0.33%. 30,000×.
Two numbers. One question: what kind of steward are you going to be?
In 2001, the Gordon Conwell Center for the Study of Global Christianity published the number. In 2025, they updated it. In 24 years, total Christian giving nearly tripled — and the percentage that reaches the world's unevangelized barely moved. That's the 0.33% problem.
The 30,000× is the upside. When a dollar flows to a faithful, fruit-bearing ministry serving the poorest and least reached, the same dollar can produce 3,000 to 30,000 times the eternal impact of where the average gift goes today.
In the season-one recap of ROI Ministry: The Don't Bury It Podcast, host Tim Barker walks the entire series in a single pass: the global giving crisis (Episode 1), the words of Jesus on the poor and the lost (Episode 2), the framework for wise generosity (Episode 3), the free due diligence tool (Episode 4), and the kingdom-advisor litmus test (Episode 5). Then he lands the question that holds the whole season together: are you inspecting the fruit of where your dollars go?
In this episode, you'll hear:
Tim Barker is the founder of ROI Ministry, a free resource that reviews over 100 ministries each year and publishes a top-10 list of ministries that beat the best charities in the world on cost per person served — while still sharing the gospel and making disciples. Every one of Tim's dollars from every copy of his book, BOOM: What to Do When Life Blows Up Around You, goes straight to vetted gospel + compassion ministries. No fees. No overhead. No skim.
Subscribe to ROI Ministry: The Don't Bury It Podcast and know you're making a difference.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
