FSM 265 / FN 364 Special Issue! DO

"I will cause the shower to come down in his season, there shall be showers of blessings."—Eze.34:26.

Written and Compiled by WS Staff

Copyrighted January, 1995 by Family Services, Zurich, Switzerland

Take Good Care of Your Supporters!

The first big hurdle to raising support is meeting & winning people who are willing to give regularly; the next is taking care of those people. As any successful missionary will tell you, it takes vision, prayer, consistency & a lot of hard work to keep your supporters fed & growing & giving! But it's well worth the time & effort. Below are a few tips that are essential to building a strong base of support.

1. Show appreciation! It's extremely important to thank your donors for their gifts. Thank them verbally & then in writing also. You should try to send off a little thank-you note right away when you receive a donation.

One professional fund raiser that our Family in North America contacted explained that the first time a donor gives, it's often a token donation & not always the amount you may be hoping for. But no matter what amount they give, he went on to explain, we need to treat the person like a king & thank him over & over. Interestingly, he said that research has been done on philanthropists who give a million dollars or more, & they expect to be thanked at least seven times!—A dinner in their honour, a card, a plaque of appreciation, etc., etc. Now it doesn't seem necessary for you to actually thank your donors seven times, unless they happen to give a million dollars, that is. But the point nevertheless is well taken—showing appreciation by thanking your donors is absolutely necessary!

Dad said: "We don't minister to our kings enough, & honour them & love & care for them & show our gratitude & gratefulness toward them as we should. We need to honour them for what they are & where they are, as long as they share their riches with those of us that need them!" (ML#211:59.)

2. Use the funds & goods you're given wisely! Kings & supporters will undoubtedly be watching to see how you invest the money they give you. They may test you with a little to see how diligent you'll be with their gifts, before giving you more. The same can be said for the goods they give you—such as vehicles, houses, equipment, etc. As Dad said:

"Kings love to see you save the money they give you! But the attitude some of you have is: The more you spend extravagantly, the more God will give! Some people have the attitude, `That's what it's for! Spend it! God's got lots of it!' But saving money is a part of good stewardship, saving money is a hard job. It takes time & effort, & you have to work at it! Spending money extravagantly any fool can do!

"Kings like you to be good stewards of the kingdom! Houses, like vehicles, have to be kept clean & repaired & maintained & kept in good condition. That shows that you're a faithful steward, concerned about keeping the house & the car clean, & doing the wash, & so many little things. If you don't use the one little talent they've given you, & invest it properly, your kings will take it away & give you no more!

"God doesn't give their whole kingdom to us because, if He can't even trust us with one of their houses [or their financial gifts], what kind of a helluva mess would we make of the whole kingdom? God makes the kings, & they're stewards of God's money & houses & buildings, & they are smart enough not to let you use very much of it until they see how you can take care of a little bit of it! That's God's way of doing it.

"Nothing will turn off your donors more than to see what poor care you take of what they give you! But nothing encourages your donors to give more than to see how meticulous you are!—To see what excellent care you take of things!" (ML#212:18,23, 48,50,21.)

3. Feed your supporters spiritually & keep personal contact with them. The personal touch is extremely valuable when winning & keeping friends. Call your supporters regularly, just to see how they're doing & to encourage them. Send them regular newsletters, Daily Foods, notes of encouragement, birthday cards, etc. Invite them to your Home, to an open house, a Bible study, a Church of Love meeting, or a private evening of fellowship.

Sometimes a small gesture of appreciation can mean the world to those who support you. Take, for example, the following testimony from Willing, David, Al & Pandita in North America: "We've been doing something special for our contacts. Our provisioners provisioned some plaques, the kind people hang on their office walls. We had them made in marble & metal & gave them to some of our most faithful contacts. The response has been overwhelming! They loved them. They said that it makes them feel a part of us, & they proudly hang the plaques on their walls to show they support us. It's also greatly encouraged them to keep giving." (And it's a witness to others!)

Don't underestimate the effectiveness of your mail ministry! As was mentioned in part two of this FSM series, Dad has said a lot about the importance of your mail ministry & how it can be a key to keeping your friends & supporters on the line, spiritually fed & informed of the progress & news of the Family in your Area or worldwide.

Newsletters can be very helpful for contacts who live too far away to visit frequently. One Home shared the following testimony: "We started doing a newsletter for our far-away contacts, once every six weeks. The first few months it didn't even pay for the postage, but we kept it up. By the time we were on our sixth newsletter we were getting in a few hundred dollars more than it cost to send the newsletter out. When we did Christmas provisioning & contacted these contacts who had been getting our newsletters, the response was terrific. We were very up-front with these contacts [via these newsletters] concerning the persecution & bad publicity. We lost a few people, but most came through with flying colours." (Editor's note: You may want to send the FAR along with your newsletter, to provide your contacts with news from the Family worldwide in addition to your local activities.)

One Home found it helpful to fax their lawyer a feeding message regularly, since he was too busy for them to minister to personally very frequently. Christie in North America reports: "Mama suggested that I send our lawyer a fax regularly with some Word in it, to encourage, feed & strengthen him. She suggested this when the Branch Davidian siege was still going on & he was defending one of the Branch Davidians.

"We've seen that almost the only way to regularly feed this dear man is with frequent faxes, because when we do get to meet with him personally, which isn't very often since he's so very busy, he does most of the talking, as he loves to talk & tell stories. In the beginning I felt a little sad that I wasn't able to witness to him so much in person, but then the Lord helped me to not worry about it, to just let the faxes feed him. Also, I have to admit that at first it was a battle for me to send these faxes, because I hardly knew the man. But I went ahead by faith & I started to send him a fax two or three times a week.

"When I write a fax, I really pray first. I try to make it personal & friendly. He is unbelievably busy so I keep it short. I never send more than a one-page fax, on our letterhead, & I try to print it out in a large font, as it's easier for him to read. I send a couple of quotes & never more than one page of a Daily Might. I also try to keep him updated with news about the Family—not just our local work, but also worldwide. I also try to mention personal things about myself & my kids too.

"After two or three weeks, I called him, & by a miracle I was able to talk with him. (He's so busy, his secretary wouldn't always put us through.) He raved about the faxes I've been sending. He said, `I read'em, & keep'em, so keep'em comin'!' Another time I went to drop something by his office & his secretary said, `Wait! He will want to see you! You light up his life!' He then came out & said, `I'm so glad to see you! You're a ray of sunshine in my life!'

"So this was a great encouragement to me, & I know feeding him via faxes has been a big help in winning him more to the Family. When the Argentine persecution hit & we had the threat of a raid here, he went to bat for us & called the Child Protection Service (CPS) in both counties to let them know that he is our lawyer. He also called the CPS lawyers, as well as the leading newspaper of our city, & they printed a favourable article on us, which also announced that he is our lawyer. Praise the Lord!"

Open houses can be a very effective way of ministering to your contacts & bringing them closer! Take, for example, the following testimony from the Home in Washington, D.C.:

"The Lord really used our open house to do some good proactive work in our neighbourhood. A team of YAs & teens put together a flyer, which we photocopied on coloured paper, & then they distributed it throughout the neighbourhood. Even though some of our neighbours didn't come, they were still left with a positive impression about what is going on at our house.

"This open house gave our friends & contacts more of a well-rounded picture of what we do, & helped them see just how much they have helped us to accomplish. One of the visitors commented: `I'm really glad to have come because I didn't have any idea that you were like this!' She was very touched & delightfully surprised by the whole programme—the songs, the skits, etc. One of our neighbours was very impressed with our Work, & shortly thereafter invited our singing team to come to a dinner party where we sang for her guests. During the dinner party she made a very positive verbal recommendation about us to all her guests, many of whom are also our neighbours.

"Part of the programme of the open house included presenting certificates of appreciation to the guests. When presenting the certificates, Ahlai & some of the YAs & teens said a few words about the different guests present & how we had come to know them & how they had been such a help to us. This was a special sweet time of fellowship. The certificates were filled in according to who came to the open house. We took the guest book, which everyone had signed when they arrived, & filled in the certificates according to the names found therein. That way we were sure to not leave anyone out.

"Overall we felt this open house greatly strengthened our relationship with our friends & neighbours & helped them to feel closer to us & more of a part of what we are doing."

4. Hook them on the Word!

Your supporters are likely to be very busy people! To make each follow-up visit as fruitful as possible, it's important to plan each meeting in advance. Take time to pray & plan!—And don't do it at the last minute or as you travel on your way to the appointment.

- Make sure each appointment is spiritually feeding & that you're giving them the Word! Casual chatting or fellowshipping as friends won't feed their soul. One CRO commented that the follow-up of the Homes in one city was not bearing fruit, & when the Shepherds investigated further, they found that the follow-up appointments were not Word based!—The brethren were just socializing with their contacts, which was not strengthening them spiritually.

