How can you get people to pay for a new church or Christian school? A while ago it was popular to ask people to sponsor a brick, something the clever marketing people came up with. A sponsored brick is a tangible contribution, and it gave people a sense of ownership.
At Back to Jerusalem we are also building, although usually not buildings. We build mission teams, we build Bible devices and apps, we build up leaders, we build missional businesses, we help build children’s futures through the scholarship fund and orphan support, and through it all, we want to contribute to the Kingdom of God being built among unreached people in closed nations.
When we do a tour with Back to Jerusalem, and an offering is often taken, they are offering us a brick, so to speak, and it will be fitted in somewhere. And it is wonderful to see people generously contribute in this way. But at Back to Jerusalem, we are also looking for a different kind of brick. In the Bible, there is the beautiful metaphor of the living stones which are being built into a spiritual building. They don’t offer a brick—they become one.
If you apply this to our organisation, these are the people we call GateKeepers. They do not just donate one-off, buy a book or attend a meeting. They become part of the building by contributing regularly long-term, both in prayer and financially. They are the people we rely on to stay structurally sound and spiritually fruitful as an organisation.
If the mission of Back to Jerusalem is close to your heart, why not become one of those bricks? Through our GateKeepers we have been able to do so much in the past years, especially because opportunities for the Gospel, as well as needs on the field, often arise suddenly. There is no time to organise a fundraising tour, but because we have GateKeepers, we can respond to those needs and opportunities right away. And if there are acute situations, it is our GateKeepers we inform and can rely on to pray us through those situations.
We love it when people hand us bricks to build with, but we also need those who offer to become a brick and join us in this mission long term. Would you consider joining us?
