TEACHING ABOUT BIBLICAL GENEROSITY
Last week, I
talked about generosity and stewardship being heart and not head issues. This
week, I want to start a series to share ways we can change how we approach stewardship
as a whole to a heart issue.
The first
way we can do this is to teach Biblical Generosity, and to do it regularly.
By this, I
don’t mean to ask for money all the time. Money is just a small part of
generosity, that focusing only on the need of the church to receive will turn
off folks and “turn off” generosity.
Of course,
we all know that money “makes the world go round” (or at least it seems to).
And we know that Jesus talked about money more in the New Testament than any
other topic. There are statistics that money was covered in 15% of his
preaching; that 11 out of 39 parables were about money (or 16 out of 38)—depending
on the source.
But it’s not
because money is the most important thing. It’s because WE (and the world we
live in) place so much emphasis on money and what it can do FOR us (and TO us).
Explaining to us through parables and teaching and preaching should enable us
to view money properly and to practice Biblical Generosity.
But we have
to change how WE approach generosity. We have to stop placing our emphasis on
the need of the church to receive money, and more on the need of the giver to
give. Generosity and giving is part of worship, and it’s a spiritual discipline.
So, as church leaders, we must talk about generosity when it comes up in
Scripture, or a Bible study, or in conversation. We cannot avoid talking about
it until the fall campaign.
One of the
ways generosity comes up all the time is through the offering moment.
Most churches have a time when we used to pass the offering plates (although
most of us don’t do that anymore for safety reasons). This is the time when we
give folks the opportunity to dedicate themselves and their gifts to God. It’s
also a great time to share what generosity means and how their generosity has
changed lives. You can share a story, or a video, or music, or a skit, or…. If
you’re struggling to find a story about changed lives, maybe prayer and
conversation about discipleship in your local church could be in order.
Biblical
Generosity is the type of generosity we should all be focused upon and
practicing.
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