One sister shared the following testimony: "We had a king in India, & the first thing that I would do every time I would meet him was to share some Word with him, even if just a Daily Might. That became the basis of our relationship, & he always expected me to feed him some Word every time we met or I called. It bore good fruit & he learned to put the Word first."

5. Point them to the Lord! Kings like to have someone who is their link with the Family, or even with the Lord. Often this special connection or friendship is what kings need, & as Dad said, "People will give much more freely & willingly & are much more inspired to give to personalities than to organizations, believe it or not! I'm just telling you from years of experience working with both real, honest, poor, sincere pluggers like my Mother & me, & also with real, top-notch, top-flight, top-rate, expert religious promoters like Fred." (ML#332A:2.)

If you are someone's special link with the Family, try to also point them to the Word & the Lord & the Family as a whole. Also, avoid falling into familiarity when ministering to them. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't relax at all or be yourself when around your kings & supporters, but always make an effort to keep the Lord in the picture & help them see Jesus shining through you.

6. Don't only see or contact your kings & supporters when you have a need. As Dad warned us, "Kings & queens that you only see when you need them are not going to be your kings & queens very long! The thing that will shock them is when they see you're not interested only in their kingdom or their money, but in them! But if you get the king, you'll get the kingdom! If today you are good stewards of the king himself, his needs, his problems, etc., tomorrow you may be good stewards of his kingdom! If you neglect the king you'll not have him for long!" (ML#212:59.)

A professional fund raiser some Family Members have been in contact with told them, "It needs to be someone's fulltime job to keep a line on your donors & to stay in contact with them between times of asking. It's extremely important that you understand that fund raising can't just be something that you do only when you need money, but it is an ongoing thing. You must stay in contact with your donors."

7. Pick up pledges faithfully & on time. Of course, your regular supporters won't think you need the money much if you're not faithful to pick up the funds they've pledged regularly & on time. One Area reported the following: "One of our Homes has a solid financial base, with $2,000 to $2,500 coming in monthly from kings, & approximately another $800 monthly from other regular supporters. However, we're seeing the need for more prayerful, obedient oversight, shepherding & business management in order to keep this regular support solid. Apparently at one point this Home hadn't picked up their regular pledges for two or three months due to emergencies that had come up, in spite of the fact that they were quite in need of money!"

Please be faithful with the supporters the Lord raises up & pick up their donations on time. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also with much" (Luke 16:10). (Note: Some supporters may prefer to deposit their pledges in your account each month rather than you picking them up personally, which is fine, although picking them up personally gives you another opportunity to meet and spiritually feed them.)

Honesty, Financial Records, & Designated Gifts

Keep accurate financial books. It's very important that you have an accurate up-to-date record of the donations your Home has received & how the money was spent. That way if anyone is ever curious as to how you spent their money, you have "proof" that it's been invested wisely. You'll also have records in case officials inquire about your finances.

Dad said: "Keep accurate accounts of every penny that comes in, especially by cheque, & of all expenditures, including all the receipts you can collect, itemized, naming the thing you paid or bought, both in your books & on the receipt, & save them diligently, protect them prayerfully, & hope you won't ever have to use them in any legal or financial or tax hassles. But they could come in mighty handy if you had to, to prove where the money came from & what it was spent for.... You'd better have those records & receipts of who & where the money came from, for what, & where it went, for your own protection. And an accurate cheque record, if kept in detail & complete, showing both deposits with the names of the donors, as well as all items of expenditure, could be a great asset if anyone should ever hassle you." (ML#51:69.)

Avoid deception & misunderstandings. Be very clear when you're soliciting donations, & make sure the donors know what they're giving to. For example, if you need funds to pioneer a Consider the Poor ministry, you should make it clear whether you are asking for funds to actually donate such funds to the poor destitute folks you're helping, or whether you are appealing for the funds to cover your own expenses as you help the destitute. In other words, you need to be very clear as to whether you're raising money for the poor & needy that you're helping in your Consider the Poor ministries, or you're raising money for yourselves, the Lord's servants, so you can do your spiritual work of ministering to those people. This is an extremely important point!

Be very careful not to word your request for support in such a way that it sounds as though you're going to give the money or goods to the folks you're ministering to, such as the orphans, the homeless people, the drug addicts, the victims of disasters, etc.—unless, of course, that is what you're raising money or provisioning goods for. But if you're asking for money or goods or services for yourselves or other Family Members, then you need to make sure your appeal accurately & obviously reflects that.

We need to be very careful & prayerful in our fund raising, as we don't want to do anything illegal or deceptive, which in the end might do the Family more harm than good! Although we want to go on the attack in this area of support, we're not after finances at any cost! You need to be very up-front about who you are & what you're doing & where the donations are going. Any type of misrepresentation in your requests or any mismanagement of funds donated would be a terrible reproach to the entire Family, & could get your Home in a lot of hot water legally as well!

Use designated gifts properly. If you have solicited donations for a specific purpose or cause, it is extremely important that the money that is designated for that particular thing be spent accordingly. If you solicit donations for a particular cause or purpose, but fail to spend the money you receive as a result for the same cause or purpose for which it was solicited, you could be accused of a serious criminal offense—fraud!

Dad talked about designated gifts over & over in the Letters. He was always very strict concerning our Family policy of designated gifts needing to reach their appropriate destination. He said:

"That is just a standard set principle about givers & giving & designated gifts: Designated gifts in any work that I have ever been in have been considered absolutely sacrosanct, absolutely untouchable for anything else, no matter how bad you need it for something else! You use it for the purpose for which it was given; that is what they gave it for, that's what they wanted to give it for, that's why they were inspired to give it, & you cannot just haphazardly say, `Well, I'm going to use it for something else that we need more!'—At least not without asking the giver!

"Because the minute donors begin to find out they cannot trust you to use their gifts for what they gave them for, or to whom they gave them, you're going to lose their confidence & lose their giving, because you're stealing! You're stealing! If they give it for one thing & you use it for something else, it's not right! I don't believe we have ever taken money specifically given for something or somebody else & said, `No, we need that for WS.'

"That is a standard basic principle of giving.—And the Family needs to learn this principle! They do not have a right to just do as they please with [the gifts they receive] if they have been specifically designated to a certain party for a certain purpose." (ML#2447:14,16,18.)

(For more on the subject of designated gifts, please see LNF 209.)

The Question of Registration

When asking for donations—particularly large ones, either from individuals or companies—one of the first questions you will probably be asked is if you are registered or if you have tax deductible status. The reason this is a point of great interest to potential donors is because they want to know if they will be able to claim a tax write-off for any donations they give to you. So you will need to be prepared with an answer to this question.

There is no definite policy worldwide as to whether the Family should or should not register as a religious group or a charity in each country. It's not possible to set a worldwide policy concerning this point because there are too many variables, & the registration rules & requirements & advantages & disadvantages vary greatly from country to country. There have, in fact, been a few situations recently where the Lord has led the Family to get registered. In other countries, the Lord made it clear that it was not His Will that the Family register.

The Lord often leads us not to register for security purposes, to avoid the control of the System. We, like many other Christians, believe that the church should not be controlled by the government. The church is God's, & Christians should be free to obey God & not have the government telling them what to do, especially if it is in opposition to what God tells them to do. For example, in one country the Homes found out that if they were a registered charity, the Charity Commission would regulate what kind of literature they could give out. It's very obvious that such control would not be to our advantage; & in such a case, it's easy to explain to potential donors that we're not registered because one of our major means of getting out the message is through literature, & we want to be free to give out our literature without being regulated.

But apart from the varying local disadvantages of registration, there is the even more serious aspect of the soon-coming rule of the Antichrist. Under the One World Government, the Antichrist will seek to wipe out all Christians, &, of course, he will be able to do that much more easily if they're registered. The Christians who are registered will be much more easily located, tracked, monitored, regulated, & eventually imprisoned or killed. So the hazards of being registered right now aren't nearly as bad in many places as they will be in the near future under the reign of the Antichrist.

The fact that our hesitancy to register is based largely on our knowledge of Endtime Bible prophecy makes it difficult for many people to understand our reasoning. We may not have what looks like to them any real good concrete reason right now, except for our interpretation of soon-coming Endtime events. But if you feel led & they are receptive, you can explain that the problem is if we get registered now, we will be registered then, under the reign of the Antichrist, & we may not be able to get "unregistered" sufficiently. So much of the point in our not registering now is so that we won't be registered in the future. In some places it might be all right now & very advantageous, but as the tentacles of the AC government get a firmer grip on things, that's where the problems are going to start appearing more & more. Of course, if you explain this to someone you would have to get into the Endtime Message & the coming AC government, etc., so you may want to prepare the ground with an explanation of the Endtime & our convictions on the subject first.

