Money and Missions

9 minutes ago

5 min read

Why God’s Economy Matters for the Great Commission

Many Christians today have misconceptions about money. It’s often treated as something dirty or inherently evil, as if Scripture says “money is the root of all evil.” But that’s not what the Bible teaches.

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. The problem isn’t money itself; the problem is when we love money and what it can provide more than we love and treasure Jesus Christ, the Gospel, and the Kingdom of God. The love of money becomes a problem when it controls our actions and pulls us away from our higher purpose: to glorify God in all we do and say.

Jesus taught extensively about stewardship, focusing on money, resources, and how best to use them. The truth is, money is very important to the Lord Jesus Christ because it is vital to the work of the Great Commission.

The Economics of Sending

Paul, writing to the Romans in chapter 10, laid out a clear chain: disciples cannot be made, and churches cannot be planted without preaching. Preaching cannot happen without preachers and missionaries being sent. And missionaries cannot be sent without people who are financially equipped to send them.

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!” — Romans 10:14-15

That’s where economics and the Gospel connect.

If a nation is under God’s judgment, with bad leaders creating bad policies, everyone suffers. We’ve been seeing this for years in our own country. Inflation, which is theft on a large scale, debases the currency and stretches people’s resources thin. Add the rising cost of living, and we face a vicious cycle that limits the resources available to send out missionaries and keep the Gospel advancing in unreached parts of the world.

The Cost of Going in Italy

Currently in Italy, we are paying almost $10 a gallon for fuel. This directly impacts the advancement of the Gospel.

By its nature, the Great Commission requires going. Today, vehicles are a major part of going. High fuel prices drive up the cost of flying, driving, and everything else, because all goods and services depend on the transportation networks that deliver them.

Mission work in many countries involves serving among impoverished populations. In those contexts, ministry often requires the ability to downgrade and adapt to a simpler society.

Mission work in Europe is different. Many argue Europe is the front line of missions work today. These are centuries-old post-Christian nations that have forsaken God. Yet these are everyday people, in need of having their worldview challenged, hearing the Gospel, and being delivered from sin, fear, and tyranny through Jesus Christ.

The work here in Italy is massive, and the support necessary to carry it out among these people is substantial. It is not like living and operating in a third-world context.

We feel this regularly. If you go into the jungle to preach to unreached tribes, you may seem like royalty simply by having standard modern tools and tech. When you come to Italy, even when dressed to standard American levels, you stand out. Italians maintain a high standard of presentation, culture, and care in how they carry themselves. To effectively build relationships, earn trust, and minister the Gospel here, you must be properly resourced. You cannot live out of a backpack or tent with no stability. To plant churches in Italy, you have to embed yourself within the community and live among the people, understanding, appreciating, and engaging their culture while proclaiming the truth that transforms it into a thoroughly Christian culture.

The Big Picture We’ve Lost

For decades, many have assumed (myself included when I first entered the mission field in 2007) that everything would end tomorrow, and they failed to build for the long term. In many ways, the church has lived and acted as if the rapture would occur before the next election cycle. As a result, we have abandoned efforts to bring the Gospel to bear on every sphere of life, including government and public policy.

Godless leaders have assumed positions of authority and acted contrary to God’s law, causing severe damage to our nations and the families within them. Consequently, we are seeing missionary retrenchment rather than expansion.

We must recapture an all-of-life worldview rooted in the Gospel. We are not called to retreat or seek to escape from this world. We are called to engage it, taking every thought captive for Christ and establishing His truth across every sphere of life.

Every seasoned servant of the Lord knows that if we want to reach the nations, we must first put our own house in order. We do not serve the cause of Christ if our personal lives and households are in disarray, contradicting the very message we proclaim. In the same way, we cannot sustain global missions for the long term if our economy and communities back home continue to decay. Unless the church takes stock of reality, builds strong foundations, and advances rather than retreats, we will find ourselves unable to send and sustain workers on the field.

Stewardship Begins With You

Jesus’ teaching on stewardship comes down to personal faithfulness and responsibility:

Are we governing ourselves well by God’s grace?
Are we evaluating our time, talents, and resources in light of the Kingdom?
Are we burying our talents in the ground?
Or are we investing what God has entrusted to us into things that yield eternal fruit for His glory?

Good stewardship is indispensable to the Christian life and to the advance of biblical missions.

If you are a financial partner with our family or the Practical Missions Cohort, thank you, and may God bless you and continue to provide for your every need in Christ Jesus. Your partnership keeps us advancing the Gospel here in Italy. Soli Deo Gloria.

Written by Jesse Schreck | founder, director, and missionary church planter in Italy with Practical Missions Cohort

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