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UNDERSTANDING THE MISSIONARY'S BUDGET
The Missionary's Budget
AGWM missionaries are supported exclusively by churches and friends. AGWM creates a budget for each missionary including amounts for income, operational expense, ministry expense, and travel expenses.
Monthly Pledges
The recurring monthly pledge is the foundation for AGWM missions. Each missionary is required to raise a set amount of pledges to cover all the expenses associated with their appointment.
Cash Offerings
Missionaries also have to raise a cash budget to be used for known expenses that will be incurred by the missionary during their term. This can include travel expenses to the field, shipping of personal household goods to the field, language school and other projects that require funding.
"Doing" the Budget Math
An average missionary budget is $8,000 per month.
The average church pledge is $60 per month.
The average budget will require 134 pledges.
The missionary will average about 8 churches per month.
It will take 17 months for a missionary to raise their monthly budget if EVERY church a missionary visits agrees to support.
New (Candidate) Missionaries
Candidate missionaries have a formidable task. They must raise $750 per month in pledges before they begin the itineration process. Each month their account is charged for a set amount of expenses including their itineration salary. This means that during the early months of itineration the missionary's account goes deeply into the red.
Itineration is an expensive proposition including all travel expenses such as fuel, food and accommodations while on the road. Additional expenses such as telephone, office, and printing also play a significant role in the overhead of the itinerant missionary.
The combination of monthly pledge income and offerings must exceed expenses or the missionary's account goes deeper into the red. NOTE: If they go into the red for three successive months they will no long receive a full pay check until they hit their budget for three consecutive months!
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