Missionaries have always been known for being a creative breed and have excelled in making bricks without straw on occasion.
When times become more lean, as the nation is now encountering, budgets become tighter and those limited resources need to be stretched even further. That’s where today’s missionaries find themselves as they struggle with record high fuel prices and rising costs of everything from groceries to rent.
This special coverage features ways Southern Baptists are practicing shared sacrifice to keep dollars flowing to the mission field.
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Mission trips are still on the agenda but some may cost more than before |
GBC
DULUTH — Jimmy Weaver is counting the cost of ministry, and it continues to rise.
It’s in the form of a digital readout on a gas pump as the pastor of Dry Valley Baptist near Trion refills the church van March 13. Although he pulled into the local Shell station (Read story)
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Sensing an economic downturn, NAMB personnel are striving to cut costs as good stewards of Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong gifts |
NAMB
ALPHARETTA — Tommy Stevens is combining ministry trips in his car in Arizona order to save fuel. Debbie Wohler is turning off lights and recycling ink toner cartridges and cell phones to extend her California ministry. And Bill Barker, putting 50,000 miles a year in Appalachia on his personal vehicle, is stretching his travel budget by staying more in private homes or driving through the night – sometimes arriving home at 2 a.m. – to avoid hotel costs. (Read story)
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What’s good on the domestic market – the Federal Reserve Board’s repeated interest rate cuts to stave off a recession – hits missionaries hard as the dollar loses its value |
IMB
RICHMOND, Va. — “For us, it’s all about the dollar.”
That’s how the International Mission Board sees the growing financial crises’ impact on mission fields worldwide. About 85 percent of its budget is spent on oversees ministries where the costs of fuel are much lower than what is seen at gas pumps in the U.S. But it’s the lowering of Federal interest rates (Read story)
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The rising price of oil ... up to a record $111 a barrel in mid-March ... is slowly pushing up transportation costs of everything from apples to bed linen. Regular gasoline at the pump is 73 cents higher than a year ago and now averages $3.25 in Georgia. The U.S. Energy Department expects costs to approach $3.50 nationally this spring and $4 by summer. That could easily put a crimp on funds available for missions, pastors and laity agree.
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Every time the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, foreign investors back away from purchasing dollars on the international currency markets. That results in a weak dollar and a very strong Euro ...
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... and higher costs of living for IMB personnel. In January 2007 a missionary had to spend $1.27 to purchase one Euro; in mid-March 2008 that had jumped to $1.56. Just six years ago the two currencies were equal in value.
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