Salary
"Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,' and, 'The laborer deserves his wages.'" 1 Tim 5:17-19 (ESV)
Support Raising
“If the Lord provided a mega-donor who gave a billion dollars to DiscipleMakers, we would STILL require all our new staff to go out and raise their own support!”
Thus says Bill Dripps, President of DiscipleMakers, every year at our New Staff Training program in June. Does this statement shock you? Isn’t money the whole point of support raising? Aren’t missionaries just needy people who can’t get a job that will pay them, and so they need to go around drumming up donations from people to help pay for their electric bill?
Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, support raising is a critical part of your training as a missionary. It’s not about “the money” at all! Rather, it’s about raising up a team of people who will faithfully partner with and pray for your ministry to college students.
We have found that a new missionary’s time spent raising support helps to equip that person for the ministry they will be called to do on campus. This equipping takes two primary forms: skills and character. While raising support, you will develop many important people skills that are crucial to your ministry on campus or in the Headquarters. These skills include communicating vision, relating with people you’ve never met before, listening, asking questions, and taking initiative with people. As far as growing in godly character, raising support for the ministry exposes your fear of man and temptation to laziness, and it helps you learn to put your trust in the Lord alone.
These lessons are so critical to the ministry, that even if we had a billion dollars given to us, we would still send our new missionaries out to raise their personal support teams!
But are there really people out there who want to give their hard-earned dollars to support campus ministry?
We are often told that money for building God's kingdom is limited, but according to the Scriptures, this is not true! He tells us what is in short supply: workers for the harvest. For many years God has faithfully provided all the financial support we have needed to labor for his kingdom and to raise up more laborers. Every one of our staff, from the President on down, is fully funded by a personal support team. All our staff raise enough support to cover their salary, benefits, ministry expenses and a small administrative fee.
The world thinks of fund raising as making people guilty enough to spare a dime or maybe a dollar. God works differently. He gave His all for us and graciously allows us to give our widow's mite for Him. God's perspective is allowing the donor to participate in His glorious vision. God doesn't ask how much will they give to Him; He asks how much will they keep for themselves. We must communicate God's vision and He will open men's hearts to us.
Are you committed to disciple making? The donor easily believes we are effectively evangelizing and discipling students. He believes the university campus to be a key place for changing our times. He sees we have a unique impact, but still he holds his money tightly looking for commitment in us. When he sees it, he is eager to make his gift. Often he will not only give himself, but go and find others to give as well. Needs bombard the donor, and Christ's holy cause gets lost. Let him see your passion to make disciples and he will shock you with his generosity. He will write checks large and small, and when you try to express your gratitude, he will stop you and thank you for the privilege of giving!
Do you believe in disciple making or is it just a good idea? If you share this vision with us then come, join us and see God provide. It will not be easy; it will be hard, but it will be worth it.
Click here to read stories of God's generous provision for DiscipleMakers missionaries.
What if I'm no good at fundraising?
The truth is that our Staff are far from being the best fundraisers out there. Because the Lord is the one who raises the funds, success in fundraising is not primarily based on gifting or skills. The most successful fundraisers are those who trust fully in the Lord's provision and work diligently to give others the opportunity to give.
That said, skills are important as well, so we will provide you with biblical training for support raising that has proven effective from Nehemiah's fundraising days until ours. We will assign you a mentor to walk with you through the process. We will help you overcome obstacles, and we will rejoice with you at the generosity of God's people!
Salary Amount
DiscipleMakers' salaries have both an upper and a lower limit. The upper limit is based on teacher wages. The lower limit is negotiable, but we do insist on a liveable wage. While none of us will get rich from this job, we are committed to having our Staff live out our vision of making disciples without any fear of paying the next bill. In addition, we want to see all Staff get out of debt and be able to save for children's college tuition and their own retirement.
