Investing for Eternity: How to invest for Eternity. Whether it is 100 million, 10 million, 1 million, 100,000, 10,000 or 1,000 or less…principles all remain the same. Just more time and work to evaluate a ministry as to their mission, vision and outreach to the world of “least reached” and “unreached people groups”.
Author Alan Gotthardt has a simple but comprehensive approach to maximize yields!
Author Alan Gotthardt’s approach is similar to how a prudent stock market investor would analyze their investments. His approach is to use these same principles and apply them to an analysis of a potential investment in a Christian mission organization.
As investors, we spend a lot of time analyzing our stock and mutual fund investments or pay someone to do it for earthly rewards. I challenge you to spend a small fraction of that time reading this post and doing some research, meditating and praying on it and asking the Holy Spirit to direct your steps. And this is for eternal rewards!
We may already have a list of our prior giving to faith based organizations. As we read further, other organizations may and will come to our minds. As with our investments, it is prudent to limit them to a list of maybe 10 or so, which makes it easier to monitor on a regular basis, just like when we invest and follow our favorite stocks.
Business person…come across this post by “accident”?
Read on. Principals are somewhat the same for a “business” decision.
Whenever we sense the Holy Spirit leading us in a new direction, it’s always good to stop and pray and ask, “What are you calling us to do?”
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph. 2:10I
Why am I emphasizing “unreached people groups?
My last 20 years as an alumni of Perspectives has increased my passion for world missions!
Perspectives On The World Christian Movement. By Ralph D. Winter Especially the last 4 sections on The Strategic Perspective.
Also, this investing is over and above your regular tithes and offerings to your local church.
Most Christian churches support missions, but not necessarily investing for eternity in the spread of God’s kingdom in the 10-40 window where most of the unreached people are! In a nutshell, of all Christian giving to Christian causes, 86.5% goes to “More Reached People Groups”, 11.7% to some access to Gospel, and only 1.8% goes to “Unreached People Groups!
When we understand “Why” we should invest in outreach to “unreached people groups”, the “How” becomes easy.
Alan Gotthardt has a chapter in his book entitled, “The Seven Golden Keys to Investing for Eternity.
One of the keys he calls The Combustion Principle, where we might “look for ministry opportunities where one little spark can lead to an explosion of results. Think of starting a massive avalanche with one little rock. You must, however, push the rock from a strategic high place where exactly the right conditions exist to create a disproportionately large result. Your Eternity Portfolio investment is the little rock.” He goes on to say, “looking for combustion opportunities is like looking for investment opportunities early in their life cycle. It is at that point that, if correctly identified, the opportunity will generate the highest long-term return with the smallest initial investment.” He further states, “The combustion principle means that you look for investments that result in exponential (as opposed to incremental) growth) for the kingdom of God. One example would be a church-planting movement that is sweeping across a continent or country.” Further on he states, “Focus on opportunities that have the potential to explode for the kingdom.”
Shark Tank: They also are looking for “investments” that will explode and give them out of this world returns!
We also are looking for investment returns out of this world!
“Look for fields that are “white for harvest” (John 4:35
If your local church has a vision to plant a new church…go with it. Make that a priority! There are “Unreached” and “Undereached People” in our areas also.
Thinking of the parables of the “Talents”…I would like to hear from the Lord when I see him face to face, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
The rest of this post is from The Eternity Portfolio: A practical guide to investing your money for ultimate results.
The Due Diligence Checklist in my BLOG POST is from Alan Gotthardt’s book: The Eternity Portfolio Illuminated: A practical guide to investing your money for ultimate results. By Alan Gotthardt
A prior post of mine in another BLOG of mine from a several years ago
Permission given to use by author Alan Gotthardt
Met with him in Atlanta in 2013
This book specifically addresses how to be a good steward and using God’s money wisely in a non profit Christian ministry.
These principles apply to making substantial investments in an organization, whether it is in the 100’s, thousand’s or millions of dollars!
Happy investing!
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