Giving

While the church really needs your financial support to survive and flourish, it's not only about the cash. It's about developing a practice of generosity that is born out of a spirit of thanksgiving to God.

In the Old Testament God’s people, in thanksgiving, gave above the tithe (the 10% standard of giving) in addition to paying taxes. They also gave other offerings, over and above their regular giving. In the New Testament Jesus expanded this model of generosity: Think of the widow with two coins who gave all she had, the boy who gave his entire lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish, and of course Jesus who gave his life.

Most of us want to be generous in giving to God and to his Church but have not been taught this growing up. So while the spirit and the willingness to be generous are there, we just need some help getting into the practice. Rather than preaching at people to give tithes and offerings over and over again (with little effect) we take a more holistic view.

Start with Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and ALL that is there in.” All that we have . . . all of it . . . comes from the Lord. Then start with what you have/where you can, and work toward increasing generosity, not only with your financial steward ship and giving but with your whole life.

It's easy to take the first step:

If you are giving nothing, start at 2%