Just as Christians partner with missionaries in prayer, they also share in the fruit of their labors through sacrificial, financial giving. It is a source of great joy to know that our gifts enable missionaries to stand in our stead, preaching the Gospel, and winning precious souls to Christ. The financial cost of taking the Gospel to foreign lands is a formidable barrier to modern missions. While money alone can’t convert a single soul, missionaries are sent and sustained only by the consistent, sacrificial, financial commitment of God’s people. Lack of funds has a detrimental effect upon those who are called to take the Gospel to the world. It can significantly delay the departure of new missionaries. Everyone with a heart for missions is asking, “How can we better finance missions so that we can send and equip all whom God calls?”

Most people credit the Canadian preacher A. B. Simpson (1843-1919) for developing the faith promise program. He claimed he got it from the Bible, and we agree. The program is built upon solid biblical principles. Practicing faith in finances is as necessary as practicing faith in all other areas of life. No great work for God can be accomplished without faith, and 2 Corinthians 10:15-16 states the case for faith promise mission giving, “When your faith is increased…we shall be enlarged by you…to preach the gospel in the regions beyond.”

There are at least eight biblical principles in 2 Corinthians chapters eight and nine which define faith promise mission giving.

• The prerequisite is that we first give ourselves to the Lord (8:5).
• The attitude of our giving must be cheerful (9:7).
• Our willingness to give demonstrates our desire to further the work of God (8:3, 8, 12; 9:7).
• Our giving demonstrates our debt of gratitude for all that Christ has done for us (8:8-9, 24).
• These two chapters connect grace with giving eight times, placing emphasis upon both the gift and the giver. God promises the power to abound in giving just as He promises the power to abound in other Christian graces.
• Faith giving allows believers to give “beyond their power” to the cause of world missions (8:2-3, 7).
• We are to give out of our need rather than out of our excess. This is how God’s Word defines sacrificial giving (8:2).
• No one is exempt from participation in faith promise giving. God’s plan is all-inclusive (8:7). Paul commends the impoverished Macedonian believers for exemplifying these eight principles of giving, demonstrating that financing missions does not depend so much on deep pocketbooks, but on willing hearts.

As its name suggests, faith promise mission giving is based on a faith commitment. In addition to regular tithes and offerings, our church members are challenged during the annual missions conference to exercise faith in making a one-year, weekly commitment to the church’s missions program. We increase our missionary commitments for the next year based on these anonymous commitments. This is not a pledge to the church, but a commitment to Christ and world missions.