The Ten-Cent-a-Week Plan for Missions by I. H. Evans

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 21, 1908

The Ten-Cent-a-Week Plan for Missions

By I. H. Evans

The very echo of that familiar phrase sounds like the voice of some long-cherished but neglected friend. Nearly a decade ago this plan for the support of foreign missions was introduced by the Mission Board. For several years it brought a large income into the Mission treasury, but during the last few years it has not been much agitated, and has lost much of its effectiveness.

Last fall the General Conference Committee considered plans for increasing the donations to foreign missions. The members of the General Conference Committee who were present agreed upon introducing into the union and State conferences the plan for raising weekly a definite sum for mission work in foreign fields. A series of recommendations was adopted by the Atlantic Union Conference, and later by all the union conferences in the United States. A few weeks ago these recommendations appeared in the REVIEW, in an article by Elder A. G. Daniells; so I need not quote them here.

The magnitude of the work which we are undertaking in foreign fields necessitates some arrangement whereby a definite sum of money may be received for the support of the workers we have sent abroad. Hitherto the funds coming to the Mission Board have been on a sliding scale; they were governed by local conditions, by financial depressions, and by the amount of earnest zeal put into the calls for the specific donations. Our receipts were confined quite largely to the annual and midsummer offerings, the First-day and Sabbath-school donations. These were not uniform, the total oftentimes varying in a single year from twenty thousand to forty or fifty thousand dollars. The object in the introduction of the new plan is to get each church and local and union conference to endeavor to raise a sum equal to ten cents a week for each church-member.

No one claims that this plan is infallible; but those who have had it under consideration know of no better plan, and believe that it will be generally acceptable to the people. By the well-to-do giving more, and the poor giving what they can, it is believed that we can raise a sum equal to ten cents a week per member for missions. Surely no one will question the wisdom of the endeavor.

It appeals to every honest Christian that it is the duty of those in the home land, where the blessings of God are so manifest, to contribute liberally for the support of the gospel in foreign fields. All will agree that those who go to foreign fields, enduring the hardships and privations entailed upon them by exposure in unfavorable climates, and by sacrifices that they often have to pass through, deserve to be listed among those who ought to have a steady, substantial support. Surely a man is not less worthy of his monthly wage when he is in China, India, or fever-stricken Africa, giving this message to the benighted heathen, than when he is in the home land, surrounded by friends, working in a well-organized conference, and having about him all the comforts of life. At home, his support is assured by the tithes of the believers. Shall not the foreign workers be deemed worthy of equal support with those in the home land? Every sincere heart says, Yes, most assuredly.

The tent-cent-a-week plan has some merit, whatever its defects may be. It aims at something and accomplishes something. On its computation, the Mission Board can lay out its work definitely and to a purpose. It can count its resources and plan a definite program. It is not a hard problem to determine how much money can be raised from a membership of sixty thousand at ten cents each a week for a year. For one member, the amount would be $5.20, and for sixty thousand, it would be the handsome sum of three hundred twelve thousand dollars a year.

Nor is three hundred twelve thousand dollars too large a sum for our church-membership in the United States to give to foreign mission work. More than one billion of our fellow beings live in darkness; they are hopeless, Christless, without Bibles, and do not know God. To us God has given great light; shall we not pass it on? Ten cents a week is not a large sum, but it is something, and will help mightily in supporting workers in these needy fields. It comes regularly and steadily, and that is a great help, for we know what to depend upon.

Everything that reminds us of God and his worship, helping us to plan to do some good for others, is truly to be desired and sought after, for we have our own souls to save as well as to help to save others. Ten cents a week, thought of daily through the week, planned for, placed in the envelopes, and taken thoughtfully to the house of worship, means as much to the giver as to the receiver. It is one of the little things that keep the soul in fellowship with God.

Some should not stop with ten-cent donations, but bring larger gifts as expressions of their gratitude to God for the abundance he has committed to their keeping. Let it be a “turtle dove or a lamb,” as God has blessed you; but let not his people come before him from week to week empty-handed. Let the envelopes be distributed every Sabbath, and let each one present put in his offering. Those in charge of our meetings should give this special attention, and at once set this plan in operation. We believe that by the first of July we can have all the churches in the United States working in harmony and unity in gathering in this mission offering. In unity there is strength; let us all work as one man. I. H. EVANS.