Annual Report
 Click above to download the annual report
|
|
How are we responding to the economic downturn in the U.S.A.? Our most
recent response was gratitude - for the commitment of our donors.
When
we ended 2008 and took stock, we were amazed. As reflected in the
financial report on page 12, cash contributions from our donors
actually increased 36 percent over the previous year and even exceeded
our original budget, which we had deemed impossible six months before.
At that time we had made emergency cutbacks.
As we approached 2009 we formulated a conservative budget, trying to be
realistic about donor support and holding the line or cutting back on
expenses. Our highest priority was to keep the long-term commitments we
have made and on which ministries worldwide rely. Many Christian
ministry leaders have told us that we are almost the only organization
they can count on month in and month out. We knew that having to cut
back on those commitments would almost immediately mean that kids would
have no lunch at school, orphanages would run out of safe drinking
water, doctors at rural clinics would run out of critical medicine, and
homeless families would sleep in the streets instead of in a new house.
Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your
life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on...
For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your
Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek His kingdom, and these
things will be added to you." (Luke 12:22, 30-31).
When I think about who it is that is seeking the kingdom and having faith that God will provide food and clothing I do
not
think of us. I think of the poor. Such as the old homeless woman I met
in a soup kitchen line in a foreign slum. She was thanking and praising
God, she said, because for twenty years since her husband died she had
prayed every day for enough to survive one more day and God had never
let her down.
If our ministry has grown and succeeded it is not because of our faith, it is because of their faith. We can claim nothing
but that we are willing to be an instrument for God to answer their prayer.
I think that the part of Luke 12 that applies to you and me is in the next few verses:
"Fear not, little fl ock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide
yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the
heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth
destroys." (Luke 12:32-33)
In other words, let us trust our loving Father for our success, our jobs, and our security. And then we can focus, not on
ourselves, but on the kingdom of God made manifest in service to the poor. As Jesus goes on to say, "For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also."
