It's a fairly well known fact that the US Dollar is not doing so well these days. Now, I'm hardly an economist; in fact I don't know a whole lot about money. I've never really had a ton of money to care much about it (though I worry about it at times, I suppose), don't really balance my checkbook, and try to give more than I receive (which is actually impossible when you're on support, but anyway...). But, even I know that when the US $ does poorly, it hurts American overseas missionaries financially. I know of one missionary in India who has not lost a single supporter, but has lost 15% of his support because of the falling buck.
Now, I'd like for one of my economically knowledgeable readers (if I have one) to answer me a question. If the US $ begins to do better, does this necessarily mean that the currencies of other countries will do worse? Logically, it seems that this is true to my simple mind, but I want to be sure. If the US $ takes an upswing, does this automatically mean that other forms of currency (be it from China, the Euro, whatever) will take a plunge?
I ask this because I wonder if we ought not to be praying that the US $ do better for the sake of our missionaries. If it means that the currency of other countries will then do worse, I can't help but think that we shouldn't be praying for this to happen. I shudder to think that our prayers could be so American-centered that we'd actually pray for other countries, including those we send missionaries to, to falter a bit more economically, all for the sake of reaching them with the gospel. Again, I'm not sure this is necessarily true, which is why I asked the question in the above paragraph.
Either way, the success of American money ought not to factor into our missions thinking too much. If our priorities are in order, we wouldn't be shaken by this. Here are two things to keep in mind:
1. The success of the gospel does not ride on the US $ or American missionaries. True, the Lord has used American missionaries in amazing ways to see the Church grow. Yes, these missionaries were funded (more often than not) by faithful Christians giving their (American) money. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking that we are the only show in town. And let's not confuse the tools with the builder. I've worked in home improvement retail- I've seen plenty of builders simply get new tools when their old ones stopped working as well.
2. We can always give more to help our missionaries. I've probably tired some of my friends with my talk of how I've felt an increased conviction to give to others, so I won't belabor the point here. It's amazing how much money we spend on things of little value, all the while passing up opportunities to give to something of eternal relevance. This is true for most of us even in financially difficult times.
At any rate, I'm hoping someone will be able to answer my question above. I'd love to be able to know how to pray. In the meantime, I really need to work on my priorities.
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6 comments:
I do not know the answer to your question, but my gut tells me that the world economy isn't a closed system. There's not a strictly fixed amount of money in the world for which various countries vie, and one gets more or less always at the peril or fortune of another. It's all terribly complex, of course, so I'd love it if one of your smarter readers posted something to distill it a bit, and perhaps debunk my theory above.
What I do know is that your point #2 is quite convicting. Stewardship of "my" money is always on my mind. When it's framed in terms of temporal vs. eternal value, I can't help but feel that 90% of my resources have been squandered on self-serving garbage.
Yes. Currency rates are the exchange between two currencies. For one to "go up" means the other must "go down." It's a completely reciprocal relationship. The market determines the fair exchange rate between two currencies. The measure of how much the dollar has fallen, therefore, is a measure only between those two currencies, such as the dollar and the rupee.
To say that the dollar is down means that it is down compared to another currency. These are most often the euro, pound, and yen. Nowadays, the dollar seems to be down compared to every currency.
Praying for the dollar to appreciate against another currency is a whole other issue. And it's complicated. It's hard to say that if the dollar appreciates relative to the rupee, that Indians will suffer economically. When the dollar depreciates, more people buy our goods. When the rupee depreciates, we buy more Indian goods. All kinds of other factors go into which is the better scenario. Praying for other currencies to depreciate, which is the same as praying for the dollar to appreciate, is not necessarily a bad thing. What I'm trying to say is that the currency exchange rates between two countries doesn't predict the economic fortunes of those countries. Therefore, you're not praying for a poor country to become poorer while we gain.
I guess missionaries might need to consider hedging their currency exposure.
Ah, JP (The Hymnophilic Economist). I was hoping you'd chime in.
So, it's complicated. Go figure, you would have thought worldwide economics would be simple. Thanks for the insight.
And I have no idea what your last sentence means.
I would also (obviously) add that even if you're praying "wrong" (i.e., Lord let the dollar go up), God certainly understands that your heart prayer is for the wellfare of missionaries, and that you don't intend for said wellfare to hurt other countries.
Wait, are you saying God isn't obligated to answer my prayer in the exact way I pray it, word for word? Don't my prayers availeth much? Am I not a righteous man?
I'm not going to explain what the last sentence means.
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