Since registration could have such a major impact on the Family in your country under the future AC government, & since it could result in unwanted government restrictions or control of the Family's activities now, the question of whether to register or not is a serious matter, which would need to be handled very wisely & prayerfully. Since this would greatly affect all the Homes in a country, the decision to register must be made in counsel with your CROs. This is not a decision that can be made just on the local level.

If you feel it would be advantageous to register in your country, we strongly recommend that you go slow. The first thing you would want to do is pray & ask the Lord to speak to you about whether or not it's His Will that you get registered. If the Lord speaks very definitely, telling you how dangerous it would be & that you should not register, then you will save yourselves all the time & effort of having to do further research & discussion. However, there might be occasions when the Lord would not make it real clear, & then, of course, you would need to do some research & consultation, & afterwards discuss it, & then pray again for the Lord's confirmation on what you feel led to do.

If the Lord either indicates clearly that it is His Will for you to register, or if what He gave you when you prayed was not a real clear definite answer not to, then you should take the time to fully research the pros & cons. In addition to any research you may do yourself in the law books, you should consult a lawyer who is well versed in the subject of registration or lack of registration of charities, churches & religious groups. The registration laws in some countries are very complex, with "hidden" clauses or loopholes not easily detected by most people, which could either work to your advantage or disadvantage. It is for this reason that you'd need the professional help of a lawyer when researching this subject.

Remember, however, that any lawyer, or any person in the System for that matter, is already a part of the System. They operate within the framework & by the rules of the System; they have all their lives, & they don't really know of any other way. It's usually difficult for them to even conceive of not operating within the System, & especially by what seems to be the most "advantageous" rules for their benefit. They don't realize that Satan is truly the "king of empires", it's his System, & he operates it to his advantage, & that his whole plan is to weave his sticky worldwide web until all are trapped & have to bow down & worship him!

Most lawyers & professionals believe there is still some honour left in the System, that it has built-in safeguards to protect the innocent, & that is why their pat answer is usually "Of course, register! Why not register?—It'll be to your advantage! You can get tax exemption status!" Their whole mindset operates within the bounds of the System, so naturally they feel if it's advantageous for you, do it!---Not realizing the Devil's ultimate plan & the vice-like grip he is trying to get everyone into.

So don't be easily convinced by these lawyers & other people who are counselling you on this subject. They are working within the framework of their own carnal minds & reasoning & experience, & will tell you what's best within that framework. They've never experienced anything outside of the worldwide organized System, & for that matter, usually don't even know that there is anything outside of the System. They have probably never operated outside of the rules & regulations & therefore can't even conceive of any advantages of doing so.

Therefore, if possible, in order to get the most complete, well-rounded counsel possible, you should also seek the counsel of other church leaders or religious organizations in your country who favour the idea of churches not registering. Such organizations could probably give you some good insight as to why they chose not to register. And finally, after you have done all the research you can & you have consulted with your Shepherds concerning this matter, you would need to bring the question before the Lord & ask Him to speak to you in prophecy to establish & confirm His Will. This is a very serious matter!

(Before embarking on such a project, however, please consult with your over-Shepherds or CROs, in case such research has already been done, which would then save time & duplication of effort. It would probably be best if this research were conducted on an Area-wide level, so as to save on time & personnel. It would be up to you, dear Area Shepherds, to please be sure to distribute the information to all the Homes in the country after the facts have been gathered, so everyone can "speak the same thing". Remember, however, that "to register or not to register" is ultimately a CRO decision & cannot be made by any lower level without the CROs' agreement.)

While you are in the process of investigating the possibilities, seeking counsel, & praying about registering, you can simply explain to potential donors that you are looking into it. Then once the Lord has made clear His Will in this matter, you can prepare your explanation for potential donors accordingly. If the Homes in your country do decide to register, then your explanation is simple. The difficulty comes in trying to explain why you are not registered, as this goes against the natural reasoning of most businessmen. You must answer this question as straightforwardly & as truthfully as possible, remembering that we are not alone; there are many churches worldwide that choose not to register.

You need to know how to talk about this without going on the defensive. You need to get on the attack & explain with conviction why you're not registered, not just quail & quake in a corner & act like you're guilty of something. It's a similar situation to when we're forced to explain why we don't have credit cards.—In such a case, we just have to be bold and go on the attack with why we don't have credit cards, because we don't believe in borrowing and running up bills and going into debt financially. That is our choice and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it!—In fact, it is a more intelligent and better decision than to run up bills that you can't pay. (See ML#2545:9-13.)

You can simply explain your reservations about registration & how you reached your decision to not register, based on the explanation above concerning our desire to not have the state control our church & the need for Christians to be able to survive the coming AC government, as well as the cons that came up when you researched the local laws on the matter, the counsel you received from others, & what the Lord showed you. People will generally respect your decision—even if they don't agree with it—when they realize you have seriously considered all options, researched the matter extensively, weighed all the pros & cons, & made a decision according to what you honestly feel is best for your situation.

The following explanation was given to a Christian pastor in the U.S. when he wondered why we aren't registered: "We don't have tax deductible status & aren't likely to seek it, as we believe it is unwise for the church to be under the yoke of the government. We have been in contact with the American Coalition of Unregistered Churches & the American Evangelistic Association (AEA) to find out more about how these unregistered churches operate without governmental recognition.

"Generally, we have found that these organizations are very concerned about the constitutional right to religious freedom. The American Coalition of Unregistered Churches believes that they are free under the Constitution to exercise their religious rights & therefore are not required to register or abide by any state-applied restrictions or regulations. Apparently the AEA feels the same, as they have refused to register, incorporate, & come under any jurisdiction of the government whatsoever, & from what we understand, they are being given this freedom because the IRS knows that they're operating within their Constitutional rights & that the IRS would have a real `scrap' on their hands if they tried to put the clamps on them."

(Editor's note: This is a good example of how it pays to have counselled with others about this matter. Then you can show potential donors that you're not alone, that there are others who feel the same. Plus, having such facts shows that you know what you're talking about & helps verify that you did indeed research the matter & consider registration. If you don't happen to live in the U.S., you should of course have some local facts, figures & examples to share, comparable to how this explanation uses the examples of the American Coalition of Unregistered Churches & the American Evangelistic Association.)

"We don't want to get tangled up with red tape & bureaucracy. We simply want to preach the Gospel. But our general outlook on registration & incorporation is that it's unwise. We feel that time is short, that we are in the Endtime, & that in the not-too-distant future we will witness the rise of the Antichrist & the beginning of the Great Tribulation. We believe the Antichrist is marshalling his forces, & that the World is being led continually downward in every way, until things will be so bad that they will hail the Antichrist as their saviour. Because of this belief, we have chosen not to comply with the dictates of a society that is gearing up for the destruction of Christianity.

"It is our belief that the Antichrist will destroy conventional churches & severely persecute Christians, & his first move will probably be to eliminate or imprison Christian leaders. For the most part that won't be too difficult for him as most Christian leaders are quite out in the open.—Everyone knows where to find them, the government has a list of all of their officers, has the address of all their offices, has a handle on all of their finances, & therefore the One World government that is soon to arise will easily be able to `decapitate' these organizations, leaving their `body' without a `head', except for Jesus, of course. Many churches don't seem to teach their people how to hear from the Lord, so when their leaders are gone, they will be in dire straits.

"We believe that by remaining small, scattered & unregistered today, we will be better able to survive & minister to both Christians & the lost in the days ahead. It's true that in today's climate our decision to not register may be considered somewhat suspicious, but in time, we believe it will prove to be wise. And although registration & incorporation might help to generate more immediate income, in the long run we feel it could greatly damage our Work for the Lord." (End of explanation.)

The above is a good example of a basic explanation of why we don't usually register. This basic explanation will apply to most situations worldwide because it explains very well our main reason for not registering—our desire to survive the coming AC government. Along with this main explanation, you can add other points based on your situation, the local laws & what would be understandable to the people where you live.

The Lord can also help you to work around the registration roadblock by leading you to people who will be willing to support your Work even without your being registered. The Lord has promised to supply all your needs, so if He leads you to not register, then there must be people out there somewhere who He knows will answer the call & give! And of course, you would want to explain to your supporters that if they donate to you even though you are not registered, the Lord will make it up to them, since they are making a sacrifice for God's Work.

More Counsel on Consider the Poor Ministries!

If you have not yet committed yourselves to a Consider the Poor ministry or you feel overwhelmed trying to figure out how to get started, don't worry! There are many many opportunities to be a blessing to the needy, & if you pray & ask the Lord to lead you, He will!

Sometimes we think of a Consider the Poor ministry as a very complicated big deal that takes lots of manpower, a big fancy show troupe, months & months of time to get it off the ground, etc. But you'll be encouraged to know that you can pioneer a Consider the Poor ministry with very humble beginnings. Just start small, test the waters, & go one step at a time. Remember, you aren't obligated to stay with a ministry if you find that it's not fruitful. But when you do find one that is fruitful, & the Lord confirms that it is His Will that you invest your time in it, then make a commitment & buckle down to do your best in that ministry & you'll see the Lord work in wonderful ways.

Below are a few points to keep in mind concerning your Consider the Poor ministry:

1. The opportunities are limitless. There is a very wide variety of possible Consider the Poor ministries. How the Lord leads you will depend on your local situation, the obvious needs you encounter, your gifts & talents, the doors the Lord opens, & your personal burdens. When discussing & praying about what Consider the Poor ministry your Home would like to devote its time to, it may be helpful to know the ways our Family has been a blessing to the needy. Please refer to the list on pages 13 & 14 which covers some of the many Consider the Poor ministries that have been in progress over the last two years around the World.

2. Keep your motives right; remember Dad's counsel. When the Lord gave Dad the revelation about Consider the Poor, Dad said, "Search out the needy, the lonely, the lost & the helpless & the homeless, the lowest of the low & those that nobody else wants—& give them Jesus—just like you did when you first started!"

Dad went on to explain, "We're going to have to love the unlovely! That's what Jesus did! He went down amongst the drunks & the harlots, the publicans & sinners, on the highways & byways, & compelled them to come in! (Luk.14:23.) And that's what He's told us to do.

"That was another thing that was in the message the Lord gave me: `Help the helpless who don't care who you are!' (Weeps) Praise the Lord! Thank You Jesus! Hallelujah! How about that? A ministry to people who don't care who we are & are just so thankful for our help! I think the Lord is certainly going to use us with the forsaken & the homeless & the unemployed & the poor that nobody else wants, that most of the churches are not seeking out or caring for, just like we did before with the hippies." (ML#2755:29,30.)

3. Do what you can to begin with. Sometimes we hesitate to get involved in a Consider the Poor ministry because we don't feel capable or prepared, or we think we don't have enough time or personnel. But you can at least do something to minister to the disadvantaged. You don't have to wait until you can manage a huge operation that can feed hundreds of homeless people. You don't have to wait until you have some super deluxe show troupe or until you open a big outreach centre in the part of town where all the drug addicts hang out. If you wait until you have something huge, you will likely never get started.

Just do what you can. Even if a few YAs & teens begin ministering at one centre for juvenile delinquents, or you begin regularly visiting one hospital or one senior citizens' home or one prison, or you just start making regular trips to witness to & feed the homeless teens & drug addicts on the strip, at least start doing what you can. If you just get out there & get started, the Lord will bless it & open more doors & provide what you need so that your Consider the Poor ministry will grow.

Here's an example from the Home of Jay, Rose, Jonathan & Amor in North America, who have developed a wonderful Consider the Poor ministry that is small, but still very effective:

"We've begun a programme, which we originally called `Food for Families', but which we've now named our `Food Hotline', as we got an 800 (toll-free) number for it. (The 800 number goes `piggyback' on our existing phone line & it is only $15 a month, plus 17 cents a minute for incoming calls.)

"We distribute some of the food we receive in provisioning to lower-income families each week. We now are giving three bags of fresh fruits & vegetables, bread, etc., to 17 families each week. We also give them a DF each week & a Poster. We are witnessing to them & have led several entire families to the Lord.

"We've started having the families fill out a form, detailing their situations. This is helpful for our records, proving our `good works', plus it helps us to minister to the people better, as it includes the size of their families, their needs & interests, etc.

"Having this programme gives visible authentication to the good we are doing, as it's something that people can easily understand & want to support. We feel it could blossom, & we're going to try to garner financial support for this programme & possible help from the local food bank in the way of free or inexpensive staples.

"The Lord has been blessing it, as each week our provisions from the local market have been bigger & bigger, & also we've opened a contact with the local rescue mission, which helps us with other staples in trade for some of our fresh fruit & vegetable surplus. Thank You Jesus!"

4. Document your Consider the Poor work. In order to use your Consider the Poor work as an appeal project in your fund raising, you'll need to document it as much as possible, with photos, letters of recommendation, videos, etc. Again, you might start out rather humbly & you might think it's not so impressive, but your willingness to do what you can will impress potential givers & will be a good testimony. Little is much if God is in it!

A tip about your documentation of your Consider the Poor work: It's important to keep your photos updated & fairly current. It's not recommended that you do one presentation or visit somewhere, take pictures, & then use only those pictures for a long time. It's much better to keep adding to your photo album as you pioneer new Consider the Poor activities or progress in your present one(s). Otherwise it would be a little false or hypocritical if you were to say, "We do such-&-such," if you haven't really been doing that, at least not recently. Such an approach is not only dishonest, but it would be quite disheartening for our own young people. Of course, you can still use older photos, you don't have to get rid of them, but it's better to say, "We did such-&-such last year, but this year we're involved in such-&-such...."

If you have the time, talent, equipment & personnel available, you may find it helpful to make a short promotional video of your Consider the Poor ministry to show potential donors. One Area has had good success after having made two promotional videos of not more than 10 minutes each—one of their Consider the Poor ministries & another of their singing group. (For more on the usefulness of a promotional video, see the testimony by Francis Peruvian on page 23 of this FSM.)

5. You can investigate the possibility of financial remuneration for your Consider the Poor work, but remember that some Consider the Poor ministries will be your offerings to the Lord. Mama made it clear in ML#s 2929 & 2930 that we should be willing to ask the sponsors or organizers of the benefits & fund raisers where we perform to help support us financially. But on the other hand, in "A Dream about Finances" (ML#2937) Dad & Mama were discussing how in some cases our work in Consider the Poor ministries may be our offerings to the Lord.

So you'll just have to judge each situation on its own merits. In some instances, you may be given a gift of support for your work or you may be able to take up an offering to help cover your expenses. Whereas in other instances, you will need to be willing to serve the people & give of your time, energy & personnel without expecting immediate financial returns. "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; & that which he hath given will He pay him again. He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack!" (Pro.19:17; 28:27.)

6. Don't spread yourselves too thin. There is the possibility that once you get going in your Consider the Poor ministry & people start hearing about you & all you have to offer, you will be swamped with opportunities to minister to people in need, put on shows, visit various institutions, etc. The natural tendency is to feel you have to accept every invitation & go through every single door that opens, but please try to not spread yourselves too thin or get so busy that you can't fully commit yourself to anything or invest the time needed to bear lasting fruit. It's better to do a few things well than to try to do so many things & go through every door, so that you end up running yourself ragged & are not able to do a good job.

If several doors are opening or there are many different Consider the Poor ministries that you could possibly get involved with, it would be good to pray & ask the Lord to speak to you in prophecy about what ministry He wants you to devote your time to. Also ask Him for confirmations along the way, so you can be sure you're spending your very valuable time where it's most needed & will be the most fruitful.

7. Be willing to make a commitment & shtick. Once you have heard from the Lord & are sure you are investing your time & attention where He wants you to, you'll need to be willing to make a commitment to that Consider the Poor ministry & invest the necessary time & effort to establish a solid, lasting work.

If you solicit donations to help support your Consider the Poor ministry, people are going to expect to see consistency, faithfulness, regularity & stability. People want to invest money in something that's going to last & yield long-term results. That means you'll need to be willing to stick around in a city long enough to finish the job, or at least get it far enough along so that someone else can take it over.

It takes time & commitment & sticktoitiveness to bring forth fruit. As Mama recently said: "Some of our most fruitful Homes have been those whose members have `shtuck' in the same place & have slowly & methodically cultivated a solid & fruitful work. They have faithfully ministered to new converts, day after day, week after week, month after month, who have eventually become close friends & supporters. They've built good relations with the neighbours & the local community by gaining the reputation for being there when needed, volunteering to help, & not being a `fly by night' organization—`now you see them, now you don't!' They don't expect everything to happen overnight & they keep faithfully plugging along day after day." (ML#2939:27.)

8. In some cases, you can combine your road trips with Consider the Poor work in outlying areas. Take the following report from Thailand, for example:

"We recently sent out six SWIFT teams for two weeks to different destinations in provincial Thailand. Each team was made up of one adult, one YA & four teens. Each team had specific goals set for Video, Tape & Poster distribution, & of course the goal for people won to the Lord was limitless! They were also going to follow-up on different Consider the Poor opportunities. They all left very excited & with great anticipation of the two weeks ahead of them, & it was thrilling to see how the Lord blessed & opened doors beyond their expectations.

"The Lord supplied free accommodations for each of the six teams for the entire duration of their road trips. They were also able to provision all of their food, & almost every team reached their goals! The Lord opened the door for numerous Consider the Poor programmes. Teen Isaac (who is deaf) went on a team, along with others who know sign language, to a city where there is a large school for the deaf. They spent several days ministering to the deaf at the school & also spent some time sharing tips with the instructors on how to teach deaf students. After receiving the school's needs list, they provisioned sheets, clothing & shoes for the school, which touched the hearts of both the students & the management.

"Other Consider the Poor programmes these road teams participated in included teaching English at a girls' training school; singing for & donating a set of sponsored Videos to a boarding school that houses 600 children; & visiting a village where they care for 1500 children from broken homes who are very desperate & in need of love & encouragement. They also visited several senior citizens' homes & hospitals. They visited schools, orphanages, technical colleges, etc., where they gave seminars &/or taught the teachers how to use our Kiddie Viddies & Treasure Attic Videos, using the Kiddie Viddie & Treasure Attic curriculum. Praise the Lord!"

Our Family's Obedience to Dad's Commission to Consider the Poor!

Dad said, "We should continue to reach whoever we can, but I think we're going to have our greatest ministry again amongst the lowliest & the most despised & the ones who need the most help, like the hippies in our early days. That's the type of people the Lord has always used us with the most. The Lord says, `Blessed are the poor in spirit!'—Mat.5:3. And He said He satisfied the hungry, but that He sent the full away (Luk.1:53). You can be hungry in spirit, & yet be rich in material things.... People in need! Sometimes the rich are the most neglected of all. We're to minister to whoever the Lord leads us to & brings to us, but there are going to be a lot more poor than there used to be. But we should go to anyone who needs us & will receive us—as well as not neglect to follow-up on those who already have! Don't try to force the doors open, but pray & ask the Lord to lead you to whomever He wants you to minister to!" (ML#2755:40,43,41.)

Below are some of the many wonderful ways our Family worldwide has fulfilled this commission over the last few years! Praise the Lord!

- Performing for, counselling & giving Bible classes to young offenders at homes for juvenile delinquents

- Helping to organize juvenile detention centres & camps for young delinquents, & witnessing to, encouraging & counselling the staff

- Performing, doing puppet shows & personal witnessing at hospitals, orphanages, homes for the elderly, institutions for the blind, daycare centres for underprivileged children, homes for abused children, institutes for homeless children, poor elementary schools in rural areas, & feed-the-poor projects

- Collecting & donating food & supplies to the institutions listed above

- Ministering at rehabilitation agencies & for the wives of police who help run them

- Teaching at schools, institutes & clubs for the deaf

- Helping with parenting & baby care for deaf families

- Leadership training & job placement for the deaf

- Visiting prostitution rehabilitation centres & homes

- Visiting mental hospitals, ministering to the staff & patients

- Ministering at a day school & institutions for Down's syndrome children

- Ministering at homes for abandoned babies or abandoned handicapped children

- Prison ministries, ministering to different wards such as those involved in drug abuse, children of imprisoned mothers, juvenile delinquents, the women's & men's wards

- Ministering at an industrial rehabilitation centre, helping those who have been injured on the job

- Ministering at a home for beggars

- Ministering at a centre for the children of lepers

- Visiting homes for the children of hill tribes & other minority ethnic groups

- Teaching at Buddhist temple schools

- Ministering at a hospital for autistic children

- Ministering at schools for physically or mentally handicapped children

- Working with the Red Cross relief division on various projects

- Visiting & working at Karen, Bosnian & other refugee camps

- Working with the Children's Aid Society for Abused Children

- Conducting anti-narcotic programmes in a wide variety of schools

- Helping at vocational training centres for the mentally handicapped

- Giving prenatal classes to needy expectant mothers

- Donating sponsored Videos & Tapes to orphanages, schools, daycare nursery centres, & other institutions

- Feeding the homeless & working to man soup kitchens

- Working with homeless youth

- Providing rehabilitative help & counsel to child prostitutes in some Eastern countries

- Working at drug rehabilitation centres & crisis houses for teenagers

- Giving away food & clothing to the poor & underprivileged, through homeless shelters, the Salvation Army, various missions, etc.

- Performing at shelters for battered women, & donating food & manual labour to the shelters

- Distributing food, volunteering at shelters, ministering to the needy & volunteering for relief efforts during natural disasters, such as: Hurricane Andrew, floods in the Midwest of the United States, the Los Angeles earthquake, Hurricane Iniki, the earthquake in Colombia, floods & mud slides in Chile, Peru & Ecuador, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, relief efforts in conjunction with the Red Cross in assisting the victims of several natural disasters in South East Asia & at the earthquake at Latur, India.

- Helping at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings

- Teaching poor children in the inner-cities

- Helping at a dermatology street clinic for the poor

- Ministering to the native Indians on a reservation

- Teaching Bible classes at missions

- Performing at public housing projects for police-sponsored activities

- Visiting churches & donating food, clothing & shoes to church schools

- Ministering at a jail for minors with shows & skits, classes & open forums & personal witnessing

- Doing teen shows, skits & having open forum discussions at YMCA youth centres

- Ministering to directors & interns of a government-sponsored home for delinquent or abandoned girls, or girls who were taken from their parents because of abuse or other serious problems

- Holding seminars for young alcoholics & drug addicts. Donating provisioned goods to their institution

Fulltime Fund Raisers—A New Ministry!

Some Areas are presently pioneering a new fund-raising ministry, in which specialized fund-raising teams are experimenting with different methods of raising support, such as seeking out those who would be willing to sponsor large numbers of tools, asking for large donations for specific projects, following up on referrals, & seeking out very wealthy people who have the capability to give in a big way.

As was explained in the first two parts of this FSM series, the Lord has indicated that one of the keys to solving our financial problems is to have more witnessing by more people. The idea of having specialized teams whose main job & calling & burden would be fund raising does not negate the idea that everyone should be witnessing & helping to raise support. But we're sure you will agree that some people are especially gifted by the Lord with faith for finances & a burden to approach & win people & inspire them with the vision to support the Lord's Work.

Fund Raising!—Is This Your Calling?

Stevie in Japan, in response to Mama's Letter "Ask & It Shall Be Given!" (ML#2893), shared the following reaction: "Maybe we could use some career fund raisers in the Family—people who see fund raising as their primary calling, the special or unique gift or contribution that they can add toward the success of the Family. `Fund raiser' might even be a good title for such people to have on their name card, since fund raisers are fairly common in comparable System organizations. Having it right on your name card would help break the ice, bring the subject right out in the open, & could be a springboard to make a simple pitch for support to nearly everyone you meet.

"If we moved fund raising into more of the status of an actual ministry or calling, it might result in more lasting financial gains. The people involved in this ministry could be seen as career supporters within the Family, whose top priority would be to generate much-needed support, to find donors, both small & great—people to make monthly pledges, people to give large one-time gifts, people to purchase large quantities of tools or finance Consider the Poor ministries, etc.

"There may even be occasions where fund raisers who are particularly talented with following up on kings and supporters and inspiring them to give, are invited by other Homes to visit their contacts as well. For example, if a Home has some contacts whom they feel could benefit from a shot-in-the-arm by a `visiting evangelist', so to speak, they could ask another Home who has a talented fund-raising team, if their fund-raising team might be able to make a visit to their contacts. The receiving Home could cover the costs of the visit or whatever arrangement the two Homes, and the fund-raising team, agree on. The fund- raising team could either hold inspirational fund-raising meetings with all or some of the receiving Home's contacts, if the Home wants them to, or they could make individual visits. Either way, they have the advantage of coming in fresh to specifically challenge old and new friends to give more, do more, sacrifice more, etc. Talks like this may be harder for the brethren that are regularly feeding the contacts to deliver, because they know the contacts so well and are somewhat familiar with them. They also know all the woes and financial difficulties the contacts always talk about and how much they've already helped in so many ways over the years, etc.

"Not that all of this shouldn't be taken into account when asking for support; it should, and the visiting fund-raising team should be careful not to offend any of the Home's supporters by pushing beyond prayerful limits. But sometimes knowing someone so well does more than give you the background on a person, it can get you to feel so sorry for them that you're reluctant to even ask. Sometimes such feelings may even stop you from asking altogether. At the least it can hinder you, so that when you do ask, you immediately pull back at the first sign of them not jumping at the chance to give, and then you excuse them profusely by reassuring them that they've been a big help already, they've done so much in the past, etc.

"Although the `pastor' type of person who is faithfully following up on and ministering to certain contacts for a long time and developing a real link with them is very important, the `evangelist' type of fund raiser who is not so involved with that Home's contacts could also play a role in convicting or inspiring the contacts to give more. In my nine years in the Family, and most of that spent on witnessing and follow-up related ministries, I've met only a handful of contacts who it seemed were giving to the limit of what they could be. But if a Home were to invite someone from another Home to come along and sweetly challenge their contacts about their responsibility to support, it may help them to see ways they could be doing more. We could present giving to our contacts as a calling, an actual very important ministry where they could give their life to preach the Gospel by donating their time to earning money for God's Work.

"Our friends do a lot of giving now, but there are not that many who are actually giving as much as they can & living almost frugally for God's Work sake. If we challenge them like that & show them that they could more or less practise the same level of commitment to the Lord outside the Family, by giving everything they can to the Lord, I think there would be some that would respond.

"I've often wondered what type of ministries our older Family Members would be getting into. We're all hoping & expecting the Lord to come back very soon, but in the meantime, we have lots of folks closing in on 50, & I've often thought about their role in the Family's immediate future. We have our home-grown youth who are instrumental in reaching the new generation of young people, as well as being up-and-coming Shepherds for the ever-growing youth population in the Family. And there is always the need for `coaches' for these new young leaders, but not all `senior' Family Members will necessarily fall into the category of `coach'.

"It makes me wonder if we did establish a new fund-raising role within the Family, if these jobs might best be filled by some of our aggressive `seniors' who could say to potential supporters: `Look, I so much believe in this Family & the witnessing we are doing that I made it my life's calling. I've spent all my energy on this mission field, & now that I'm getting older I've decided to continue to dedicate myself to this cause, this time by turning around & raising support for the younger missionaries, so they can go further & accomplish even more than we did when we began this work 25 years ago!' This might be an interesting presentation."

Tips from Family Fund Raisers!

Below are some tips from some of the teams who are pioneering this new fund- raising ministry.

From Franz & Lily, Europe

Make a personal visit: Even though it takes more time, we found it is fruitful to go personally; this way we often get through to top people or even the general managers of companies. If not, we at least have a good talk with the secretary, who often gives us tips on how to reach the boss, his name & direct telephone number.

When calling the companies back, since we have gone there personally we usually easily get through the secretary to the boss, & mentioning to the boss that we have visited & spoken to certain people makes a very good conversation starter.

Brochure & appeal letter: We leave our brochure & appeal letter with company managers, as a lot of them offer to introduce our Work & need to some of their colleagues.

Presentation tips: We have found that it's important to not have too many different addresses on your various presentation materials. Try to have the same address at least on your brochure, name card & bank account.

In this country it's very difficult to open a bank account under the name of an association like "The Family—Such-&-such Branch", so we have accounts in our personal names. But we have found it helps to at least put "The Family" under our name on the bank transfer slips, which people accept without question. (Note: Some European countries have "bank transfer slips" which you print your account number, name & address on, & which you can give or mail to potential donors for them to simply sign & fill in with their account number & thereby transfer donations from their account to yours.)

Witnessing is the key: Even though all our presentation material is important, we are finding that witnessing is the most important thing!—Our personal testimonies, lifting up Jesus, talking about the Endtime, etc., is what makes us different from so many others.

Follow-up every lead: We are also learning to follow-up every hot lead or opening, & not think, "Oh, this is just another name card a secretary gave us," because you never know what the Lord will do through just one person!

Follow-up on promises: We meet people regularly who ask for a bank transfer slip & promise to help with a donation. In most cases we have to really "go after them", as they forget about their promise quite easily, especially when you approach them during office hours when they're busy. Many ask us to call them back in a month. We found out it's best to call them again after a week or so, reminding them of our visit & what they were going to do, & asking sweetly if they have considered helping.

Once somebody has promised or shown an interest in helping, it really pays to stay on their trail.—Of course we need to be prayerful & polite, as we don't want to offend them, but we have found that we have to be persistent, as people test you on how serious & desperate you are about the matter, & if you don't show "importunity" they easily put you aside.

Prayer, the Word & perseverance! It's been vital to take time to pray over each person's spiritual need, & faithfully send them the follow-up lit they need. Getting people interested in the Word is the key. We're constantly looking for ways to get them hooked on the Word.

We've found that when meeting someone who is potential & sheepy, it's best to follow-up on them quickly. We've missed the boat with a few people because we waited too long to contact them again. When we waited too long, the conviction of the Spirit in their hearts wore off, so that when we finally did get in touch with them, they weren't so warm or open any more.

Get out the tools as you go: When we are out fund raising, when we have time we do outreach between visits to companies, & thereby raise some funds as we go. This pays for our pioneering expenses & raises some needed cash daily for the Home, which is a blessing, since we're seeing that it takes time for our fund-raising efforts to start paying off.

Don't be discouraged! We find that we can't let ourselves get discouraged by the obstacles, or by the many people who turn us down. We have to keep forging ahead, knowing that the Lord is going to do it!

From Stevie, Japan

Time management: I'm learning a lot more about budgeting my time. I've been specifically scheduling two-thirds of my work hours each day for outreach, follow-up & fund raising. I have a lot of other business to do, but I am limiting what is not related to fund raising to only one-third of my daily work hours maximum. In practice this has worked well for me, better than trying to do only outreach on some days & only non-outreach business on other days, as appointments with potential donors come up almost every day. As a result, I still have ample time each day to take care of my other duties, & every single day some definite progress is made in the witnessing/fund-raising front too.

Well-organized follow-up material: Another very big victory is that we organized all of our lit resources! Now at a moment's notice we can easily find any lit, Statements, Tapes, Videos, brochures, etc. We want to faithfully put to use the tremendous tools we have, which literally cover every imaginable subject.

Customized photo album: I customized my PR album to show the Family, my personal involvement in the Family, my own little family, our lit, our ministries, how people can help, etc. This is becoming my "best friend" while out fund raising, my little witnessing companion that does a lot of the explaining & winning for me. (It's best to prepare such an album in both English & the local language, so it can be used in either language.)

Comments on YAs in Fund Raising

—By Maria Maria #245 DO 2962 6/94

(Some YAs have been involved in this pioneer fund-raising ministry. They are the proof of the pudding that our Family works, & people are wonderfully impressed with our young people. Of course, the fund-raising ministry isn't for everyone, but some YAs have found it to be very challenging & exciting! Praise the Lord! On this subject, Mama commented:)

1. I think that some of our YAs could be some of the best fund raisers of all. They have the enthusiasm, the freshness, the life, the performance capabilities, the innocence, & the youth that will appeal to people who want to make their money count.

2. Older people are very reluctant to disappoint young people who ask them for help. They know that society has failed with most of their young people, because if they aren't in trouble—on drugs, into crime, vandalism, gangs, etc.—they're usually living for themselves, very selfish, shallow & foolish lives. Therefore, people are quite pleasantly surprised to see young people who are helping others & trying to change the World for the better. They may not so much like the idea of their being missionaries, but the fact that they are trying to do something worthwhile is very heartwarming. It's very encouraging for people to see that not all young people are problem cases, & they haven't all gone to the dogs, so to speak. And I think if people would see that our YAs are not only trying to raise funds for themselves & their own missionary work, but also for the entire Family, their younger brothers & sisters & their moms & dads & their whole mission field, this would seem quite amazing to them.

3. After all, our YAs have a right to raise funds for the Family if that is the ministry they've chosen. They are of age. They are adults, & they can be engaged in any job they wish. By the age of 18 you're supposed to have made up your mind what you want to do with your life; & if this is the ministry they've chosen, not only to be missionaries but to do missionary fund raising, this should touch some folks quite deeply.

4. Of course, we usually have the problem that we aren't registered & we don't have tax deduction numbers, but the Lord can take care of that, & I'm sure we can work around it. If people are sold enough on our kids, they will give in spite of our not being registered.

5. All our folks worldwide should be trying to get letters from their friends which would be good references for our YAs. In other words, they should have professionals & academics write letters of recommendation: "To whom it may concern: We recommend the young people of The Family to you. These are some of the finest teens we have ever met. They are dedicating their lives to helping others. The Family is engaged in missionary work worldwide, working to try to help others both physically & spiritually; & they are worth helping financially, so that they can continue their work," etc., etc.

6. You YAs could make appointments with the wealthy, & two or three of you could go to visit these people, armed with a PR brochure, a guitar, photos, referrals or reference letters, stats on the terrible state of teens at large nowadays, etc. You could practise in advance some songs that would appeal to the person you are going to see, according to his particular interests. You could offer to pray for him & whatever his problems happen to be. You could go in actually wanting to witness & to minister.—Not only asking for help, but asking what you can do to help the person you're witnessing to.

7. Another very powerful presentation would be for individual YAs & teens to give your own appeal for support. You could prepare individual appeal letters with your picture & an explanation of what you do & how the person you're witnessing to could be of help. Or you could do the same on video, by having little video spots where some of the YAs & teens in your Home or Area explain their work & request help.

