Are we being hired by the Bible Institute?
No. The Bible Institute on Jeju Island is a ministry of Word of Life Korea. We will remain full-time missionaries with Word of Life Korea. Jeremy will keep his role as Business Administrator. This role already had responsibilities involved with the mainland and Jeju ministries, but our family was located on the mainland. On the mainland, Jeremy also helped out with camps, preaching, training, Bible Clubs, and other mainland ministries. After the move to Jeju, we will similarly be helping with Jeju ministries, including increased teaching at the Bible Institute. Jeremy has already taught classes there the past two school years.
Do we still need monthly support?
Yes. We are still full-time missionaries with Word of Life Korea. Though we will be living at the Bible Institute location and helping out more with that ministry, we will not be receiving a salary from the Bible Institute. None of the missionaries, even those working primarily in teaching roles, receive a salary in that way. Our salary comes from the monthly support of donors.
Are we responsible for paying for the repairs to our future apartment on Jeju?
No. We could move down to Jeju and stay anywhere we would like. However, we feel that living on campus would be the most effective way to invest in the lives of students and staff. The rental price we were offered to stay on campus is also far cheaper than anywhere else on the island. The price for staff to live there hasn’t changed in a decade. So why are we helping raise funds for repairs? The BI is a non-profit ministry of Word of Life Korea. Aside from the ownership that we feel as full-time missionaries with this ministry, we know that the people who have loved and supported us over the years are the right people to spread the word about the needs of the ministry we are serving. The needed repairs on campus are much larger than just our apartment. Other missionaries on our team are actively spreading the news about the larger project (which includes our apartment) among their support networks as well.
Can’t the Bible Institute pay for move related expenses and repairs?
No. Part of the reason we are taking an active role in raising support for our move is that Word of Life Korea, along with all of its ministries (including the BI), is non-profit. Many Christian colleges in the United States have extensive fundraising efforts to lower the cost for students and pay for staff. The BI has faithfully provided an exceptional year of Bible training to students for a decade now at an excellent price. That price covers the students’ food, travel expenses for two trips (a mission trip and an Israel study trip), dorm fees, and other expenses. However, as with our camps and other ministries, the desire over the years to keep prices low has to be balanced against expenses of the ministry like utilities, taxes, maintenance, and repairs. That can mean that expenses related to keeping the BI operating take precedence over postponable, but very real, needs. Part of why Jeremy feels led to have a more active role in Jeju is to evaluate, through his role as Business Administrator, how to more effectively raise the funds for the needs and improve our stewardship of this wonderful property that God has provided for Word of Life Korea.
Are the costs to move really as high as we projected?
Yes and no. While we did base our figures on informed research, the current Korean market, and on others who have recently made national and international moves from our area, the numbers we’ve communicated are very rough first guesses. We are actively weighing many options to save costs and are taking bids on several different aspects of this move. But the reality is that it is very expensive to live and do ministry in Korea. Since we moved here in 2017, food, fuel, and housing costs have skyrocketed. This will be exacerbated even more on an island. Moving costs are pricey. We changed apartments two years ago because our complex had rates triple to quadruple what we were paying before. Our current apartment was the cheapest we could find at nearly double what we were paying. The moving companies we talked to at the time quoted prices between four to five thousand dollars to move just 30 minutes within the same city. The trucks have further to go and need to be literally shipped across the ocean to our new island home. Furthermore, Korean apartments do not usually come with appliances or air conditioners, so we need to pay to move those things as well and reinstall them at the new location. Part of our research is checking to see what furniture can be replaced on the island for less money. AC is essential during the hottest moments of Summer because of the tropical climate on Jeju. Our AC unit alone cost us over two thousand dollars with installation six years ago. If we don’t live on campus, upper floor apartments require hiring a lift truck. All of that said, we feel a strong responsibility to carefully steward the financial gifts given. We will weigh all options and choose the genuinely best investment. Our goal is to save beyond our projected costs in every way that we possibly can.
Wouldn’t it be better to just stay where we are?
No. We love where we are. We can walk to the church where we met and dated. We can hike the mountain behind our current apartment to the place that Jeremy proposed. But we serve together on a team of Korean and international Word of Life Korea missionaries. In evaluating the gifting of our team, we were chosen to help with the needs at the island branch. The Jeju branch of our ministry has fewer full-time missionaries. The mainland has seven full-time staff families and over a dozen short-term volunteers. Jeju just has three families serving full-time and only a few short-term volunteers. We feel that God has perfectly prepared us to help this smaller, but passionate group of teammates who have remained positive and faithful despite having their margins stretched shockingly thin. Elsbeth can use her gifts of hospitality and counseling to minister to the students and staff. Jeremy can use his gifts in property management, finance, and teaching to help bring more balance to the team.
Can’t we just send the support to your ministry account directly as always?
Yes and no. Our ministry depends upon the partnership of monthly and yearly donors. Please don’t stop supporting. But our personal ministry funds and project funds are managed differently. Project funds can only be spent on project related expenses. Personal ministry funds cover recurring regular expenses related to our family. There is also a financial incentive to separating the two ways to give. A percentage of our monthly support goes to Word of Life International to help cover costs of our main office support team. Their role is vital. The services and care that they provide to us as full-time international missionaries is invaluable and we fully support sharing a percentage of what we raise because our lives would be tremendously more difficult without them. The largest percentage of our support pays our salary, insurance, and ministry expenses. However, the funds related with this move are similar to the large amount of setup funds we raised when we first got settled in Korea. Those initial funds covered language school, paying a shipping company, our ministry van, and even some of our furniture and appliances. Many of our supporters never even heard us talk about those setup funds because of how smoothly God provided them. Moving to Jeju Island will be a lot like moving to a new field, since a lot of those initial setup fund expenses are present all over again. The special thing about this project giving code is that a greater percentage goes directly to these expenses. Because they are not regular support expenses, Word of Life does not take their normal home office percentage.
Rodgers in Asia 