Projects or People- Where Will You Invest?

Every year I ask the Lord a question. “What one thing do you want me to do this year?” I like to get my priorities crystal clear. When I know what God has said to do, I have my marching orders. I know my one thing. Without fail, that is going to be my top priority for the year. A few years ago, I was praying. I heard His still small voice whisper, “Invest in people, not projects. It’s the people who will bear the most fruit.”

Instantly, I knew this was true. It was biblical. But it wasn’t easy.

I like projects. I enjoy that sense of completion and accomplishment. It makes me feel good. There is great fulfillment in being able to do something. People, well, they’re harder. They have issues.

Jesus Commanded Us to Make Disciples – Not Dig Wells

God is a relational being. He is deeply committed to relationships. He chose to work through these frail and often troubled connections we have with others. God makes Himself known through how we relate with people, more than projects. Working with people requires patience, love, character…the fruit of His Spirit.

When Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20, He didn’t say, “Go into all the world and dig wells.” Nor did He command us to go and build orphanages, or schools, or start businesses. He told us to go and make disciples. That involves people. (Don’t misunderstand me here. I’m not completely against projects. We need to think hard about this issue and make sure our projects are leading to actual disciple making.)

There is a trend in American missions today away from people and toward projects. We are a “cause-driven” society. Causes and projects ask little of us, compared to relationships.

What Project Can I Create?

It was Sunday morning. We were staying in the home of a pastor friend. His church had supported us for many years. Traveling hundreds of miles, we had come to update the church about our ministry and lives. They’d been faithful ministry partners for years. It was a joy to come back and spend time with them. We looked forward to the 15-minute opportunity to challenge for greater mission engagement.

“Do you have any projects?” my pastor friend asked. “Our people respond well to projects.”

“Hmmm.” I thought. “What project can I come up with so people will give?”

I managed to think of something. My husband needed a new computer. Maybe the church could help us buy one. We needed to come back to our home country after a year or so to see our kids. “Would that be a worthwhile project?” I wondered.

Inside, I felt frustrated. Why can’t people give because they believe in us? Why isn’t the fact that we are going back to make disciples among unreached people, a good enough cause to give to?

Jesus said, “go and make disciples of all nations…” Matt. 28:18 NIV.

Jesus said, “the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few…” Matt. 9:37. He didn’t say the projects were few, or the money was not enough. He said people were needed.

While we feel the pull to focus on projects, it is people who produce the greater fruit. Evangelizing, mentoring, coaching, making disciple makers, building relationships, loving people, these activities are vital. They have much more to do with fulfilling Jesus’ final command than many projects do.

I am concerned about the shift in American churches away from investing in people. Projects will raise a lot of money and do many good deeds, but may horribly fail to complete the Great Commission.

It concerns me that by the way we give to missions, we could unintentionally push missionaries away from doing what is most important. We may thrust them toward doing what is necessary to raise funds to survive – creating projects that will motivate and inspire donors.

Projects will raise a lot of money and do many good deeds, but may horribly fail to complete the Great Commission.

This is a cause for major strategic concern. If we make this shift, we will likely not see a change in the disturbing stats we face. More than 2 billion people on the planet remain unreached and have no access to the gospel. People will change that, not projects.

3 Things Projects Give Us

1) Money

Projects are easier to raise funds for.

2) Sense of Accomplishment

With projects, we can easily see what we have done.

3) Easily Measurable Outcomes

It is difficult to measure spiritual growth in someone’s life. It’s far easier to say “Done. We built that widow’s home, orphanage, or church building.”

3 Things People Give Us

1) Multiplication

Disciples make more disciples. If we do not go after a multiplication model of discipleship, we will never complete the Great Commission. The population growth rates among the unreached are far too great. Buildings don’t multiply, people do. Movements of disciples flow along relational lines.

2) Transformation

While projects can bring short-term transformation, long-term change requires discipleship.

If a family in Mexico gets a new home built for them, it feels like transformation. If, however, the father of the household continues to drink, what happens? The kids continue to run with the drug dealers. Within a few years, that house will make little difference in their lives. Possible scenario? Yes indeed.

Imagine instead, if a missionary builds a relationship with that man. He shares Christ with him. He walks with him every day for a year as he battles his way toward freedom. They study God’s word together. They cry and pray together when he fails. Over time, his life becomes a witness to others. He gets a job and keeps it. The man begins to provide for his family, and they build a small house. It’s not as nice as the other house, but it is their own. He starts to share with and help his brother who is also an alcoholic.

People bring far greater lasting transformation than do projects.

3) Community

Our world is starving for community. People walk around engaged with their phones. Lonely, they feel restless and empty. A discovery or life group is started. People connect around God’s Word and share their lives. Projects don’t build lasting community, people do.

Relationships Are the Key to Fruitfulness

Missionary- Are you focused more on projects or people? Who are you investing in? Training as a disciple maker? What leader are you raising up to do what you do? Are people at the top of your priority list?

Missions Supporter/Pastor- Are you investing in projects or people? Do your missions related goals have to do with how much money you raise? Or how many missionaries you mobilize and send from your church? Do you care for the missionaries you do send well? Do you invest time in knowing them and their struggles/needs?

Reflect on these questions before the Lord. Ask God to shine His light on the way you are doing missions. Let Him realign your priorities to His. The pathway forward may not be the easiest one, but He will walk with you. His ways are higher, His thoughts and strategies better than ours.

I would love to hear your input or experiences with this! Feel free to comment below or on the Missionary Life Facebook page.

*Disclaimer- The above article is not meant to offend or attack, but simply to call us to think carefully about the swing toward a project-oriented mission philosophy. I recognize that some projects, when done mindfully, can be beneficial and lead to fruit.