1. Financial Support for Indigenous Missions

Christian Aid sends financial help to over 750 evangelistic ministries based in lands of great poverty or where evangelical Christians are a persecuted minority. Priority is given to supporting those which work among unreached peoples where hitherto our Lord has had no people for His name. These missions:

• Are training 40,000 new workers in hundreds of Bible institutes.
• Send out native missionaries -- over 90,000 now on the field.
• Conduct evangelistic campaigns, broadcast on radio & TV, distribute literature.
• Plant new churches -- over 52,000 each year -- 1000 every week.

2. Assistance to Victims of Persecution, Diseases & Disasters

Indigenous ministries assisted by Christian Aid are located mainly in the poorest places on earth and are continually surrounded by human suffering which they cannot ignore. Christian Aid sends funds to help them:

• Care for homeless children -- an estimated ten million orphans face starvation in Africa alone, millions more in Asia.
• Provide for the blind, disabled, widows, infirm, handicapped and helpless.
• Rescue victims of persecution, wars, famines, epidemics, leprosy, slavery, prostitution and natural disasters such as fires, floods, drought, typhoons, tsunamis, cyclones and earthquakes.

3. Leading a Reformation in the Way Foreign Missionary Work is Done

Foreign missionary programs by Protestant churches evolved during the colonial era of the 19th century and became a cherished tradition during the 20th century. Those early pioneer missionaries and many that followed did much good, helping to establish the gospel in unreached lands.

While most political colonialism ended after World War II, missionary colonialism was greatly increased. Most denominations and many independent churches tended to follow the same old method of "going and sending," without realizing that they were causing great harm to Christian witness in many parts of the world.

Since 1953 Christian Aid has steadfastly carried on a ministry of missionary education, teaching American Christians that:

• There is no record in the New Testament of God sending any missionary where he did not know the language.
• God has raised up thousands of native missionaries in every country where Americans are allowed to go. They are ten times more effective in reaching their people than foreigners could ever be, at a fraction of the cost.
• Most American missionaries appear to be fabulously wealthy in poor countries. Their presence misrepresents our suffering Savior, and breeds covetousness among local believers.
• People in countries with anti-American sentiment can use the nationality of western missionaries to cast the gospel in an unfavorable light. Christianity can be framed as a foreign religion that should be rejected.
• Sending out Americans at a cost of $70,000 or more per family is a tragic misuse of God's money. If sent to an indigenous mission instead, that amount would provide full support for as many as 20-30 native missionaries who are already there. Any one of them is likely to be more fruitful for the cause of Christ than a dozen "rich foreigners."
• The strategy of empowering native believers is key to making significant headway in reaching the remaining unreached people groups in many nations. Consider the many positive advantages in empowering native believers over sending and sustaining a large-scale foreign missionary presence.