This Giving Tuesday, hold a lifeline to these forgotten people
Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Since then, it has grown into a year-round global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.
I know that many Christians will get involved in this year’s giving Tuesday. However, it is worth noting that missionaries who have gone into obscure places of the world for the sake of the Gospel are often forgotten even by those who sent them.
So many of them left the comfort of cities and towns in order to spread the Gospel. A good number of these people left their luxury apartments in the United States and moved into remote communities in African countries where African pastors are even afraid to go.
Advancing the Gospel is not a suggestion for Christians but a command that many have neglected. Holding lifelines for missionaries is a good way of fulfilling the mandate of the Great Commission, and all hands must be on deck to sustain the work of missions, especially among the unreached peoples group. Many of the missionary children are not in school because their parents cannot afford to enroll them. So many of them are living lives of degradation and reproach for the sake of Christ.
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I visited a village between Nigeria and Niger and came across a missionary family that was dying of starvation. As the missionary saw our team, he burst out crying. According to the man, his family had not eaten food for days before our arrival.
Working among the unreached and unengaged people groups is a very difficult task. It is not just the missionaries who are suffering but their target communities as well. People expect the missionaries to help them provide their basic needs even when missionaries don’t have enough resources to provide for themselves and their families.
A gift to missionaries or mission agencies working among the unreached in any part of the world can go a long way in alleviating the hardship of these people. As Giving Tuesday approaches, Christians should ask questions on how to get in touch with these missionaries and send them gifts. Paul himself received through Epaphroditus “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:18).
The impacts of gifts to the unreached and their missionaries are immeasurable. Some of them will be celebrating the birth of Christ for the first time this year and need our love and kindness. Sending help to Christian workers and their target persons will be a good way of celebrating generosity in this season.
Missionaries should not be viewed as beggars. They are the Christian heroes who have risked their lives for the sake of the Gospel. They are noble men and women of inestimable value and should be accorded due honor and respect. Giving to missionaries and mission work is a privilege that many Christians are sadly oblivious to. Every gift to missionaries has eternal value. Let us celebrate these heroes as we celebrate generosity this Giving Tuesday.
Oscar Amaechina is the president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, Abuja, Nigeria. His calling is to take the gospel to where no one has neither preached nor heard about Jesus. He is the author of the book Mystery Of The Cross Revealed.
