Almost 3 years ago, one of my very first posts (Oh! It was my first post!) was a book by Alan Gotthardt called The Eternity Portfolio.

Yesterday morning, I attended a meeting at which Gary Hoag, the vice president for “Advancement” (i.e., fundraising) for Denver Seminary, spoke. Among other things, he presented what he calls The Stewardship Portfolio, a small portion of Gotthardt’s larger presentation.

In essence, says Hoag, (and, again, this is really a minor modification of what Gotthardt says): according to Scripture, we can divide our giving into nine categories within a 3 x 3 matrix divided, across the top, by type of ministry, and, down the side, by where the ministry occurs.

In case you’re wondering what Scriptural grounds there may be for such divisions, consider Acts 1:6 for the “where” (“[Y]ou shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the Earth”), And for the “what”? Perhaps the best Scripture that speaks of evangelism and discipleship is Matthew 28:19-20 (“. . . Make disciples of all the nations [evangelism], . . . teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you [discipleship]“). And, then, with respect to mercy, I hardly know where to end. But let me suggest, among many, many others: 1 John 3:16-17 (“By this we know love, because He lay down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brother in. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”). In case you need some more “mercy” passages: check out James 1:27, Matthew 19:21, Proverbs 19:17, and Matthew 22:35-39.

So here’s the matrix.

Simple, really. But accurate. And, I think, very useful.

As Hoag spoke, several thoughts jumped to my mind:

• It is helpful to think through the diversity of ministries and/or charitable causes we might support!
• By contemplating the diversity of opportunities, we can see how balanced–or unbalanced–our giving truly is.
• Or, maybe, by analyzing our giving patterns, we may see where our interests lie. (Is it possible that our “imbalance” is actually appropriate, something to which God is calling us?)

As it turns out, Sarita and I have deliberately chosen to give in an imbalanced manner.

Due to our training at the US Center for World Mission, we are painfully aware of how American Christians’ giving patterns themselves are imbalanced. Some of the statistics that bother us:

• According to the best information we have, 95% of all Christian giving in the United States stays in the United States.
• Of the 5% that goes outside the country, 90% goes to areas where the church has already established.
• Only 10%–in other words, one half of 1% of the total–goes to support ministries focused on Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and the other “unreached peoples” (ethnic groups among whom there is no viable Christian church movement).

Considering what a huge proportion of the world’s population is part of these unreached peoples, we think it inequitable that only half of 1% of American Christian giving is devoted to helping the nearly 40% of the worlds population that is both spiritually and physically most needy. And so we have devoted ourselves to do what we can to try to rebalance things. But/and that means our own portfolio looks a bit imbalanced.

We direct as much of our charitable giving as possible–somewhere between 60% and 80%–to the unreached peoples.

Beyond that, we are aware that so-called “mercy” ministries have relatively little difficulty raising money. Considering the huge newspaper headlines that often accompany natural disasters and the almost natural response of pity that most people feel when we see photographs of physical need, it makes sense that fundraising for “mercy” ministries would be relatively easier than fundraising for less visible ministries aimed at spiritual, emotional, and intellectual problems–the kind of ministries one would subsume under the terms “evangelism” and “discipleship.”

Moreover, based on Scripture and our own experience, we sense that Mercy ministries without evangelism in order to site will ship tend, primarily, it to breed dependency. It is only as people are freed spiritually that they acquire the ability, from within, to lift themselves out of poverty. I don’t mean to suggest that a strategic “hand up” is inappropriate. I merely mean to note that without the transformation from within, all the “hands up” in the world won’t succeed in making a long-term difference.

And then, finally we are always reminded of Jesus’ comment (Mark 8:36), “[W]hat will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

So Sarita and I try, diligently, to focus as much as possible on evangelistic and discipleship kinds of ministries rather than disaster relief and other such “mercy” endeavors.

Clearly, I’m not here to stand in judgment upon you. I am merely telling you some of the thought process that has gone through our minds.

So how about you? What does your Stewardship Portfolio look like?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 6:37 am and is filed under charity, estate planning, giving, investment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.