Daily Devotion

“Relying on foreign funding to support local pastors and preaching assistants fosters a profit-driven mentality of employment. This practice not only numbs the truly self-reliant and strong spiritual life of local churches but also obscures the pure cross of Christ with worldly interests. True evangelistic missionary work must return to the model of the apostolic era: preachers should rely entirely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the willing support of believers in the Lord, rather than becoming agents of secular institutions or earthly companies.”

Tarleton Perry Crawford · The Evolution of My Missionary Perspective: The Growth of Evangelistic Missionary Principles in My Mind

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.