried a balance of $194,493. Thank you for your ongoing support!