Cost of Outreach? Looking At The Numbers

This is not exactly breaking news, but I'll assume that most of you hadn't known it before - at least, I didn't.

With its last megacensus in 2001, World Christian Trends produced some striking facts. Check it out here.

More than one striking trend there, but this is the one I'm picking on for a post today:

The total cost of Christian outreach averages $330,000 for each and every newly baptized person.

Why?

I don't know exactly how the 'cost of outreach' was calculated, but I'm assuming it does not include humanitarian aid, development, or other charitable deeds, which should not be done as nor counted as a proselytization effort. I'm assuming that this 'cost of outreach' is indeed 'cost of outreach'.

This figure is - a high figure. And as you can imagine, the secular of society look at it and wonder how many starving mouths could be fed with that investment.

Souls must be saved, at any cost. However, I believe that this shows that there is probably something dearly wrong with the general approach of modern Christianity to the mission field. Why is that figure so high?


You see, this means that a whole lifetime of the average believer's tithe won't pay the cost of outreach for one single conversion. That's bad.
It took only about US$22M to come up with that figure. (Dividing the US$1.1B cost of the annual megacensus over the fifty main points that are gleaned.) That's enough to pay for 66 conversions.

There must be some overhead somewhere.


You know, somehow I get the picture that when Jesus walked the earth, when Peter preached and when Paul traveled, they didn't work on that kind of a budget. It didn't take twenty years' worth of savings to reach a soul.

We always took for granted that organized religion made things like outreach operate more efficiently. Evidently not.

I'm sure there are many reasons why. I don't know them all, but I see a few:

1) The edifices of religion have built themselves boats the size of Queen Mary 2, and are trying to fish off the sides. It may look absolutely magnificent plying the Grand Banks, but it will never work as a fishing boat. The Gospel was meant to be spread from one Christian to another, through interaction and witness and preaching and evangelism. It's time for us to get out and weather the waves in the fishing boats of old Judea - as disciples of Christ, not 'authorized representatives of the (insert union division) of the (insert conference denomination)'.

2) Bad Christian witness. Meet my friend Joe. (not his real name) Joe became interested in Christianity after a tumultuous teenage life and became friends with a young Christian pastor who was starting a downtown mission in a city not far from here. Some months later this pastor was found to be in an adulterous relationship with Joe's girlfriend. Joe moved on to other religions, studying with Wiccans and considered them to be at least honest in their corruption instead of hypocritical like Christians were.

'Going out and witnessing' is a secondary duty. The first is to be a good Christian witness. First inreach, then outreach.

3) Too much religion, not enough salvation. Jesus declared: John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. We thought we were lifting up Christ, but we were only waving church signs. Jesus Christ is absolutely the only one we ought to be lifting up.

4) We haven't been listening to the Master. We've been toiling all night long and caught nothing. Somewhere, He is standing on the shore, and He has advice as soon as we'll listen. "Cast your net on the other side of the boat." When we start listening to Him, the harvest is more than the net can hold, or the ships.


In the meantime, look, and count the cost of doing it our way.

Common Sense, and Common Cents

Issue 23 of Regenerate Our Culture magazine holds a lot of fun stuff on economy, economics, taxes, and other matters pertaining to money and the management thereof - check it out if you have the time: ROC

However, what I wanted to take the time to comment on is the article by Seth D. Willard - Penny Wise, Dollar Wise.

I fear that many people will read Willard's article and will never really realize or appreciate the whole value of his approach to spending and saving. Many people, young(er) and old(er) will read it and say, "Yeah...yeah....that's right..." and the reality of what it means to them when they pull out their wallet will totally go in one ear and out the other.

I've seen it happen, - many times. And that's why I'm taking the time to reinforce, if I can, to repeat, to highlight and underline, the principles that he brought forth.

I had to smile while reading Willard's article, because my own upbringing and dealings with money and family were (are) so very similar to his. He's a young man from Minnesota, homeschooled, well acquainted with country life, and he's also on the right track with his pocketbook.

There's a reason why I'm being so serious about this. Statistics are giving a rather clear picture of a rather clear problem with today's spenders. In 2005 American households saved an average of negative .5%, and in 2006 that figure has slipped further, with savings standing at negative 1% of after-tax income. In other words, more is going out the door than is coming in.

The United States has not seen negative savings of this kind since the Great Depression. And it's not because there isn't enough money being earned. It is, simply, because there is not enough money being saved, or rather, too much money being spent.

(So keep this in mind, because your local bank really does appreciate the money people put in savings accounts - even if they're not showing it.)

Let me develop a bit: Money is nothing more than a currency. And a currency is nothing more than a spending commodity. It stands as a medium with which we can universally receive wages and convert them into a more tangible form of wealth. Money, in and of itself, doesn't do much for us. We can't eat it, wear it, live in it, or any of the other necessities of life. This is where the concept of purchasing comes in - we can exchange money for goods, and goods for money, and we convert tangible items into money, and money into directly tangible items.

