Most of us will never board a plane to Zimbabwe or Sri Lanka to preach the gospel. We will probably never stand before a congregation in the Philippines or Australia or the mountains of Colombia. And yet, through something as simple and steady as weekly giving, ordinary Christians can be genuine partners in the work of taking the gospel to every corner of the world. That partnership is not a metaphor. According to the New Testament, it is a real and spiritually meaningful thing.
What God Wants
The foundation of all evangelism, local or global, is the character of God himself. Paul reminds us in that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” That is not a narrow wish. It is a desire that stretches across every continent, every language, and every culture. Jesus put it just as plainly in : “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The world in that verse is not a subset of humanity. It is everyone.
Because God’s desire is that wide, the commission he gave his people is equally wide. Before ascending to the Father, Jesus told his followers, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (). Mark records the same command in slightly different words: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (). The scope is unmistakable. The gospel is not meant to stay within the borders of one city or culture.
A Work the New Testament Recognizes
When a local church directs its resources toward supporting preachers in other places, it is not inventing something new. It is following a pattern laid down in the earliest days of the church. Acts 13 describes the church at Antioch, a congregation made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers. It was this church that, prompted by the Holy Spirit, set apart Barnabas and Paul “for the work to which I have called them” (). They prayed, fasted, and sent them out. They participated in everything that followed: the planting of churches in Galatia, the preaching throughout Cyprus, the journeys to Corinth, Thessalonica, Athens, Ephesus, and beyond.
The church in Philippi carried that same spirit. Paul wrote to them in with deep gratitude, noting that they had “shared” with him in his affliction and that, after he left Macedonia, no other church had entered into a partnership of “giving and receiving” with him as they had. That word “shared” in verse 15 carries the same root as the Greek word for fellowship, koinonia. It speaks of genuine communion, joint participation, a shared stake in the outcome.
Paul returns to this idea in , giving thanks for their “participation in the gospel from the first day until now.” The Philippians were not passive observers of Paul’s ministry. Through their giving, they were partners in it. They shared in the results of souls reached, churches planted, and lives transformed, even though most of them never traveled with Paul or stood in the places where he preached.
Fellowship That Crosses Borders
That same dynamic is alive in any congregation willing to invest in gospel preachers far from home. When a church sends regular support to a man preaching in a country its members may never visit, they become partners with him in his work. They provide what Paul described as “a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God” (). And Paul’s assurance follows: “My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” ().
Think of it the way Paul’s readers would have understood it. When investors come together to back a venture, they do not all have to be present in the daily operations to share in what the work produces. When a congregation pools its weekly giving to support preachers in places like Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, those members are genuine co-workers in whatever the gospel accomplishes there. declares that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes it.” Every soul that comes to faith through a supported preacher is also, in a real sense, a fruit of the congregation that made his work possible.
Beyond the Check
Financial support is foundational, but it is not the whole of partnership. Knowing the names and circumstances of the men a congregation supports transforms giving from a routine transaction into an ongoing relationship.
Some of these preachers carry extraordinary burdens. They may be serving multiple congregations each Lord’s Day, traveling on foot or bicycle between them. Some labor in countries where poverty is severe or where government is oppressive. Hearing from the brothers and sisters who stand behind them financially, even a single email of encouragement, can lift a weary spirit in a way that money alone cannot.
Beyond encouragement, prayer is perhaps the most powerful thing a supporting congregation can offer. Praying for a preacher’s effectiveness, for his family’s health and stability, for God to providentially connect him with people whose hearts are open to truth, is not passive. It is active partnership in the most meaningful sense. reminds us that “the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” Directed toward faithful men laboring in hard places, that kind of intercession has real weight.
The Scope of Obedience
Global evangelism is not a program a church runs. It is an expression of what a congregation actually believes. When a church consistently directs its resources toward spreading the gospel beyond its own walls and zip code, it is making a visible, practical declaration: we believe God loves the whole world, we believe the gospel is powerful enough to change lives across every cultural boundary, and we want to play whatever role we can in making sure that word goes out.
That is the kind of church the New Testament describes. The church at Antioch did not wait for the lost world to come to it. The church at Philippi did not consider its responsibility fulfilled when its own neighborhood was reached. They invested in preachers, sent them out, prayed for them, and shared in everything the gospel accomplished through them. That pattern is as valid today as it was in the first century, and it is open to any congregation willing to take it seriously.
