Winston Churchill once said that he related to the church rather like a flying buttress: He supported it from the outside. (A flying buttress is an external support that reinforces the walls of old cathedrals.) I tried that strategy for a while, after coming to believe Christian doctrine sincerely and committing myself to God. . . .
From the moment Dr. De Haan founded RBC Ministries, he believed he could trust God to set the pace of growth. Though he occasionally made financial needs known in newsletters, he vowed not to let "needs" get in the way of "message" or to use proceeds to develop an elaborate superstructure. And he said that if enough support didn't come in, he'd take it as the Lord's signal to close up shop. When Richard De Haan became the leader of RBC, he accepted the principles developed by his father. To avoid overspending, he directed the ministry to "live within its means." To avoid waste, he emphasized the sacrifice each gift represents. And to make RBC accessible to all, he chose to distribute booklets without charge to anyone who requested them. Today, under the leadership of Mart De Haan, those original principles still hold true.