April 2008

Vision Giving

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. —Exodus 25:1–2 (NKJV)

Recently, as I read through the book of Exodus again, my eyes fell upon the verses above in Exodus, chapter 25. It occurred to me that God was asking the people of Israel to give to something they had never seen before—something that God had asked their leaders to build—a beautiful Tabernacle, with plans He would later reveal in chapters 25-30. Remember that these people had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. Where were they going to get this kind of money?

To find the answer to that question, we must turn back to Exodus 11:2. In this verse, God instructs Moses to tell the people to ask for silver and gold jewelry from the Egyptians. In Exodus 12:35–36, the people obeyed and, according to the words of Scripture, they “plundered the Egyptians.” God gave them a kind of tax rebate going back 400 years so that later, in chapter 25, they would have the means to give exactly what was needed for the building of His tabernacle.

I am reminded here of the principle that God increases our wealth not just to raise our standard of living but also to raise our standard of giving. During this tax season many Americans will receive thousands of dollars in tax returns and, additionally, an economic stimulus tax rebate check that will amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars per household. No one expected our government to do this. I wonder if God is not up to something big again just as He was out in the desert of the Sinai 4,000 years ago. I wonder how many of us will consider raising the standard of our giving?

Through the years, thousands of faithful churches and individuals just like you have chosen to give, by faith, to a ministry vision they have never seen before. Across oceans, deserts and mountains to the ends of the earth these “faith givers” have committed time and again to support missionaries and projects so that the gospel might be proclaimed, churches might be built and workers trained in ministry. Today, as we consider what God has done during the past year, we marvel at how those gifts have multiplied for the cause of Christ.

During 2007 over 300 new churches were planted by our missionaries and national partners, bringing the total of new churches to 4,251 over the past few decades. In that same time span, ABWE missionaries presented the gospel to an unbeliever in a culturally appropriate way over 112,694 times or approximately every five minutes around the clock for a year. Simultaneously, our missionaries were involved in the training of over 118,000 students in various training programs worldwide. Finally, and most importantly, we are now beginning to see our dream come true—that the end vision of missions is the launching of missions movements from every nation to every nation.  Last year we partnered with 67 national missions efforts arising out of the churches planted and relationships developed through the years. Last year those missions sent out over 575 missionaries from nations other than the USA.

All of this has taken place in the context of God’s goodness to allow us to say that since our founding in 1927, ABWE has never been in debt to do God’s work. We have sought to be good stewards of the sacrificial gifts given by God’s people to carry out His work with efficiency, effectiveness and excellence. Just as the people of Israel in Exodus 35 and 36, we have been blessed by some who have given money, some who have given material, and some who have given themselves as skilled workers for the kingdom of God. We’ve discovered that faith givers are vision givers. Thank you for giving by faith to a great vision of obedience to Christ’s command to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. However, unlike the story in Exodus 36, our task is far from complete and we cannot turn gifts or volunteers away while the work continues. Pray with us for the resources that God knows we need to achieve His vision for the world.

Evangelizing new peoples, growing new believers, planting new churches, launching new missions—for God’s glory!

Grateful for your partnership in the gospel,


Michael G. Loftis
President