It was once said even as a new convert who had completed the correspondence course and continued a study with the preacher was sitting right there among them.
It was once said when the preacher wanted to advertise the upcoming gospel meeting and was told, "We're right here on the highway. They know where we are. No need wasting the Lord's money that way." Eventually, he paid for those printed announcements out of his own pocket and as he knocked on doors to hand them out was often asked, "Now, where are you located again?"
These things may be long shots when it comes to sowing the seed, but who are we to say that, especially when we have a few plants springing up from those efforts who are being talked about as "not worth our money?" Because that is what they are saying about them whether they mean to be or not. God told us to sow the seed, and in that famous parable, to do it everywhere, letting Him give the increase, not us. Just where is our faith? If others have better ideas, let's hear them, not sit there worrying about keeping our money buried in a bank somewhere.
Jesus had a thing or two to say about the worth of a soul. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matt 16:26). How would we feel if someone was worried that ours cost them too much? And what will it profit our souls if we are willing to exchange the church's bank account for someone else's?
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight (Isa 5:21).
Dene Ward