Quote:
Originally Posted by Charnock
Most home missionaries work jobs. Foreign missionaries are fully supported.
Not only are foreign missionaries fully supported with a great salary and benefits, they also receive a lot of funding to build facilities.
Home missionaries, on the other hand, are mostly on their own. Metro missions pays a small portion of HM pastors salaries, and there are loan programs, like church in a day, that helps with facility costs. However, these programs are tiny compared to foreign missions.
Mostly, home missionaries are on their own. They have to be full time secular workers, and full time pastors, all while trying to build a congregation and facility in an increasingly secular and anti-Christian society which doesn't trust them.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LadyRev
The bold is a blanket statement and is not true for all.
As for home missionaries having to work full time secular jobs, SO WHAT?
My pastor and pastors wife both work secular jobs. Guess what? We aren't "home missions" so theres no support at all coming from anywhere. Our church has been around for over 30 years and has been through hell and back multiple times with multiple pastor changes over the years. There has been no help during those times when attendance has been so low that the building was almost repossessed. People worked, people gave and God blessed and somehow the church has survived it all.
I suppose my pastor and his wife should get upset over those foreign missionaries that receive support and may not have to work secular jobs? I guess they should get upset that there was no plan in place to help them when they first took the church under less than perfect circumstances?
THEY WOULDN'T DREAM OF IT!
If this wasn't so sad it would be laughable...
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Your diatribe only serves to prove ILG's point.
Now imagine if your pastor's family, and the local assembly was fully supported. I imagine that would make a difference in the health of the church.
American pastors are leaving their posts in droves, and it's not because they aren't called, are lazy, selfish and/or worldly. The simple truth is, many of them can't afford to pastor.
Consider these numbers from the UPCI:
Year 2010 Churches
2320 affiliated
1666 non-affiliated
3986 TOTAL
Year 2000 Churches
2398 affiliated
1551 non-affiliated
3949 TOTAL
The UPCI added 37 churches in the last decade. That's less than four per year. At the same time,
Year 2000 Ministers
4097 Ordained
2214 General
2237 Local
8548 TOTAL
Year 2010 Ministers
4240 Ordained
2281 General
2642 Local
9163 TOTAL
So, the UPC added 615 ministers to take care of 37 more churches? What does this tell us?
1. We are losing a lot of churches. This must be assumed when we consider the massive number of church plants each year. The idea that only 4 churches a year were added is mind-blowing.
2. We are adding a lot of ministers to do roughly the same amount of work as ten years ago.
The question is why?
a. Why are we losing so many churches?
b. Why are there so many new ministers added to existing churches?
For the past year, I have been conducting research to find out. The number one answer is burnout, which is caused by unrealistic expectations from others, lack of ministry resources, and financial strain.
Pastors are developing new ministers to help them carry a very heavy load. Yet, even with that help, they struggle.
Look, this is not about whining, It's about attrition. If the American church continues to decrease, foreign missions will suffer. It's time to renew our focus on core things, especially the health of the local church.
When the local church is healthy, the entire body grows. When it's not, sickness and death come in.
My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. 
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