Summary
World-Wide Missions, Inc. ("WWM") is a non-denominational California corporation founded in 1957 by Dr. Basil Miller. WWM has stated that it seeks to minister to the whole person by providing spiritual, educational, and medical help through churches, schools, clinics, and individual ministries.
WWM has not provided any financial information to MinistryWatch.com since 2004. And it appears that the organization may have changed its status about that time as it no longer files an IRS form 990. WWM was at one point a long time standing member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA); however, as of 9/25/2007 the ECFA indicates that WWM... "Voluntary resignation in response to the field review where violations of Standards 2, 3, 4, and 7.8 were discovered."
Violations of the ECFA
- Standard 7.8 - Tax-deductible Gifts for a Named Recipient's Personal Benefit
"Tax-deductible gifts may not be used to pass money or benefits to any named individual for personal use."
- Standard 4 - Use of Resources
- Standard 3 - Financial Statements
- Standard 2 - Board of Directors and Financial Oversight
Contact Information: [ Back to top ]
| Mailing Address: | PO Box 2300
Redlands, CA
92373-0761 |
| Website: | www.world-widemissions.org |
| Phone: | (909) 793-2009 |
| Email: | You need to enable javascript to see the email |
Organization Details [ Back to top ]
EIN: 952109095
| CEO/President: |
Mr. Fred Johnson |
Tax Deductible: |
Yes |
| Chairman: |
Mr. Milton Sonnevik |
Fiscal Year End: |
June 30 |
| Board Size: |
|
Financial info from: |
|
| Founder: |
Dr. Basil Miller |
Member of ECFA: |
No |
| Year Founded: |
1957 |
Member of ECFA since: |
|
World-Wide Missions, Inc. ("WWM") is a non-denominational California corporation founded in 1957 by Dr. Basil Miller. WWM has stated that it seeks to minister to the whole person by providing spiritual, educational, and medical help through churches, schools, clinics, and individual ministries. WWM has stated that it carries out its ministries by supporting missionaries, national workers, churches, schools, and clinics, including affiliated organizations in foreign countries; and that its activities include the Seniors Care Fund, Aids Care Fund, He Intends Victory, Children's Food and Care Fund, and Feeding Hungry Children International.
WWM has not provided any financial information to MinistryWatch.com since 2004. And it appears that the organization may have changed its status about that time as it no longer files an IRS form 990.
WWM was at one point a long time standing member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA); however, as of 9/25/2007 the ECFA indicates that WWM... "Voluntary resignation in response to the field review where violations of Standards 2, 3, 4, and 7.8 were discovered."
Violations of the ECFA
- Standard 7.8 - Tax-deductible Gifts for a Named Recipient's Personal Benefit
"Tax-deductible gifts may not be used to pass money or benefits to any named individual for personal use."
- Standard 4 - Use of Resources
"Every member shall exercise the management and financial controls necessary to provide reasonable assurance that all resources are used (nationally and internationally) in conformity with applicable federal and state laws and regulations to accomplish the exempt purposes for which they are intended."
- Standard 3 - Financial Statements
"Each member is required to submit complete and accurate financial statements. Accredited members must submit an annual audit performed by an independent certified public accounting firm in accordance with U.S. generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) with its financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). ECFA policies allow for an alternate category of membership that does not require audited financial statements, in which case the member must submit financial statements (with disclosures) prepared in conformity with either U.S. GAAP or the modified cash basis of accounting in which financial statements are either compiled or reviewed by an independent certified public accounting firm."
- Standard 2 - Board of Directors and Financial Oversight
"Every member shall be governed by a responsible board of not less than five individuals, a majority of whom shall be independent, which shall meet at least semiannually to establish policy and review its accomplishments. The board of a committee consisting of a majority of independent members shall review the annual financial statements and maintain direct communication between the board and the independent certified public accountants."
Need Mission Statement
Program Accomplishments [ Back to top ]
Need Program Accomoplishments info
Statement of Faith [ Back to top ]
World-Wide Missions uses the following to express its faith:
We believe the fundamental doctrines of evangelical Christianity.
We believe the Bible to be the infallible Word of God.
We believe in the triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the atonement for our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ.
We believe that man, born in sin, must be born again, spoken of as "the new birth." This experience is received through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
We believe in the Holy Spirit coming to the believer to cleanse and empower.
We believe in the Great Commission.
We believe in the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, as promised by the angels when He ascended into heaven.
We believe in water baptism.
We believe in divine healing as expressed in James.
We believe in the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.
We believe in eternal rewards and punishment.
Need History Info
This organization has not offered MinistryWatch.com with specific needs to be posted on the profile. At such a time that MinistryWatch.com receives a response from the ministry, it will be posted immediately.
Research Analysis
Transparency Grade [ Back to top ]
| Transparency Grade of : F |
| Criteria category | Grade | Other Comments |
| Timeliness: | 0 | 12/4/2008 10:03:58 AM: Organization has failed to provide financial information since 2004. |
| Financial Information: | 0 | 12/4/2008 10:07:42 AM: Organization has not provided financial statements of any kind since 2004. |
| Foundational Clarity: | | |
| Level of Cooperation: | | |
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MinistryWatch.com 5 Star Financial Efficiency Ratings [ Back to top ]
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MinistryWatch.com's 2009 list of 30 Donor Alert Ministries
Non-Transparent Ministries: Are they Faithful in the Small Things?
