Missionaries from 55 to 70 in six years

The US dollar turned 70 cents against the Singapore dollar last week (currently registered on the Yahoo Finance page at 1:0.7024). In Singapore one might not be overly concerned, considering there are only about 4.5 million people here, and a very small fraction of those are directly dependent on the once mighty greenback.

My family is one of those, so we celebrated the turn to 70 with a minor “Oh dear,” and then went on about our business – our business being missionaries. Quite frankly, I did not enter full-time ministry to make it rich. Rather I find fulfillment in knowing that I am planting or cultivating that little mustard seed of God’s Reign wherever I go. In fact, I’m not fully convinced that the popular goal of becoming a millionaire is compatible with the biblical witness to God’s Kingdom. But that’s another story.

But the fact is, missionaries, like everyone else, live in a global monetary economy. We are affected by the fluctuations between national currencies and the national economies they represent. Being paid in US dollars, deposited in an American bank, and then withdrawing that money somewhere else in the world makes you critically aware of these fluctuations.

I make periodic withdrawals from the international ATMs in Singapore dollars for deposit in a local bank. I have been doing this for the past six years. When we first came to Singapore six years ago the exchange rate was about 55 US cents to the Singapore dollar. In other words, our American missionary income nearly doubled in Singapore. There was a gradual shift initially, about five percentage points in three years. But it jumped much faster in the last few months.

In six years we went from .55 to .70.

That doesn’t look so good for those depending on the US economy. On the other hand, with the strengthening Singapore economy, American’s should expect more visitors (missionaries, tourists, etc) from the east. After all, when you reverse the exchange rate it looks much better. Where six years ago a Singaporean would have to part with S$1.80 to get a US dollar, now just S$1.42 will do it. That’s more bang for the (Singapore) buck.