Giving

Last month at church council we received our quarterly financial update. It is important I share it with you as we together are responsible for fulfilling God’s vision through Logan Uniting Church.

For the first four months of 2011 our tithes and weekly offerings were $7000 down on budget. Other income was up by $1000. We are keeping our expenses well down – they were $9800 down on budget. Expenses of course are a bit interesting as some of the savings will be eaten into as resources etc are purchased later in the year.

On the whole we finished the first quarter in a positive position – about $12000 in the positive. It is necessary at this point in the year for us to be in a positive position financially for 2 reasons:

1. We have to replenish our reserves (our reserves were used up at the end of last year with the staff realignment process - redundancy and retirement etc)

2. In June the Synod contribution toward Tim Robinson’s position (youth and new congregation) comes to end.

The main area of need/growth lies in our tithes and offerings. These do need to increase. I certainly don’t want to get to the end of 2011 and face staffing realignment/cuts due to finances (remember our major expense is in resourcing the ministry leadership team). If every adult who is part of Logan Uniting Church increased their giving by $4-00 per week we would meet budget easily.

My request is that, if you have not yet done so, rather than simply increasing your giving by $4-00 per week, you revisit the issue of financial giving as a very important part of your being a disciple of Christ. Remember Jesus talked more about money than anything else, except the Kingdom of God. What we do with our money is a sure test of where our heart really lies (see Luke 12: 34). To fail to treat financial giving as a critical part of being a disciple of Christ is to fall short in God’s call on our life.

If you tithe – fantastic! Have you adjusted your tithe this year in response to your changing income? If you have – awesome! If you don’t tithe, what is the basis for this decision – how have you come to this conclusion from the bible and your understanding of God’s call on your life? If you have explored this thoroughly and choose not to tithe but to give according to some other manner – fantastic! What is important is that each of us decide before God and in the light of scripture, what we will give and how.

I believe tithing (giving 10% of our gross or net income to the work of God through the local church) is a life giving principle that:

Ÿ Says thanks to God and honours God for His saving power (see Gen 14: 8-20)

Ÿ Declares the sovereignty of God and is a means of revering God (see Deut 14: 22-23; 26: 1-11)

Ÿ Leads to blessing (see Mal 3: 10)

Please continue to pray AND act on what you believe God is saying to you in this area