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

Generosity

Image by Alan Belcher

In my daily bible reading and journaling today, I reflected on the following reading from Luke:

³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy (the Greek for healthy here implies generous), your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy (the Greek for unhealthy here implies stingy) your body also is full of darkness... ³⁹Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. ⁴² “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. (Luke 11: 34 and 39-42)

I was fascinated by the connection between being clean on the inside and generosity. It seems to me that when God purifies our heart a natural outflow is generosity. At the same time being generous is a mechanism God uses for cleansing our heart. The very act of generosity flushes our system clean from greed and selfishness. The act of generosity is very much connected with serving the poor (those who are disadvantaged and disempowered in whatever way).

I was also interested that Jesus told the Pharisees to continue to tithe AND act with justice (that is serve and empower those who are disadvantaged and disempowered).

It seems to me that part of my responsibility as a disciple of Jesus is to be diligent in giving to the work of God through the local church and to be diligent in being generous beyond that to those who are struggling. I also reflected that being generous in an extravagant way (giving beyond what is comfortable) is very good for my heart.

I am struck by the thought that generosity is a hallmark of a heart that has been cleansed by the Holy Spirit AND the act of generosity itself is something God uses to cleanse our heart and grow us in Christ likeness.

Speaking of matters of the heart; a member of the Ministry Leadership Team was led to reflect deeply on Nehemiah. This is what they sensed God saying to them/us:

“As we begin on the journey together of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality it will be as if we are rebuilding ourselves out of the rubble, the gaps and the cracks that make up our lives. The rubble, the gaps and the cracks are those areas of dysfunction, shattered dreams, lost hope, emotional scarring etc. that hold us bound even if we do not recognise it. Just as Nehemiah and his people had to physically put in effort to rebuild the wall, we too need to put in effort with our being prepared to go deep, to read the Daily office etc. allowing God and His Holy Spirit to dig deep which might be painful and exhausting but what a magnificent result awaits at the end. Just as Nehemiah too had to trust God for provision and also protection against the ploys of the enemy we too need to trust God for strength and faith to allow Him to dig deep and also that He will protect us from the enemy as we are on our guard in prayer for our people and ourselves so that the enemy will not be allowed to rob that which God is seeking to do.”

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech