Updated 2/6/2016
Current support level: 67%
As any missionary can tell you, your pledges, budget, and support level are not the only way God provides. But since I’m human and cannot see the future, I must plan and prepare based on what I know. For each percentage, simply imagine your family living on that percentage of your current salary. You may be able to pay for housing, groceries and gas at 60%, but would that cover replacing your fuel pump? According to our calculations:
- 60% is our bare-bones, scrape-by budget number. This would mean a “rice and beans” type diet, no emergency fund or savings for any incidentals (car repairs or replacements, health problems, kids’ college) and no extras like eating out, going out on dates, gifts, etc. This would also necessitate signing up for any government assistance programs we qualify for.
- 70% is our penny-pinching budget. We think we could live on this long term, but larger unexpected expenses would still be an emergency, and it would include a lot of “spending time to save money”. At this level, we feel that we would be able to give the required 40 hours per week to our ministry responsibilities, but would not have the time or energy to give ourselves fully to the ministry or minister freely to our neighbors.
- 100% is what is calculated for a family of our size to live in Sanford. We would be able to save for retirement and emergencies, and would have the financial security to give ourselves freely to our ministry, and give of our finances as an act of worship to God.
Again, we have no idea what God will do with us once we’re in Sanford, and we are not worried that he won’t provide for everything we need. The above is simply our best guess as to what our lives will look like at various levels of support.