Properly managing a spending commodity is obviously a skill that's being lost by the handlers of today's money. It's not because it's such a complicated skill to learn either, in fact, it's such an uncomplicated thing that most people totally miss the rudimentary points of how to flip a coin and go on to rant about the economy and the politicians.
Let me make this concept very simple: Money management is composed of two factors- Saving, and Spending. Actually, we'll make that three - Earning, Saving, and Spending.

Earning is converting your labor into wages. You now have a spending commodity.

Saving is saving. Savings are the part of your wages that you don't spend.

Spending is converting your spending commodity into a less fluid, more tangible form.

The Point of Saving.
Saving, is simply, not spending. So what's the point of 'not spending' a 'spending commodity'?
Let me put this in a very practical, mechanical perspective. My 1995 Ford F350 Powerstroke is having a problem right now (nothing unusual for a Ford I know) that is pretty much the same problem that today's money handlers have. When that diesel is running, it's gotta do some saving if it's going to start the next time - that's what the alternator's job is. It charges the batteries when the engine is running, as well as supplying all the services with a 12V current. Problem is, right now, due to a regulating diode being out, it's not charging the batteries. So every time I start, the batteries get weaker, until there's nothing left. Simply put, that's what Americans today are doing with a savings rate of negative 1%.

That's the very basic reason for saving. Without it, you'll be one of those [d]river [r]eturns [o]n [f]oot, [f]ound [o]n [r]oad [d]ead Fords.

There are more reasons why saving is a great thing. Let me tell you about this young fellow I know: Like Seth Willard, he was homeschooled, grew up working with dirt and bugs and chickens. He grew up working with his dad, and as soon as he had a few pennies to rub together, he started saving. At sixteen he assumed a full-time administrative position in the family business, and he continued to save. Not long ago, at the age of nineteen, he purchased a fifty acre farm. And people wondered, 'How'd that happen'?

The Point of Spending.
Whichever way you cut the cake, we ultimately save so we can spend. Spending is the fine art of converting our hard-earned money back into tangible forms. We will always need food, or clothing, or transportation, or a home. The problem is that this conversion, though it is as easy as clicking a button or swiping a card, has become ultimate hole in the pocket for today's money handlers. The money is being converted into things that disappear, into things that are worth a fortune today and nothing tomorrow.

And then they wonder where the money went. They can't make ends meet. They're in debt because they spent more than they earned, and they spent it on -they can't even remember what, at least there's nothing much to show for it. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? (Isaiah 55:2)

And they'll read Seth Willard's article and say, "Yeah... yeah...that's right. Wish I had some money to save".

If that's you, listen up, because I'm going to give you a few secrets on how to make this conversion of cash into cow the most efficient, not the least efficient link in the chain. It's not hard, it's not complicated, and it's not magic. It's all about common sense and common cents. Penny wise, dollar wise.

Wise spending is the exchange of money for something of equal value. When you get a paycheque, take a look at it and think of how much that money is worth. If you leave it in the bank (in the right kind of account) it will hold that value. Question is, when this money gets converted into some form of equity(spent), will the value of that equity hold? Is it worth it, to spend this money? (What happens to chips and candy?)

If you're reading this, and if you're someone who handles money, I'm giving you a challenge. If you're a working man, and if you meet this challenge, I'm guaranteeing you that five years from today, you will own your own home.

Here's the challenge: Every time you dig in your pocket, every time you pull out your wallet, ask yourself this question: What will the retained value of this conversion be? Will it simply disappear, or will it be useful for years to come? And if that's not enough, do recall the words, A fool and his money are easily parted.

You see, the overspending that we see today is not simply spending too much. It is simply the sum total of a year's useless expenditures. It's the money that's frittered away, hither and thither, and at the end, you have nothing to show for it. (Except some debts.)

Your money will disappear, but you're the one who determines whether the value of it disappears. You can retain the value of your paycheque - first by wisely saving, and then by wisely spending.

Cost of living included. If your lifestyle isn't worth what it's costing you, time to make some changes.


Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. (1Corinthians 4:2)

So... what was your last purchase worth?

Labour Force Survey - January 2007

Resource citation: StatsCan The Daily

I know most of my readers probably don't read statistics reports or get excited about them. I know that stuff is for mostly for market analysts and stock speculators - and for odd people like myself who seem to take interest in such boring data. But these trends and shifts do reveal certain things - for example this result:

Ontario's unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points in January to 6.4%, due to an estimated 32,000 additional labour force participants.
Over the past 12 months, 88,000 (+3.2%) adult women have entered Ontario's labour force, while the number of male participants has increased by just 18,000 (+0.6%).

I'll let your imagination work that through the laws of averages, but this little piece of information is revealing a disturbing trend. It's telling us something about the women of society, it's telling us something about the men of society, and it's telling us something about the families of society.

This is what a society that has spurned the primary duties of life looks like. The fact that there are more women working than should be working is obvious, but far more perilous is the evidence that there is an extreme surplus of deadbeat males.


Guys, get to work. (Unfortunately, it's not likely that many of them will read this.)