A question re: current economy and missions budget.

In Hatti and the Philippines I think that the US dollar is still king. However it do well for us to look into our missionary's needs. Thanks for the heads up. I would have never thought of this need.

Blessings

Melvin

 

many missionaries are going through hardship right now because of this. Oftentimes home churches don't adjust support levels at all when the dollar falls, and yet sometimes it can mean a huge difference to the missionary on the field. Often their buying power is cut in half or more - which is just like getting a paycut.
churches also forget to account for inflation, so the missionary is expected to live on the same $25 support check that they started with 10 or 15 years ago.

I know of one large IFB church here in the Midwest that has just raised suport across the board for all their missionaries because of inflation and the failing dollar - I hope there are and will be others, as well. raying:

 

Let me preface this with the very real truth that God is faithful and meets our needs whether the dollar is weak or strong.

However the impact is severe. Every time the dollar weakens the missionary takes a cut in pay.

I have lost track but when our coworkers arrived here in April 2006 every euro they bought cost $1.26. Today a euro cost almost $1.54. So lets say his rent is 1000 euro. In 2006 his rent would be $1260. Today, without even thinking about inflation, his rent is $1535. So rent alone as gone up more than $250 a month. Add to this the rising cost of fuel (currently converts to $6.82 a gallon for petrol) and everything else necessary for daily living you can see the impact it is having.

God is faithful, He meets our needs. I not ask for more money, that is up to the One who put us here, but supporting churches should pray about and consider what they can do.


Yes, I realise that they are members of the BB who are going to launch a tirade against money grubbing missionaries only interested in filthy lucre and such, but I am just trying to answer the question in the OP.

 

Roger is right. God does meet our needs. But this is a situation of which many American Christians do not think.

Here we still get a decent exchange rate but even it has changed since we have been here. And inflation is ridiculous with some items jumping over 50% in less than a year. Believe me. Even with a decent exchange rate, you still feel the economic impact of that.

But God is faithful. And always meets needs.

I sure hope there is no triad like Roger mentioned about "money grubbing missionaries." Clearly these people have no idea about biblical sacrifice.

 

Ditto to my three missionary friends. All three put it well.

In our case, the dollar is at a three year low right now against the Japanese yen. In just the past three months or so we've lost about 10% of the dollar's value against the yen. So think of getting a 10% cut in salary. And, with the US media talking about a recession, that probably won't improve much.

We are cutting corners now--going to cheaper places when we go out to eat, cuttiing back on electricity consumption, etc. It's a bit difficult, but God will certainly take care of us--if not through the churches (His usual way) than some other way. He has infinite resources!

We've been through this before and we're still here on the mission field. In about 1995, I think it was, the dollar dropped all the way down to about 78 yen per dollar--and we lived in Yokohama, one of the most expensive cities in the world. We were really hurting! I even applied for a part time job teaching English, but was rejected. (That hurts the ego, but it was all in God's plan. He wanted us to move up here to Hokkaido and not get lassoed into a contract.) Once I brought money over from our car replacement fund for car tax, I think it was, and before I knew it we had to spend it on something or other.

But God took us through that, and He will take us through this time, too. The key is not to get downhearted, not to give less to His work, and absolutely not to quit. God's resources are always greater than our need! :godisgood:

 

We support two couples on our own and knew the dollar was a mess in Ireland. We had been considering raising that couples support but hadn't made the final decision.

The other couple is in PA.

The wife and I were standing in line at WalMart considering the fact that we had noted a double in the price of several items and overall higher weekly grocery bill - it made it clear we needed to make a decision. Actually it was while still in line :laugh:

Our own costs of living have been out of site with gasoline, power, food and about everything we buy - how can the missionaries be experiencing less and those on the field dealing with dollor drops.

Our electric bill had grown from 40 a month to over 100 in ten years and we have cut our usage considerably. Water/sewer has tripled in ten years. We all know about gasoline :tear:

No the income has not grown by that rate, indeed has decreased :thumbs: so we agree with c4k! "Let me preface this with the very real truth that God is faithful and meets our needs whether the dollar is weak or strong. "

 

It has to be tough on the missionaries. The dollar has taken a real beating and thus prices have risen both in terms of the price shown and how little dollar buys.

 

Just a note to show how quickly this is changing. That 1000 euro rent (which is not realistic to start with, just made it easy to demonstrate) was $1535 on the 9th. Today it is $1582. That rent increased $50 in 8 days. While March's rent would have been about $1500 April's looks like it is going to be around $1600.

 

Whew! That's rough, Roger. May God meet all your needs.

The dollar is going down here at a very steep rate, too. We've probably lost 10% or more in the last two months Today the dollar went down to its lowest against the yen in over 12 1/2 years. Plus our Japanese income tax came due today--about $840. We will have more than that due in city taxes in about a month, and about $500 in car tax in May. I feel like a carp trying to swim upstream against a waterfall!

 

Boy, do I know that feeling

 

Here we don´t have income tax but a national tax on every item you buy and its high- as much as 20% on some items. When you buy a car with a 20% tax on it in addition to a car tax which is also high things get expensive.

Right now we are looking for more permanent housing. Pray for us that we can find something affordable to rent that will also meet our needs.

I really feel for you guys that don´t have a good exchange rate. I will be praying for the blessings of the great provider for you.
Keep up the good work!

 

I'm reminded of a comic in our English language Japanese paper years ago. I wish I had clipped it, but anyway it's like this. A bunch of expatriates are standing around at a get together, and the TV news is on. It says, "War in Timbuktu." No one looks. "Disaster in Tokyo." No one looks. "And today's dollar exchange rate is...." All conversations stop, and every head turns toward the TV!

 

My sending church was really kind and sent some extra cash.. i am thinking about getting it all converted to Euros - just incase... :S