Finishing Financially Strong!

Church Family,

One of my greatest joys is getting to watch people in our church grow in Christ. The way that we know people are growing is that they obey the commands of Christ. 

Consider these expressions of obedience by our people...

• Many in our church are growing in their faithfulness to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Since January 1, fifty-nine of our church members have shared (or at least attempted to share) the gospel at least once. This is almost 20% of our church! I have watched some of our people share the gospel for the first time. I've seen others make evangelism a regular practice. 

• These fifty-nine have shared the gospel an amazing 634 times since January 1!

• People are responding to this evangelism by believing in Christ and being baptized. Since January 1, we have baptized 22 people! This is over 10% of our regular Sunday attendance. 

How exciting it is to watch God's people obey Christ and make disciples! This said, we have a bit of an inconsistency. Even as we've seen such exciting obedience in evangelism and discipleship, obedience seems to be lagging in another area- giving.

In Scripture, giving to the Lord always accompanies our devotion to Him. Whether it be when Abram gave a tenth of the bounty to God's priest Melchizedek (Gen. 14), the Hebrews brought valuable raw materials for the Lord's tabernacle (Ex. 25), or the Christians in Corinth collected funds for the famine-stricken Christians in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16), God's people have regularly given to the Lord as an expression of worship. 

The Lord expects giving from His people for several reasons. Giving keeps us from idolizing money. It teaches us to trust in Him rather than our material possessions. The Lord uses what we give to advance His kingdom. With these things in mine, our church holds that giving is an important aspect of obedience and worship for our members. 

While we believe that giving is, in part, a private matter between a person and the Lord (Mt. 6:3), our church also understands faithful and generous giving to have a congregational side to it. We know that giving is important for spiritual growth and blessing (2 Cor. 9:6-12), so our members lovingly encourage each other to practice it. Since we know that giving supports the ministry of our Lord, we challenge each other to give for the sake of His kingdom (Rom. 15:24). Given that, as a church family, we agree on an annual ministry budget, our members tacitly commit to one another that we will give our portion to the church to cover our ministry spending and expenses. Giving is an expression of unity. Perhaps our membership covenant says it best, "We pledge to one another and to the Lord to be faithful in giving in support of the ministry of our church." Historically, our church members have agreed to give a tenth of our income (a tithe) in support of the annual ministry budget as our expression of obedience to the Lord. 

Yet, this year our giving to the annual ministry budget is behind. Presently, we are on pace to under-give by 7%, or $40,881. This potential deficit doesn't follow our pattern of faithful giving in previous years. There are no easy explanations for this reduction in giving (e.g. many members moving away or a mass lay-off affecting our families). 

We should be concerned by this present trend for a few reasons. First, a deficit in one year's giving will most likely mean deep budget cuts in the following years. This would mean that our church's ministry influence may become smaller.  Second, this potential shortage may reveal a weakness in our faith. We are definitely in uncertain times and the temptation to keep instead of give remains ever-present. Reducing our giving would be a sign of trusting in wealth instead of God's provision. It would be sad to see our families step back in obedience. Lastly, we would hate to see our people miss out on the blessings the Lord has in store for those who trust Him. 

The good news is that our church still has time for a turn-around. Our budget year ends on September 30, so there are still eight Sundays left to act. I want to challenge our members to change the giving story for our church this year. Let's not be a church that comes up short when it comes to tithing. Rather, let us be a church that enjoys the Lord's abundance because of obedience. 

I want to challenge our church family to finish our fiscal year by giving the $596,563 we need for our 2020-2021 budget. This will require us to give our regular monthly budget amount of $49,713.59 for both August and September and we will need to give $40,811 to overcome the forecasted 7% deficit. Friends, this is a total of $149,238.18 in budget giving over the next eight Sundays. 

You may think I have lost my mind to believe this is possible. I assure you I have not. I believe the Word which says that we serve a big God who has promised to, "make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things, at all times, you may abound in every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8). I would like to ask our church family to believe this too.

In order to see our church make budget this year, all of us will need to participate. Each household will need either to start-up, catch-up, or step-up. 

Start-up- Some of us need to begin giving tithes and offerings. If this is you, I want to challenge you to trust the Lord and start giving a tenth of your income over the next eight weeks. Before you pay your bills or your debts, give the Lord His portion. Like baptism or evangelism, tithing is something terrifying at first. However, it is one of those acts of obedience you will not regret. 

Catch-up- Some of us have stopped giving tithes and offerings consistently. If this is you, I want to challenge you to reestablish your normal pattern of giving over the next eight weeks and give the Lord His portion that you missed giving. Just as the Lord will help a new believer overcome fear and start giving, He can help you to restore consistent giving.

Step-up- Some of us have the opportunity to give above and beyond our regular tithes and offerings. Paul tells us that some have the spiritual gift of giving (Rom 12:8). It is their joy. If this is you, I want to challenge you to step up and give generously toward the budget over the next eight weeks. My prayer is that you will have deep abiding joy in the Lord as you see your gifts help our church move from scarcity to abundance. 

Church family, if we all either start-up, catch-up, or step-up over the next eight weeks, we will see the Lord do a great and mighty financial act in our church. We will experience God's provision, the elation of obedience, and sufficiency in ministry. I believe that we can reach our budgeted amount and witness God do something dramatic in our fellowship. Will you join me in seeing our church finish financially strong! 

To the glory of God!

Pastor Doug