p>George Law

Many missiologists believe that foreign funding of national efforts is generally detrimental to church growth.  It is true that the road to providing support to nationals is filled with obstacles, problems, and dangerous pitfalls.  Nonetheless, it is a road which can lead to a desired destination, the fulfillment of the Great Commission.  While the purpose of this article is not to recommend particular methods of national support, it is essential to state that certain methods of support for nationals will prove helpful and other methods will prove detrimental.  While Western financial support of national personnel and mission initiatives has not always been positive, the uniqueness of the situation in the former Soviet Union (FSU) should cause mission leaders to reexamine their objections to support for nationals.  Hopefully, four perspectives related to support for nationals will provide fresh insight and will help mission leaders see its utility in fulfilling the Great Commission in the FSU.

I. The Theological Perspective
Theologically, the church in Russia is not separated from the church in the rest of the world.  She is part of the one body of Christ.  When one member suffers, we all suffer; when one member rejoices, we all rejoice; and when one member is in need, other members are to assist.  In II Corinthians 8:13, Paul instructed the church at Corinth to respond to far-flung needy churches so "that now at this time, your abundance may supply their lack."  While Western Evangelicals have been blessed materially, Evangelicals in the FSU are at the beginning of a church growth movement with far too few resources to develop and sustain it.

II. The Historical Perspective
For 72 years churches were controlled by Communist authorities who interfered in local church finances in order to maintain control over the leadership and church growth.  Due to restrictions, churches were not free to collect aid to dispense to the needy.  Local Communist authorities often blocked expenditures of church funds at year's end, with unexpended revenues reverting to Communist "charities" such as the Soviet Peace Fund.  Thus, when Evangelical churches were presented with unprecedented evangelistic opportunities in the early 1990s they had little in available monetary resources and hardly any tradition of tithing.  Russians are a proud people who do not want to be dependent on outside help.  For Russian Christians who would much rather give than receive, it hurts deeply to ask for help.  However, they recognize that without the help of Western brothers and sisters one of the greatest opportunities for evangelizing Russia in this millennium could be lost.

III. The Character of the Russian Evangelical Church
For 72 years the Evangelical church in the Soviet Union was characterized as a giving church, hospitality and giving being its natural expression despite laws to the contrary.  In numerous instances I had opportunity to witness the generosity of Russian Christians firsthand.  On one such occasion, a national church-planter in Crimea became aware of serious financial needs of Slavic missionary families working in his area.  He took his salary for a period of time and shared it with these families.  While this missionary's salary was hardly enough to support his own wife and children, he readily shared what he had, as he told me, "for the sake of the gospel."  Another national explained to me that he shared his meager salary with fellow missionaries who had no money to reach unreached towns.  He said, "Brother, I want you to know that it is more important to me that people hear the gospel than that I and my family eat more than rice and beans."

Not only do Russian Christians give freely of their earthly possessions, they also give of their time, their freedom, and in some cases, their lives.  The suffering and martyrdom that Christians faced during the Soviet era is amply documented.  While Western Christians generally think in terms of giving a tithe, Russian Evangelicals think in terms of giving their time and even their lives.  While American Christians give of their material means, Russians value volunteer time given to the church.  Thus, the statement that the Russian church is a giving church can be documented very clearly throughout its history into the present.

IV. The Missiological Perspective
Evangelical Christian and Baptist denominations grew in membership from approximately 107,000 in 1905 to just over a half million at the beginning of glasnost.  Throughout the Soviet era severe educational and political discrimination seriously limited believers' real economic capacity.  Unfortunately, Christians were often given menial jobs, limited in their access to higher education, and excluded from social positions which could have afforded greater economic opportunity.  In 1989 Evangelicals as a social group constituted some of the most economically disadvantaged people in Soviet society.  Russian Christians also bore the economic hardships which the entire Russian populace suffered.  Inflation reached 2500 percent in 1993; the Russian ruble was devalued; central bank decisions stripped most ordinary Russians of their entire life savings, and unemployment reached 20 to 80 percent in some regions.

For 72 years Communism kept a cap on the growth of the church.  With the sudden lifting of imposed limitations, the church found itself facing at one and the same time tremendous opportunities and dire economic limitations.  Outside help was essential.  On the one hand, churches had the unusual and sudden opportunity to proclaim Christ; on the other hand, they had few or no material resources to assist in proclamation.  Russians will do what they can.  The church worked during the Cold War years, not waiting for the West to do something.  When the West could not smuggle enough Bibles into Russia, Russians risked their lives to print Bibles on underground presses.  Today, national missionaries are ready to be sent, but they are unable to leave their jobs as long as they have no help for gas, rental of meeting space, and family support to move to unreached cities.

We now may be entering upon the greatest period of Evangelical church growth in Russian history.  Slavic Evangelicals will actively seek to fulfill the Great Commission, no matter what level of resources are available.  However, should not Western Christians, as fellow-laborers and members of the body of Christ, share their material blessings with those who have provided such a great heritage and example of faithful service to our Lord Jesus Christ? 

George Law, Vice President of Moscow Operations, Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries, has served as a missionary for 21 years in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

George Law, "Western Funding for National Workers:  By All Means," East-West Church & Ministry Report, 4 (Winter 1996), 2,4.