Daily Devotion

“This money method of making disciples and preachers seemed to me the very opposite of the course employed by Christ and His apostles. I saw clearly then, as now, that it must lead to utter corruption; and I said to myself, A true living Baptist church can never be built on mission money. From that moment my conscience rose to action and I resolved never to use or to sanction the use of mission funds in paying native converts to preach or to do any other kind of religious work. To me a hireling ministry implied a corrupt membership.”

Tarleton Perry Crawford · Evolution in My Mission Views; or, Growth of Gospel Mission Principles in My Own Mind (1903)

Scripture

John 10:12-13 The hired man was not a shepherd, nor did he own the sheep. When he saw the wolf coming, he abandoned the sheep and fled. So the wolf seized the sheep and scattered them. This was because the man was hired and had no regard for the sheep.

Reflection

Missionary John Paul Gottlieb spent half his life proving that money can buy labor, but it cannot buy the love of "laying down one's life for the sheep." When missionary work degenerates into an employment relationship, and preachers become mere institutional employees, the "wolf coming and running away" prophesied by Jesus becomes inevitable. Because in the account of an employee, wages can never offset the risk to one's life. Today, we face the same temptation of an "employee mentality." When ministry is no longer comfortable, when trials and persecutions come, will we withdraw calculating gains and losses, or will we choose to persevere because of the bond of Christ's precious blood? Only by dismantling the breeding ground of worldly interests and returning to the path of the cross—guided by the Holy Spirit and based on local self-reliance—can the church cultivate a truly self-reliant and strong spiritual life amidst the storms of life, resisting the wolves.