Pray. Give. Go.

“Pray. Give. Go.” It’s a phrase I’ve heard on a regular basis since childhood, particularly around Christmastime. For anyone who doesn’t know, it’s a call to action on the evangelism front. How can you help share God’s love with others? You can pray specific prayers in support of missions workers. You can donate money to organizations that support missions efforts. And of course, you can yourself go into the field.

Pray. Give. Go.

I would like to start by emphasizing the importance both of prayer and of prioritizing our finances. Prayer is a very potent thing, not only in shaping us when we pray it, but in actually accomplishing work in the world. It is more like a petition to a king than a magic spell – there is no guarantee it will be granted – but because it is a petition to a king who loves us, we are told that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power.”

Similarly, we are told that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be,” and I have certainly found this true in practice. There are days that I begrudgingly parcel out fifteen dollars for random supplies, and then there are days I go on sightseeing trips and spend a hundred dollars without thinking twice about it. Budget priorities are a litmus test for personal priorities. If I’m not willing to submit my finances to God, I’m not willing to submit to God; it’s as simple as that.

The Problem

All that said, I think this phrase can often be used as a convenient shield from our calling. Sometimes we start to divide out the Great Commission into convenient categories. There’s the ‘economy class,’ the low-cost option: just pray. Prayer is powerful – and also cheap! Then there’s ‘business class,’ for those who want to take it a step further; you can give a special missions offering, perhaps, or up your monthly contribution. And then, for the chosen few, there is the “first-class” option: actually going into foreign missions. Pray. Give. Go. Which one will you do?

There’s only one problem.

Jesus didn’t say “Pray. Give. Go.” He just said, “Go.”

It is high time we reworked our definition of missions and did away with the imaginary dividing line between senders and sent. We all fall into both categories; we are one body, with one master and one mission. No one gets to choose the low-cost option. This is the pearl of great price; it costs exactly everything you have.

The Mission

In the New Testament, we read about churches sending out Paul, with prayers and finances, to plant other churches. Then we read about these new churches sending Paul, with prayers and finances, back to the original churches to help them. There is no reserve in this army; there are no restricted line officers. We are all active-duty. We are all deployable. In a sense, we are all already deployed. As C. S. Lewis reminds us, the whole world is occupied territory – and the front line is found in every human soul. All of us must pray. All of us must give. And all of us must go.

I’m not saying we all need to go to Africa or the Amazon. Maybe we just need to go across the street, or across the hall, or even across the house. But we need a mindset shift; we need to realize that the responsibility of this commission rests on our shoulders. We don’t get to look at the papacy, or the mission board, or the government, and make it their problem, and go on about our day. This is our work, and it ought to dominate our lives.

The Cost

This is what Bonhoeffer called “the cost of discipleship.” When Christ says to sell everything and give the money to the poor, or to put your hand to the plow and not look back, or to take up your cross and follow him, this is what he means – that everything you have and are is fully devoted to his purpose for your life, whether that means serving where you are or going elsewhere.

When a company writes a budget, they don’t write out a purpose for ten percent of their money and spend the rest of it however they like as it comes up. As best they can, they allocate every cent to fulfill the company’s purpose. That is what we should mean when we say we are ‘budgeting our time.’ Our schedules – and our lives – should be arranged purposefully, with our focus on the upward calling of Christ Jesus.