“The method for obtaining funds or goods and equipment for the temporal needs of the Mission and its workers is primarily prayer to God and trust in him to provide” (Mission Handbook, ¶108)
As a college student I had the opportunity to do some rock climbing with a friend who was an experienced climber. One of the vivid memories that I still have from those times was from the top of the rock after the climb was over. At that time, all of the ropes and harnesses were removed and we could freely walk around. I tended to stay far away from the edge of the cliff, but my friend would fearlessly walk up to the edge and look over. He was comfortable at the edge of the cliff – I was not!
Sometimes I feel as if I am now the one who is walking to the edge of the cliff. Each year the financial situation in the Prayer League seems perilous; in fact, sometimes it feels like we are on the edge of a cliff dangerously close to falling off. Our excess funds seem to run out every year before summer, and it becomes difficult to see how we will make ends meet. This can be a gut-wrenching experience, but it should not surprise us. This“edge of the cliff” kind of financial situation is predicted in our Mission Handbook.
The financial section outlines a few key financial principles: The Mission is committed to avoiding the direct solicitation of funds, and also to non-indebtedness. The Mission does not operate with a formal budget, but joyfully accepts, commissions, and sends new workers “without requiring that there first of all be money in sight to support them.” The Handbook also predicts what will happen under these principles: “There may often be shortage of funds, a scarcity of material supplies, with few possessions and no reserves,” it says. These policies can cause times of extreme sacrifice but sacrifice is not the goal of the policies. The Handbook continues: “In such a life there will be rich opportunities to learn faith, patience, humility, love, obedience to the Holy Spirit and dependence on God.”
Occasionally we do come to the point where we have a scarcity of supplies and no reserves and it feels like looking over the edge of a cliff. But this is not due to a run of bad luck or even to a bad economy; this is what our Handbook predicted. The first Prayer League members willingly placed themselves in this situation for the opportunity to learn faith, patience ….and dependence on God. Please pray with us through the summer for the generous provision from God – and also for the ability to learn together the joy of dependence on God.