REFLECTIONS
October 12, 2008
"We give thee but thine own, what e're the gift may be: All that we have is thine alone, a trust O Lord from thee." I grew up singing this hymn as a response to the offering. In Philippians 4:10-19, Paul gives thanks for the financial support the people have sent him. They had given for a time, stopped, then resumed gifts toward his ministry. He affirms the gift, without lamenting the earlier absence of giving. More importantly, he counts the gift as holy, and prays God's blessing upon current and future offerings.
When money comes up in Church someone is liable to be offended. This is because of how personal money matters can be. Someone will say all the church ever does is ask for money, which means don't ask or tell me how to give. So we soft sell stewardship. We write letters, send estimate of giving cards and ask people to prayerfully consider their gifts. It would be more effective to ask folks to put as much effort into giving as into buying a car or a TV. That thinking is fractured because it is based on our need to purchase. The desire to receive something of value for money. Stewardship, however, is based on our need to give.
Of course gifts to a local church are appreciated and needed. From the blessings of the gathered community in worship, to feeding the hungry locally and the support given distant missionaries, giving money matters. How much is a personal decision. If we speak passionately about a social issue, and invoke what the Bible says about it, and yet become forgetful in terms of stewardship, we have erred. Friends the Bible is clear, all of what we have belongs to God, we hold it in trust. In terms of giving, ten percent of what we have is the place we begin as stewards. How we figure that percent is up to us.
If we withhold our money from a church because we disagree with its theology, structure or program, we do so in ignorance of the aim of stewardship; which is sharing our abundance in grateful response to God's goodness. Our faith is deepened by our need to give not the need of the church to receive. If we are not being fed in a faith community, we are not vested in terms of time, talent and treasure in that place. A part of the imperative of faith is to put our money where our faith is. In more base terms a colleague once spoke of a member saying of stewardship; "preaching what ain't paid for don't sound good."
When money comes up in Church someone is liable to be offended. This is because of how personal money matters can be. Someone will say all the church ever does is ask for money, which means don't ask or tell me how to give. So we soft sell stewardship. We write letters, send estimate of giving cards and ask people to prayerfully consider their gifts. It would be more effective to ask folks to put as much effort into giving as into buying a car or a TV. That thinking is fractured because it is based on our need to purchase. The desire to receive something of value for money. Stewardship, however, is based on our need to give.
Of course gifts to a local church are appreciated and needed. From the blessings of the gathered community in worship, to feeding the hungry locally and the support given distant missionaries, giving money matters. How much is a personal decision. If we speak passionately about a social issue, and invoke what the Bible says about it, and yet become forgetful in terms of stewardship, we have erred. Friends the Bible is clear, all of what we have belongs to God, we hold it in trust. In terms of giving, ten percent of what we have is the place we begin as stewards. How we figure that percent is up to us.
If we withhold our money from a church because we disagree with its theology, structure or program, we do so in ignorance of the aim of stewardship; which is sharing our abundance in grateful response to God's goodness. Our faith is deepened by our need to give not the need of the church to receive. If we are not being fed in a faith community, we are not vested in terms of time, talent and treasure in that place. A part of the imperative of faith is to put our money where our faith is. In more base terms a colleague once spoke of a member saying of stewardship; "preaching what ain't paid for don't sound good."
Dr. Joey K. McDonald
First United Methodist Church
4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601
First United Methodist Church
4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601