MinistryWatch.com’s Take
March 2004
By Dan Wray
Go ye into all the world
World-Wide Missions (WWM) is a loosely agglomerated organization for global, nondenominational para-church outreach, ministering to the suffering and needy in over two dozen underdeveloped countries, Canada and the United States. Founded in 1957 by Christian minister and author Basil Miller, WWM takes its ministry motivation from Matthew 4:23, providing spiritual, educational and medical relief to the whole person.
Affiliated ministries
- All Nations Bible Society – provides Bibles, New Testaments and study helps for those desiring growth in the Christian life and preparation for ministry
- Aids Care Fund – an HIV/AIDS response ministry networked with similar groups to provide comfort, support, and hope to those living with AIDS, victims and families alike, with educational seminars and hospital visits as well as hospice volunteers
- Child Concern and Care Fund – formerly ChildHope, providing food, shelter, medicine, education, vocational preparation and other life essentials to needy children in the United States as well as foreign countries, in orphanage and formal school settings
- Child Abuse Intervention Fund – provide intervention strategies and legal resources and support networking for victims and families impacted by child abuse in the United States as well as Africa, Asia and Latin America. The specter of sexual abuse combining with child abuse frequently complicates investigative and response strategies, especially due to the involvement of children, and Child Abuse Intervention Fund is particularly effective in providing healing and support to victims and their families. Nationally, the CAIF has co-operated with pro-life CareNet in sponsorship of billboards publicizing CareNet’s 600 plus pregnancy centers and nationwide toll free hotline. Internationally, CAIF funds child humanitarian aid in Bolivia, Congo, Venezuela and elsewhere.
- Senior Care Fund – seeks to enrich the lives of seniors by offering companionship, caring involvement, and spiritual support to sick, handicapped and lonely people in the twilight of their years, many of whom are struggling with transition issues brought on by spousal bereavement and the abruptness of change from familiar surroundings to institutional or managed care. Such support may range from individual family involvement to the conducting of regular chapel services and observance of attendant church ordinances such as communion. This ministry is presently available in select communities in northern California, as well as Liberia and Taiwan, R. O. C.
- Suicide Prevention Care Fund – offers prevention awareness education, intervention strategies and compassionate support for families burdened by the stigma of suicide. Services have been established in the U. S., Europe and Russia, as well as Japan, where suicide has had some history of cultural acceptance as an honorable alternative to personal failure.
Opportunities to give
WWM ministries are featured on individual websites, each with brief ministry overview information and instructions on how to make support donations through Local Independent Charities of America Give Direct, a nonprofit credit card service. Some, not all, of WWM’s funds have ministry association with local churches in the United States, taking advantage of administrative office space and volunteer staffing. One such ministry, AIDS Care Fund, has web-posted the telephone hotline of the Village Church of Irvine’s “He Intends Victory” AIDS intervention ministry. In another place, AIDS Care Fund refers to the church hotline as its own. Several WWM ministry websites are incomplete or non-functioning, all bearing the World-Wide Missions P.O. Box and telephone numbers in the San Bernardino suburb of Redlands, Calif., tending to produce as many questions as answers. Several WWM affiliates offer Combined Federal Campaign participation, and WWM asserts its ECFA charter membership as witness to the ministries’ financial integrity. In summary, WWM’s effort to market its ministry appeal to Bible-believing evangelicals seems fragmented at best.
Bits and Pieces
By all appearances World-Wide Missions is busy, widely involved in international evangelical and humanitarian outreach. A closer look, however, gives rise to numerous questions. World-Wide Missions’ website, http://www.world-widemissions.org/, is “under construction” – and has been for months – with no information available except a P.O. Box in Redlands, Calif., an e-mail address and a telephone number. After considerable research, a street address was discovered, also in Redlands. E-mail inquiries eventually produced general informational overview accompanied by numerous claims of WWM involvement, in the United States and internationally, referencing specific missionary projects ranging from evangelism and church planting to medical missions and a wide array of nominally Christian humanitarian ministries. What is not forthcoming is specific information on individual missionary efforts, with all packaged information essentially summarized restatements of information posted on the websites. Indeed, this writer’s informed and deliberate repeated efforts to ascertain the names and locations of two specific WWM Asian churches, details of a specific WWM sponsored orphanage, and information on a WWM sponsored hospital proved futile beyond a P.O. Box for the orphanage.
Unanswered questions
As a charter member of the ECFA, it may be presumed that the organization is in general agreement with the ECFA’s published doctrinal statement as a general condition of membership. While WWM’s doctrinal statement also appears on a number of its affiliated websites, conservative evangelicals will likely be dissatisfied with its general tone, lacking precision on Scripture and atonement for sin, also lacking any explicitly supportive Scripture references. The statement is also entirely devoid of ecclesiology except by strained inference, disturbing for an international missionary outreach that claims involvement in evangelism, teaching of the Word and church planting. What exists appears to be a broad invitation for charitable contribution of money – and some volunteer effort – to fund a consortium of admittedly noble, nominally Christian humanitarian efforts, with regrettably little measurable promise of accountability for New Testament message or methods. While a dismally low threshold of real communication and substantive reporting does not by any means signal deliberate wrongdoing, it does fall short of the expectations of anyone desiring to steward their financial resources. Nor does it even approach the standard taught by Scripture as exampled by the apostles, who considered it imperative to report to their constituency so that together, they might rejoice as they continued to partner in the work of God.