We invest in what we think is important. When I was dating my now wife, I’d think nothing of getting her flowers, taking her out for dinner, or buying her jewellery. In fact, I still love spoiling her. She is important to me and she’s worth investing in. Maybe you invest in sports, or holidays, or a particular hobby. If it matters to you, you invest in it.

The same is true when it comes to the church. If you looked at your church’s budget, which I’m sure many of you are starting to do, what does it say about what your church thinks is important. The obvious one would be your pastor. For most churches their pastor would take up the bulk of their budget. But of course, as important as the pastor is as a person we look beyond that to what he does, the preaching of the word, the pastoral care of the congregation, and the leading of worship. That’s what we’re really investing in. But for many churches the next obvious one would be the building, either paying it off, or maintaining it, or renting one.

But I want to ask you: where does evangelism and reaching out to your local community with the gospel stack up against your budget? The truth is the vast majority of our budget is dedicated to serving and caring for those who are already followers of Jesus! If outreach is important to us the question is are we funding it? Are we investing in the spread of the gospel.

I came across this quote from C.S Lewis earlier this week. In Mere Christianity he writes, ‘This is the whole of Christianity. The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christ’s. If we are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. (p199)’ I don’t know if I’d put it as strongly as C.S Lewis, but the church certainly exists to draw people to Jesus, but is that what we’re investing in, is that what we’re funding?

The truth is most of us think evangelism is important, most of us want to reach out to the lost with the gospel. But while evangelism might be in the top five of our church’s priorities, it isn’t even in the top ten things we invest financially in. Jesus said, ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Mt 6:21)’ And the reverse is true as well, if our hearts are truly for the lost, then we need to invest our treasure into reaching them with the hope of the gospel.

Maybe as your church prepares its budget this year, you can ask the following questions: How can we better invest in evangelism? Who can we employ to help us better reach our community with the hope of the gospel? How can we better invest in the training of our congregation members to explain the hope that is in them? And maybe as you look at your family budget this year you can ask similar questions: How can we invest as a family in spreading the gospel? What can we set aside for mission work, or local outreach? How can we use the resources God has given us to reach the lost in our street?