In October our Home Council voted to approve an increase in monthly missionary allowances, which will go into effect on January 1, 2015. Paragraph 39 of the Mission Handbook explains a little about our philosophy on missionary allowances:
The Mission’s financial policy believes and assumes that God is faithful, and may be counted upon to provide in every way, both spiritually and materially, for the advancement of his kingdom’s work around the world. The Mission, therefore, does not curtail or delimit its activities on the basis of a formal budget…. No stated salary is pledged or promised to any worker wherever assigned…. A certain sum is specified as a goal for monthly living allowances to be paid each worker when there are sufficient funds on hand. But if funds are not sufficient for full allowances, the workers receive allowances in proportion to the funds on hand.
The “goal for monthly living allowances” is what we commonly refer to as “target allowance,” which, as you can see, is not a guarantee but rather the amount we hope to pay our missionaries. Paragraph 40 of the Handbook has this to say regarding allowances:
The missionaries and workers live and conduct their work in as simple a fashion as possible, while seeking to maintain health and good order.
The target allowance is intended to enable our missionaries to do just that.
The Council reviews and sets target allowance goals annually, but first a couple of things are done. Each year the Personnel Office asks our missionaries directly through a survey to report if their needs are being met. This survey gives all of our workers the opportunity to give feedback on the appropriateness of the current target allowance in their own situation.
While this is happening, the Business Office also reviews the history of WMPL allowances on an inflation-adjusted basis. Then, after hearing from our missionaries, reviewing the history of allowance payments and spending time in prayer, the Finance Committee makes a recommendation to the Council regarding the next year’s target allowance.
The January 2015 allowance increase will be about three percent for the average missionary family. This is an amount slightly higher than inflation for the year, but it is meant to offset the recent trend of allowances not keeping pace with inflation.
In September donations to missionary support funds paid for 43.3 percent of all support expenses; $39,910 was used from the General Fund to supplement missionary allowances and $45,261 was used from the Estate Fund to supplement benefit expenses for the month.
Thank you for your partnership in this ministry, your concern for those in the world who have not yet heard the gospel, and your support of WMPL fellow workers who have answered God’s call to go and share the Good News in word and deed.