Generosity as Spiritual Gift - Part 2: Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control

Generosity is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Are our hearts and our lives headed in the same direction? Is it a good direction? Like the moisture meter, the answers to those questions speak truth!

The atmosphere in the quilt auction was electric. I can’t think of another setting where Mennonites go public with their generosity in quite the same way. Fundraising proclaims your values. Let’s unpack that.

Giving is a spiritual discipline like prayer, part of following Jesus. It’s a discipleship question, not a budget question. Can someone donate to your church using their phone?

Pastor Daniel is sweating profusely on a cold November morning. It’s stewardship Sunday, the one Sunday of the year where he is expected to talk about money. Pastor Daniel carries $45,000 in student debt. That’s without the credit card or line of credit factored in. How can he talk about money?

“Should I ask my dying parishioner for a bequest?” ranks high in the list of difficult questions I’ve been asked during church stewardship webinars. The ideal last conversation on generosity starts with thank you.
How the church can prepare for grateful conversations, instead of putting pastors in awkward situations?

Fewer donors are giving more. The number of people donating is down, the total amount of donations is up. This has been the trend for about a decade.

Only 18.4% of Canadians claimed a charitable tax credit on their 2020 Income Tax.

Is the church building project a good cause? Should we pave the parking lot or send the money to missions?
Without a common cause “nothing much happens!”

Giving is a spiritual discipline like prayer. Both are lifelong practices, and there’s always something new to discover.

Once you can write an offering prayer, you can write a thank-you letter. Both are grateful acknowledgements of everything we have received from God, and the blessing of being able to share with God’s people.

Deuteronomy 26, the lectionary for this coming Sunday, talks about sharing the first fruits of the harvest as an offering to God.

The first ripe tomato, the cookies fresh out of the oven, part of the first paycheque. When we share what God has given us, from our first fruits, we honour God.

At the start of the harvest, we don’t know what the coming year will bring. Will there be famine or hardship? Should we can those first tomatoes in a jar on the shelf?