8. A sample explanation & appeal could be something like the following: "My name is So-&-so. I'm working in Thailand with a team of other young people. We are making regular trips to see the Karen tribes, who have been displaced from Burma & who are now located on the Thai border. These people are extremely needy & in a desperate situation. We gathered supplies & distributed them among these people. We drove 12 hours to reach them & gave classes to the young people & children who were so hungry for our help & fellowship that they begged us with tears in their eyes not to leave. These people desperately need our help, but in order to visit them more frequently, we need two vans & camping equipment. We also need two electric guitars with sound equipment to be able to sing to the hundreds of folks who gather when we are there. We also need finances to help cover our personal expenses."

9. Here's another example of what somebody else could say: "I live in Recife, Brazil, with other missionary co-workers. We are ministering to the dear Brazilian people who are very eager for & in need of God's peace & Love. There is a terrible problem here in Recife, in fact, in all of Brazil, with thousands of street children roaming the streets. They have no homes, nowhere to go. Here, we are finding that these kids can be given the opportunity to have secure & productive lives through coming to know God & His Love. We need financial help to be able to continue to try to help these lost kids. Our missionaries do not receive a salary, so they depend on donations from people like you to cover their personal living expenses so they can devote their time to helping others."

10. You young people could write or talk about your ministry, whatever it is, & what you are doing to help change the World. You could tell some of the testimonies of the people you have helped & what those folks have said to you. It would be quite powerful.

11. Even you YAs who work right in the Homes as a kitchen overseer or in charge of a childcare group could have some tremendous testimonies. You could say something like: "At our missionary base I am in charge of caring for the 4- & 5-year-olds. I have learned that it takes great dedication, but I have found that putting my heart into moulding little lives & giving them a good foundation for the future is worth it. My missionary co-workers & I are helping to make the World a better place by putting everything we can into our little ones, to train them for the future when they can be a help to others & be role models for the World." These testimonies could be very interesting. You could bring out some of the contrasts of children in the World, so many of whom are left in dubious daycare most of their young years, or abandoned etc., & how they grow up to be a detriment to society.

12. Another teen or YA could give a testimony about being a kitchen overseer in a missionary base of 35 people, & some of the difficulties & also funny things that happen. You could explain how this training is invaluable in our ministries of disaster relief & organization of refugees, because "with the training I've had I can be ready to assist as a humanitarian worker at any time. I also feel very challenged as I know I am helping to make it possible for my missionary co-workers to operate efficiently & effectively. As the old saying goes, `An army runs on its stomach!'" etc., etc.

13. If you wanted to, you could even include little personal stats or information about yourself, such as how many countries you've lived in, how many languages you speak, how many brothers & sisters you have, what kind of jobs & skills you have, what musical instruments you play, if you sing & perform, what special project(s) you're interested in, what your specific goals are, etc.

(Following is a testimony from a WS worker in reaction to the above Letter:)

When praying about our YAs reaching the wealthy & asking for finances, I remembered that I did this shortly after I first got saved, before joining the Family. I was challenged by friends of mine who had joined "Campus Crusade for Christ", a group that works on college campuses in the U.S., to give my life to the Lord & begin serving Him & witnessing as much as I could where I was, there at college. They had a teaching programme during the Summer, which cost money both for travel & to pay for room & board & classes for one month. So to get the necessary training to begin to lead people to the Lord & feed them & organize Bible studies on my campus, etc., I needed to go there & learn some Bible & more about witnessing & organizing a campus outreach.

I had to raise my own money for this training programme, so I got the names of wealthy Christian businessmen & went to their offices. I was 19 at the time. I marched in without knowing them, & sat down & told them that I'd given my life to the Lord & wanted to do all I could to help others know Him, but I needed training, so I needed money to go to this Bible institute, for the classes & the travel (the institute was 3000 miles away from where I lived). I presented them with an exact amount that I needed, which was helpful. I went to about ten businessmen, company owners & bank presidents, & almost all of them gave me funds, some more than others. They would really look me in the eyes & size me up & see if I was sincere. It seemed that if they felt I really was, then I was worth the investment. Sad to say, I didn't follow-up on them, because I moved to another city, but I'm sure they would have continued supporting me, had I needed it.

So that's a testimony of how the Lord provided support for me, through people I'd never even met before!—When I was just 19 & completely inexperienced at fund raising. So how much more could He provide through our YAs who've had so much more experience in witnessing & are so on fire & such good samples. They could figure out their part of the monthly budget & make the rounds to businessmen, asking them to pledge a certain amount toward that much each month. "Support a Young Missionary!" Praise the Lord!

Fulltime Fund Raisers Can't Do It All!

While this new fund-raising ministry is very potential, these dear pioneer fund raisers couldn't possibly be expected to carry the full weight of the enormous financial needs of our Homes or Areas. It may take some time before they bear fruit in this ministry or begin to see the fruits of their labours. Also, they will need to try out different things to see what works & what doesn't. Sometimes they'll have to wait for appointments; & kings & supporters often have to be won & fed for a while before they start giving in a big way, which requires time as you minister to them & feed them.

The point is, while we do want to pioneer this new ministry & we believe that it will eventually be fruitful & worthwhile, this is not the one & only solution to our financial problems. We can't raise up a few fund raisers & think they'll take care of raising all the money we need! That is just not the way the Lord seems to be leading! Plus, it would be very stressful for the fund raisers to feel they were carrying the whole load of the finances!

From what the Lord has shown us when prayerfully examining the state of our Homes, through numerous Letters & through the prophecies He's given over the last few months, it's become very clear that He wants us all to be out witnessing, sowing spiritually, feeding people, & getting out the Message! And while we believe He will lead us to new kings & big givers through the efforts of fund-raising teams, we can't depend only on those fund raisers. We need to also be faithful & have a good balance of the other means of witnessing & fund raising that were discussed earlier in this FSM series: distributing tools, following up, gaining regular supporters (pledges), & engaging in Consider the Poor ministries.

In one Area, they have had several teams of fund raisers pioneering this new ministry for several months, with varying degrees of success. When they didn't reach their projected financial goal, one of the CROs wrote the fund-raising teams the following counsel:

"Well, things haven't exactly gone according to our plan. The Lord has supplied in many ways, & especially through provisioning, He has supplied thousands of dollars' worth of goods, which is certainly something to praise & thank the Lord for! However, we haven't yet received what we were hoping for in the way of cash donations.

"When praying more about this in some of our recent meetings, the Lord showed us that maybe He is seeing things a little differently than we do. Through the SWIFT vision, the Lord highlighted the need for many of our Homes & disciples to really get on the ball & get back out on the field actively serving the Lord & doing their part to get the Family going once again. But if we had a few fund raisers in every Area bringing in a whole lot of cash, although we could certainly use the cash, we all might not be as motivated to get out there & expect God to do miracles for each Home & each witnessing team. If the fund raisers were raising lots of money right off the bat, we might just depend on the fund raisers for the support & miss the whole witnessing revolution the Lord is leading us into!

"This is not to say that we don't need the fund-raising ministry anymore! On the contrary, I think we have definitely been on the right track by praying for & expecting the Lord to supply in a big way; & much of what has happened in these last months has been a lot of footwork—winning new kings, finding people who can help, & winning their favour & confidence. We are only just beginning to get our toes wet in this ocean of possibilities of fund raising. However, I think the Lord is going to bless us even more mightily once everyone (not just the fund raisers) gets out on the field, doing what we originally joined this Family to do, & that is to WITNESS! In fact, I feel the Lord is not going to bless us financially in a really big way until we all get back to witnessing like we should!

"I am so inspired with what the Lord is doing, not only in helping bring that fire, initiative & inspiration back into our Homes, but financially as well, in raising up new potential kings, supporters & contacts! So please don't be discouraged, even if it seems we've gotten off to a bit of a slow start! `The Lord works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform,' & often the Lord will trick us into thinking something will be a certain way, when it turns out being quite different, but exactly what He wanted! We are on the right track, so keep at it! Don't get discouraged but rather be encouraged at all the Lord is doing & is going to do! Praise the Lord!"

Have Patience, Endure Hardness, & Keep Fighting!

After reading this series of FSMs on finances & fund raising, & especially the exciting pubs regarding Dad's Homegoing & our commission to reach the World, we believe you will be rarin' to get out there & attack & obey & witness like never before! We know the Lord will honour your obedience & things will happen! He's going to do it! But if it doesn't happen as quickly as you think it should, as was brought out in the above message to some fund-raising teams—don't get discouraged! Keep fighting! Keep pressing in! Keep obeying & believing!—And the Lord will not fail you! He will come through for you! Praise the Lord!

