To summarize briefly, nobody in WEC gets a salary. Everything – from the food we eat to the tract we give to that rickshaw driver who asked questions about Jesus the other day – everything comes from God moving through others to give what is needed for that particular person or ministry. And we strive, whenever possible, to fulfil the intent of the donor in giving. If money is given to a certain ministry, we try our best to see that it all gets there. As a result, we don’t deduct a percentage to put towards administration, or to fund other departments. We trust that as we look to God for our needs, and as people follow God’s leading in how they give, there will be money for what God wants to accomplish.
So, if God has put it in your heart to give, we encourage you to do so, specifying how you would like your donation to be used.
(There are occasions where money is given to a project that already is fully funded, or to some ministry that is, for some reason, no longer possible. In such cases, we try to find a similar ministry and direct the money into that one instead.)
Two other categories of giving should be mentioned. Each month brings its own financial challenges. Some missionary may have a key financial supporter who is no longer able to give, resulting in a sudden financial shortfall. A hurried evacuation from an unstable country might result in a missionary losing everything except a suitcase of belongings. Some essential support worker may be dangling on the edge because few people want to support someone who is “not on the front lines”. For just such cases we have a category called, “where needed most”. Each month we make a list of the most pressing needs, and do our best to meet them with what comes in under this designation.
Finally, money that comes in with no designation is used both for such pressing needs, and for all sorts of unglamorous things that keep our little WEC ship afloat. Training new missionaries and maintaining a hundred or so Canadian missionaries on the field means our headquarters is always a bustling concern. All the visiting, phoning, teaching, writing, e-mailing, organizing, arranging, counselling, debriefing – this essential support effort needs things like heat, electricity, computers, sheets on the beds in the guest rooms, paper for the photocopier, etc. God has always met such needs by providing enough such “undesignated funds” to keep the lights on at home.
Most people do one of two things. If they are intending to give regular support, they arrange with us to have a certain “pre-authorized deduction” made from their bank account or credit card each month. It’s a smooth, easy, low-maintenance way to give. (If interested, click here Pre-Authorized form, fill in the form and send in to set things up.) Others mail us a cheque, or a bunch of post-dated cheques. Any way you give is great, and very much appreciated.