By Lauren R. Stanley
My mother always told me: Be careful what you ask for, because you might just get it.
Since she was always right in the past, I’m hoping that she will be right once more.
And what was I asking for this time?
A mere 80 cents – per person – per year – from every Episcopalian in the United States.
Why?
So we can double the number of missionaries serving Christ in Christ’s far-flung world.
See, it turns out that the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, also known as The Episcopal Church, also known as us, only has about 80 missionaries serving overseas at any given moment. Some of those missionaries serve for one year; they belong to the Young Adult Service Corps, a special program for young adults ages 22-30. Some are Volunteers in Mission, and serve for one or two years. About 30 of our missionaries are full-time, long-term missionaries, like me, who serve for three or more years overseas.
Did you notice that I mentioned we – the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, a Church with more than 2 million members – have only 80 missionaries?
What has happened to us?
Why are we, as a Church, not supporting more people who are willing to go to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel?
Well, there are a variety of reasons, from a bad economy (a most recent development) to a growing interest in short-term missions to a decision that perhaps full-time, long-term missionaries no longer are needed.
Whatever the reason, the fact remains: We have too little money invested, as a Church, in preaching the Gospel in all of God’s very good creation.
But if each of us gave a mere 80 cents per person per year, we could double the size of our full-time missionary corps, and go to that many more places, doing that much more of God’s work among God’s beloved children.
I related this fact to a small parish in the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, St. Luke’s in Hot Springs. This parish has been supporting me, along with many other parishes and individuals, as a full-time missionary in Sudan. I was with this parish in late May, and we were talking about how we were going to continue working together on God’s mission, now that I am not in Sudan any longer. I mentioned that we don’t have enough missionaries, and that it costs nothing – nothing – to fix that problem.
“Eighty cents per person per year,” I said. “That’s all it takes.” Light bulbs began to go off over people’s head at that moment, although I have to admit, I missed them.
But by the next morning, I couldn’t avoid seeing them. Members of St. Luke’s started phone calling and e-mailing, and by Monday afternoon, a new mission had formed for them:
They would lead the effort. They would challenge the entire Episcopal Church to participate in “The 80-Cent Solution for World Mission.” They would coordinate the whole thing, help get out the word, send a resolution to General Convention, work with the Church’s treasurer to get the right kind of account set up so that money coming in could only go to new missionary endeavors.
By Monday night, the people at St. Luke’s had asked another small parish, Christ Episcopal in Buena Vista, Va., to co-sponsor the effort. Within days, invitations went out to two other small parishes, St. John’s in Glasgow, Va., and Good Shepherd in Blue Grass, Va. All four of these parishes qualify as small congregations, with average Sunday attendance at 40 or fewer people. But their small size isn’t deterring them from taking on this large task.
Within two weeks, all four parishes had signed on, and were gathering support from other parishes.
Their idea is that because they are small parishes from a small, rural diocese, they best represent the mustard seed approach to mission. Like that small seed, they intend to grow and grow and grow, until not only the birds of the air but the entire Church can nest in its spreading branches.
The 80-Cent Solution for World Mission is simple: Each person gives 80 cents per year. The money is collected by parishes and sent directly to the Church Center in New York, where it goes into a trust fund that can be used only for new missionaries. The money is not intended to support current missionaries, who are in the triennial budget (although they deserve more support, too). No, this effort is geared toward returning the Church to its historic roots as a mission church. Not a mission-oriented church, but a church that exists explicitly to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. That’s what the Episcopal Church used to do … we used to have hundreds of missionaries out there. Now, there are only 80.
Already, we’ve been asked: Exactly what would all these new missionaries do? They would go forth, on behalf of the entire Episcopal Church, to preach the Gospel, care for those in need, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, visit the sick and those in prison. They would teach and build and most important, they would be present, showing the Episcopal Church’s love for all of God’s very good creation.
What does the 80-Cent Solution for World Mission mean to those who give? It means they, too, can be the missionaries they are called to be. They, too, can go out into the world, through these missionaries, and partner with their brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, people who are related to them not by the blood of their birth but by the waters of their baptism.
We are all, by definition, missionaries. Jesus told us that. Our very name as a Church tells us that.
All it takes is 80 cents – per person – per year – to participate in this answer to the Great Commission.
If you or your parish would like to learn more about this grass-roots program, or want to participate, contact Jean Seymour at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Hot Springs, Va., via e-mail: foxtrotfarm@tds.net.
It will only cost you 80 cents.
The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley is an Appointed Missionary of The Episcopal Church. For the last four years, she has been serving in Sudan. In August, she begins her new assignment in Haiti.