The Realities of Money and Missions: Global Challenges and Case Studies  

EMQ » July–September 2023 » Volume 59 Issue 3

Reviewed by Chris Flanders, professor of missions, Graduate School of Theology, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas. 

---

Anyone connected to mission work of any kind has run into the complicated matters of money and funding. These often-messy issues are only exacerbated by the growing strength of the Church in the Global South. In many places, this part of the Church is growing in its participation in God’s mission, but often lacks in monetary resources, and is often the recipient of Western funding.  

This delightful resource emerges out of a forum convened at Pyeongchang, South Korea, in early November 2021 to engage the topic of missions and money from multiple perspectives. Fifty-five informed participants have contributed to this volume, representing diverse voices of missiologists, organizational leaders, mission practitioners, and mission-involved individuals. 

Though revolving around the issue of missions and money, different chapters cover a wide range of topics from various vantage points. The scope is quite vast and addresses diverse contexts, e.g., traditional missionary support, support for church-affiliated organizations, educational institutions, the ownership of real estate, and cultural differences that impact partnership and accountability structures.  

One of the strengths of this volume is it involves non-Western perspectives and voices, not just Western discussions of non-Western contexts. Important themes include money as power in the growing churches of the Global South, environmental issues as a part of God’s mission, majority world initiatives that demonstrate agency and potential funding power, examples of sustainability and creative strategies for local funding, issues of debt and self-reliance, and the ever-tricky but important issue of transparency and accountability in financial practices. 

There are several chapters that stand out. Chris Wright’s chapter gives important biblical arguments about integrity and fund-raising. Bright G. Mawudor’s chapter provides a challenging review of overdependency in Africa due to Western funding. Justin Thacker’s chapter prophetically calls for modern evangelicals to engage in issues of structural (in)justice. Paul Bendor-Samuel’s chapter helpfully discusses money as power. Daniel Kim’s chapter offers short but powerful examples of Global South missions growth in self-funding.  

One particularly helpful aspect of this volume is its format, which includes a direct response to each chapter from another participant, creating a powerful dialogical tenor. The many specific case studies supply concrete examples of challenges and solutions. 

As Jae Hoon Lee notes, “Money is the most complex and urgent challenge for missionary works in the twenty-first century” (ix). This volume represents an important step of critical engagement and concretization of discussion, moving this urgent missiological challenge forward with clarity and energy. Anyone who engages in global missions or prepares those who do so should wrestle with the compelling contents of this significant work. 

For Further Reading

Missions and Money: Affluence as a Western Missionary Problem … Revisited, revised and expanded edition, by Jonathan Bonk (Orbis Books, 2006). 

African Friends and Money Matters: Observations from Africa by David E. Maranz, 2nd ed. (SIL International, 2015). 

---

EMQ, Volume 59, Issue 3. Copyright © 2023 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.