I Hate Talking About Tithing
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Revolution in Generosity by Wesley K. Willmer
Like many pastors, funding existing ministries and launching new ones causes me a great deal of hand-wringing. As I have talked with my pastor friends about these topics, I have discovered that I am not alone. There are very few issues that keep pastors up at night more than funding ministry. And, there are few topics that pastors are more ill-prepared to address after seminary than stewardship and fundraising.
Over the course of the past few months I have read a great deal in the areas of fundraising and stewardship. One of the books that I have found most helpful in my self-education efforts is Wesley K. Wilmer’s Revolution in Generosity. What follows is insights from the book for pastors and lay leaders in church.
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God owns it all
We know this, right? We have all at least heard Psalm 42:1 even if we have never considered the full implications of the verse:
The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains,
The world, and those who dwell in it. Psalm 42:1 (NASB)
Our possessions are not “our” possessions. When we mistakenly assume that they are, we tend to use them for our own ends. We tend to ignore what God says about how we use the resources He has given us.
Christians are Generous Because Jesus is Generous
“Generosity is the natural outcome of God’s transforming work in individual’s when they are conformed to the image of Christ and become generous as Christ is generous.”
You may have heard it said that no one can outgive God. This is absolutely true. God’s generosity is ultimately displayed in the person of Jesus who loved us so much that He gave His life for us. Growing toward maturity in Christ means becoming generous as Jesus was generous with us.
It’s not about the Money
[Stewardship and generosity] is about growing givers’ hearts to be rich toward God. God wants to show His power on their behalf. He wants them to be generous because they are conformed to His Son’s image. He wants them to be free to serve Him. Therefore, when teaching about God’s financial principles, the focus should be on transforming the hear so that believers are conformed to the image of Christ and become generous, just as He is generous.”
There is a development trajectory in Christian generosity. New, immature believers who have not yet been exposed to, adopted, and begun to practice the biblical teachings on stewardship and generosity, will under normal, Spirit-led conditions grow in their generosity as they mature in their faith and are exposed to biblical teaching on stewardship.
Generosity is for the Benefit of Others
The Bible does not teach that all should have the same amount of resources, but it does teach that extreme wealth and the neglect of the extremely poor is immoral. The fact is that relative to the rest of the world there are very few poor people in America. That is not to say that there are many people in the U.S. who have a hard time surviving financially. Even so, even the poor in our country have access, by and large, to clean water, sewage, and so on. When the Apostle Paul was raising money, the vast majority of his fundraising efforts were directed toward poverty alleviation. Too often, our fundraising efforts are directed inwardly, toward maintaining our institution, things like buildings, salaries, children’s and youth programs, and so on. Perhaps, it is time to rethink how we direct our money—inwardly or outwardly. Perhaps, it is time to rethink how we do church altogether so we can devote more of the resources God has entrusted to us toward meeting the needs of others.
The Pastor Must be the Lead Steward
I really wish the authors hadn’t made this point abuse it makes me accountable. The pastor must be the lead steward in two ways. First, the pastor must take the Scriptures seriously and applying them to his or her own life. The pastor, in other words, must be one of the most, if not the most generous giver, in the local body of believers. This does not mean that he or she writes the biggest check every month (I know, funny, right), but it does mean that he or she is a leader in giving generously and cheerfully out of gratitude for all Christ has done and to further mission of Christ in the world.
Being the lead steward also means that the pastor, as lead discipler in the church, must also take the lead in teaching others a Scriptural view of money, possessions, stewardship, and generosity. It is the pastor’s responsibility to weave generosity into the cultural fabric of the local body of believers. Unfortunately, many pastors avoid anything that might remotely be offensive. This is probably because we have a hard time reframing the message from “we need something from you” to “we want something for you.” I think what all good pastors want for the people they lead is that they would all be fully formed followers of Jesus, which includes being generous as Jesus is generous.
Stewardship is Ultimately About Lordship
“In the end, godly stewardship is all about lordship. Before tithing, or time, it is about submission to the lordship of Christ. Our transformation has a direction and goal. That goal is Christlikeness. We are called to imitate Christ in His complete and absolute obedience and generosity toward God.”
When we say, “Jesus is Lord,” it is a declaration of our allegiance to God. It is a declaration of our commitment to conform our life to that of Jesus in every detail by grace through the power of the Holy Spirit. In response to God’s great generosity toward us in Jesus Christ, we model great generosity toward others. When we feed the hungry, satisfy the thirsty, invite the stranger, visit the sick and imprisoned, and we do so with generosity and cheerfulness, we are living out our declaration of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
This book is an excellent resource for the theological foundations of giving and generosity. With this review I have only scratched the surface of all the nuggets of wisdom regarding generosity and giving. I am discussing my response to the book with Finance Committee, so that they can come to a greater biblical and theological understanding of the role they place in building the kingdom of God.
I’d like to know: What is your understanding of the relationship between being a disciple of Jesus and generosity?
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