On this subject, consider the following reaction from a CRO who has recently been involved in helping to pioneer a Spearhead Home in a major European city. He made these comments after having read the first two parts of this FSM series on finances & fund raising:

"I'm so thankful for this very thorough study on every aspect of raising finances, & how to also manage the time of everyone in the Home, so that they can spend a fair amount of time & effort witnessing. As I sit here in basically the role of a Home Shepherd, I am pricked to the heart about all that these FSMs bring out, in terms of practical tips on how to set things up to have a financially fruitful Home.

"I'm seeing that being a Home Shepherd is one of the most difficult jobs in the Family! There is certainly more to being a Home Shepherd & organizing a well-functioning Home than meets the eye. So far we have been tested on virtually every front. As much as we have been trying to raise funds, & as much as we've been promised by some of our most wealthy friends that they would help, we still have not received much. So we could really use your prayers.

"I suppose the Lord wants us to go back to the Word & tighten up in all aspects of what we've been taught in the Letters. And once we've done that & have set ourselves aright in obedience & faithfulness & diligence, I trust that He will then release the blessings that we at present desperately need.

"One thing that has come to me a lot recently is the lesson that Mama shared in `Endure Hardness' (ML#2786) about how we've been somewhat spoiled & used to getting results quite promptly. The Lord has really been good to us over the years, & now may be the time when healing or financial blessings might not be bestowed upon us quite as swiftly. I've been thinking about great men of faith like Mueller & many others who virtually invested their whole lives into building a work & shtuck with it until it bore fruit! So we can't give up or get tired of the fight. We have to keep going, working, praying, fighting & trusting the Lord to bring forth the desired results!" (End of comments from a CRO)

(Editor's note: Please see the testimony box on page 24, which is very encouraging along the lines of not giving up, because the victory is just around the corner!)

Don't Give Up!

Quotes from "Endure Hardness!" (ML#2786)

"We may have a lot of battles & a lot of problems, but in spite of them we get a lot of things done quickly! Things come a lot more easily to us in many ways than they do to the rest of the World because of our faith, & because the Lord has blessed us with many victories & quick results, since He knows there is so much to do & so few of us to do it.

"However, as we now come closer to the End & begin a new phase in the war, one that will be of much greater intensity & vehemence & ferocity, with all the forces of Hell throwing everything they have into their efforts to defeat us, we are going to have to learn more patience. We are going to have to learn how to endure! We are going to have to get used to fighting more long-term battles. We are going to have to learn what it means to really hold on, not just for one day or one week or one month, but perhaps for many months at a time. We are going to have to learn to truly cling to God's Word & `endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ!'—2Tim.2:3.

"Comparatively speaking, most of us have not had to learn such heavy lessons of patience & endurance. We have learned many other lessons, but now may be the time that the Lord wants us to work on these new ones. `For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the Will of God, ye might receive the promise. In your patience possess ye your souls.'—Heb.10:36; Luke 21:19.

"The Lord tells us, `Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, & have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, & of tender mercy.'—Jam.5:11. `We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; & patience, experience; & experience, hope.'—Rom.5:3,4.

"Keep going even when absolutely everything seems to have turned against you, just believing that Truth will triumph in the end, & Jesus will be victorious." (ML#2786:13,14,16,17,20.)

More Fund-Raising Tips

From Tim, Pacific:

Crystal & I recently met J., the top fund-raising director for the local branch of a large international Christian fund-raising association. Just last year, in their "30-hour fast for the homeless", they raised about four million dollars, which went to help numerous relief efforts. The day we went in for the appointment, that morning J. had raised about $500,000!

The purpose of our appointment was to ask J. for any advice or tips on fund raising. To begin with, J. gave me the whole "registration sermon" & how legal it makes one seem & the credibility it gives to the fund-raising group. I explained the different reasons why we did not register here & the various curtailments that either of the available registration categories would put upon us regarding our varied outreach methods, which he understood. I asked him to step out of his "registration shoes" for a moment &—from a professional point of view—offer us advice on how to work within the situation that we are in.

Among the ideas he gave, besides confirming what the Lord has already shown us to do through the "Go to the Churches" ministry, he said that if we could get various celebrities or well-known politicians &/or doctors to endorse our Work, then others too would want to help more, even if they didn't get tax cuts for it. He explained that many churches & church-goers here really like giving to groups like us as they give to the Lord & not so much to the group or individual. He suggested different churches we could go to.

He also showed us the different plaques, thank-you cards & small token gifts that their office gives regularly to their donors. He also explained about the bi-annual public appreciation & recognition meetings that they hold to honour their donors. This particular point caught my attention. I think it would really inspire & encourage our donors if we were to do this here. It's like "honouring the king".

If we were to take care of our regular donors with a monthly newsletter & thank-you plaques on a special occasion, as well as a public presentation at our new youth outreach club downtown, I believe it would really touch their hearts & bring them in closer. We could invite our friends & supporters to come to a presentation & award-giving ceremony in honour of the people who have regularly supported the Work here. We could extend our gratitude for their investment, serve refreshments, have music & a children's performance, give a newsy update of our Work & any new developments or outreach projects we're working on.

When we asked J. for any help that he could give us to set up our new youth outreach club, he gladly offered to check with many manufacturers that contribute their goods to his organization & see what they could give to help us get on our way. He was very inspired about the work that we are doing, & impressed with the project with the Child (Anti-)Prostitution Institute that our teens have been invited to work in. We also agreed to cooperate on some of their projects to help runaway youth in the city, which he was thankful for.

As a confirmation about going to the churches for support, we recently called one of our bigger supporters, a very sweet Presbyterian pastor, about the possibility of helping us with a large donation towards the setting up of our new outreach club. He offered to drum up about $3,000 for this request, & at the same time asked if we could please help him with an inspiration-type performance for his congregation & the neighbourhood. He said we could present ourselves more clearly than he could, as well as preach & do whatever we felt led! We did, & our teens & OCs were very well received. This also opened the door for performances in another institution as well! Praise the Lord!

Perseverance in Witnessing Brings Results!

From Francis Peruvian, Thailand:

We were very much in need of a good P.A. system for our singing troupe, & so we went to see the owner of a company that is the sole importer for the top-quality equipment we hoped to get. At our first meeting, we showed him some shots of our Consider the Poor programmes to help give him the vision for helping. He really liked it, & said he thought we were doing a wonderful work. After presenting our need for a P.A. system, he right away asked his assistant to calculate the cost of everything we were asking for, which came to $14,000! After studying this large amount, he said that he wanted to give us a very special discount, as he said he couldn't give it to us for free. After a few further calculations he said he would give us everything for half price! That was very sweet & was quite a big discount!

We thanked him for his help, & then continued witnessing & talking to him. We also then had an opportunity to show him our promotional video. He watched this intently & was very touched by it. After watching the video I mentioned again how thankful we were for the very generous & large discount he was offering us, though I added that as we didn't have any money for this, we would have to try to get it from somewhere before we could take advantage of his offer.

He said, "Okay, you can take the equipment tomorrow, & as soon as you're able to, you can pay for it in instalments, whenever you have the money to do so. You can pay in eight, nine or ten months' time, it doesn't matter—just whenever you have money. But at least for now you'll have the equipment & can start using it right away."

It seemed like the Lord was really speaking to his heart to help us, & although he wanted to give it to us for free, he explained that he couldn't really do so as his business was a family business, & he wouldn't be able to explain to his family why he was giving all this expensive equipment away for free. Again, we thanked him profusely.

We continued witnessing to him, & as the conviction in his heart grew, he said, "Why don't you give me a copy of your video & a copy of your singing group's shows, & I'm going to go & see my friends & show them these & I'll raise the funds for you. I'll show it to people who want to donate money to a good cause. And if I raise more money than what the equipment costs, I'll give that money to you too!" God bless him! What a precious man, & what a miracle of His supply!

From a Home in the Czech Republic:

During a prayer meeting on our prayer day for finances, Stephen received a long-distance phone call from two elderly ladies in the U.S. He had never met these ladies before. One of them, who is 94 years old, had been an evangelist and pastor, and the other woman is also a dedicated Christian. They had gotten our phone number from Stephen's father, who had gone to visit these ladies, which is unusual because Stephen's father has never been very religious.

The most amazing thing is that they phoned us to give us a message from the Lord. They said: "We heard from your father about the work you are doing. At times you might think that it's like trying to sweep the World with a feather, but don't get discouraged, because the victory is just around the corner. Keep going for God with the wonderful work you are doing."

The moment the phone rang we were in prayer getting ready to hear from the Lord. It was like the voice of the Lord! They went on to say they will be supporting us in prayer and in any other way they can. Thank You Jesus!

Copyright 1996 The Family