Should Churches Send Missionaries?

"I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.”(2 Corinthians 11:8, ESV)
“Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.”(1 Corinthians 9:13-14, ESV)
One of the things that strikes you from the moment that Jesus begins His ministry is His desire to spread the news of the Kingdom. Jesus told two disciples of John, who had come to inquire whether Jesus was the promised Messiah or should they look for someone else, that the lame walked, the blind received their sight and the poor had good news preached to them, all in the fulfillment of prophecy. God is the God who speaks. He proclaims. He announces. He brings good news. And to insure that the message gets out, He sends out workers. Jesus even told His disciples to pray to the Lord of Harvest to send out reapers. Jesus sent out the twelve and then seventy disciples to prepare the people for the Kingdom. John the Baptist came preaching to the people that they might turn their hearts to God and be ready to accept the good news about the Kingdom. Jesus even told the disciples not to take money or extra shoes or even a stick for protection, but to enter a town and depend on the people there to feed and clothe the workers.
Why discuss all of this? Because a mood is about in North America that says missionaries should go and get jobs and take care of themselves. In other words, don't take money from the local churches, money they would rather spend for comfort or whatever. Often the desire to stop supporting missions is rationalized by saying that the money needs to be spent locally, to reach the lost in that particular area. It sounds responsible and it sounds like something is going to be done to reach out. But often it doesn't happen. Sometimes a sense is given off that dollars are deemed holier than wan or yen or piasters and rubles.
Sending missionaries out to preach the gospel is warp and woof of the church's mission. To be sure, many missionaries have gone without, worked with their own hands and scrimped to get by, just so that one more person could hear the good news about Jesus and His Kingdom. Certainly the Apostle Paul and Barnabas did this. The history of Christian missions is a history of folks doing whatever it takes to bring good news to others. And absolutely, should the western world go belly up from the current financial debacle, God will raise up other churches in other countries to send missionaries and support them. Small countries like South Korea are already sending missionaries, even into North America. The work of the church is to teach others about the Lord and His Kingdom. Jesus built that church on the Rock, that is, Himself, and He said that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. There will be a church until He returns. The word of God will exist until He returns. Men and women will go out to spread the good news until He returns. And be assured of this, those who have gone out have been thankful for the great sacrifice that others made, just so the gospel could be proclaimed to others.
Harry R. Fox, a man whom I dearly loved and who inspired me to come to Japan as a missionary, told me about his time of serving on the mission field in Japan. He said that even during the Great Depression, when things were so very tough in the U.S. and elsewhere, he and his wife and their seven children were supported on $75 per month. Now that sounds like a very small amount, but let me assure you that during the Great Depression that was no small amount of money. Churches and individuals sacrificed in order to keep that missionary family on the field. The family sacrificed in order to remain in their work. Not just the missionary, but those supporting the missionary, were willing to live their lives incarnadine, their lives literally the color of the blood of the cross, in order to bring others into the love of God and His Son Jesus Christ no matter where in the world they lived. This will continue to happen until He returns.
To some, it sounds wise to tell the missionaries to get jobs locally in the countries where they are serving and not to be a burden on the churches back home. Most of us have done that from time to time. The Apostle Paul did that until his team arrived and then he quickly went to work preaching the gospel full time. That was his calling, that was his mission. Paul tells us that missionaries have the right to refuse help from churches but he also says he robbed churches to preach where the church was new or weak. When the missionary is driven to look for work in order to survive while proclaiming the good news, be careful not to try and hide behind motives that may sound good, but are in essence an excuse for not doing what the Lord Himself called on the churches to do. Why? Because the same Lord said this: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15, ESV)