Don't let your generosity cause financial dependency

Mission Briefing: Ideas that affect world mission outreach today

Dependency. It is a word often associated with addiction. Sadly, dependency is also used as a label for a problem bedeviling world evangelism efforts. That problem develops when well-meaning attempts to aid a aongregation or a leader in another country create a thirst for foreign funding and the view that more foreign money will help a church to fulfill God's plan for it. Sadly, such financial dependency on foreign aid often has the effect of sapping spiritual vitality, stifling local initiative, and actually slowing down Great Commission fulfillment rather than speeding it up.

That's a tragic irony, isn't it? The "have" Christians of the world want to share in Kingdom work in "have not" places. So, they shower money on projects and people in faraway places. However, raining money down on people and projects can be comparable to trying to help baby birds get out of their eggshells or butterflies out of their cocoons. That "help" is not good for the birds or the butterflies. What was meant to be a helping hand becomes counterproductive and winds up hurting rather than helping.

Here are ten reasons why allowing financial dependency to develop is unhealthy in global missionary ministry:

  1. Dependency on a continual stream of foreign money for churches and other projects means a system has been set up that is not sustainable locally. It means churches are not infinitely reproducible since each new church requires that even more foreign money be sent in.
  2. Dependency lulls aid recipients into thinking that Kingdom outreach is dependent on the generosity of overseas benefactors.
  3. Members of churches dependent on foreign benefactors miss out on the joy of giving sacrificially and of living by faith in God's provision.
  4. Knowing that a congregation is supported by foreign money taints a church's credibility in the eyes of the local community.
  5. Dependency creates an entitlement: The more aid is given, the more it is expected and solicited. It becomes an unquenchable thirst.
  6. Dependency sometimes leads those with access to foreign money to think of themselves as powerful rather than as the servants of those they are trying to lead.
  7. Because jealousy too often raises its ugly head among those not receiving assistance, dependency can strangle the sense of community that should mark networks of local churches and believers.
  8. Though it seems paradoxical, dependency has even caused resentment toward or disdain for foreign benefactors (who never seem to be giving enough).
  9. Dependency allows foreign benefactors to have undue influence over vision, goal-setting, and decision-making in churches where they have only a very superficial understanding of context and cultural dynamics.
  10. Dependency breeds temptations to "borrow" foreign funds or embezzle them outright.

For these and other reasons, depending on a pipeline of foreign money to finance local ministries often winds up stalemating things rather than sustaining or increasing momentum. It stunts initiative rather than stimulating it. It cripples churches rather than galvanizing them to increase action.

So, is giving financial help always bad? No. But it must be done wisely and with great acuteness of judgment. No one sets out to purposefully create dependency. It is, tragically, an unintended consequence. To avoid dependency, foreign money must not be used to pay for everyday local expenses such as pastors' salaries, living expenses, building rent, or utilities. To use an analogy from pioneer days in the American West, foreign money must only be used to prime the pump rather than subsidize ongoing operations.

All Christ's followers are called to give. Believers are called to help the less fortunate. However, we must do it judiciously and strategically to help rather than hurt.

Discussion questions

  1. What are some negative consequences of creating financial dependency in global missionary ministry?
  2. What would be some positive outcomes of financially supporting world missions ministry wisely and with foresight?
  3. How can the creation of financial dependency hamper the fulfillment of the Great Commission?
  4. What are the negatives of foreign benefactors having undue influence over vision, goal-setting, and decision-making in local churches?
  5. How can churches and organizations make certain that foreign money is used wisely and strategically so that financial dependency will be avoided?

    -- Howard Culbertson,

This blog on a key issue in world missions outreach is one of 12 articles in the "Mission briefing" series published in Engage magazine.

Afterwords: 5 Bad Things Financial Dependency Causes

Troublesome issues brought on by financial dependency in world missions outreach include:

The worst of such issues can be avoided by:

  1. Using a sustainable funding strategy
  2. Zeroing in on local empowerment, entrepreneurship, and ownership
  3. Holding everyone accountable
  4. Insisting on transparency in handling finances

Acrostic: Dependency

D - Diminishes self-sufficiency with chufches and ministries becoming reliant on outside aid.
E - Erodes local economies, rendering indigenous efforts less viable.
P - Promotes a cycle of aid, discouraging sustainable growth and independence.
E - Exploits relationships as material dependence issues overshadow spiritual things.
N - Negates the importance of local leadership and empowerment.
D - Deepens inequality as believers in wealthier nations control the purse strings.
E - Entraps communities in a state of perpetual need.
N - Normalizes dependency, hindering long-term progress and transformation.
C - Christian missions efforts risk becoming transactional rather than transformational.
Y - Yields a culture of passivity as local initiative and innovation are stifled.

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