| |
Giving in City Life Church
 At dinner, guests are often reminded not to discuss politics or religion, for fear of offending someone else. Walk into many church gatherings and you might imagine that a third item could easily have been added to that list - money.
Churches generally are awful at discussing what members give, and what the church itself spends its money on.
In City Life Church, we want to avoid this culture. In this short article, we sketch out the values of giving in CLC - and lay down a few commitments about how we will communicate our finances.
All we have is Gods
Genesis demonstrates that all we have, created by God, is loaned to mankind to be custodians of. God is limited neither by money or resources - all of the cosmos is his, and as such we are grateful to God for all that he gives to us, recognising it is all ultimately his.
Because of Grace we are not compelled to give
When Jesus died on a cross, it meant an end to the clunky system of laws laid in place for God's people up to that time, including those laws about giving. What we give does not determine our place in heaven, or the status of our relationship with Christ.
Giving outworks part of what God has commanded
Jesus drew our attention to the two greatest commandments - loving God and loving one another. Before ascending to heaven he gave us a great commission - to share his message through the power of the holy spirit. Without giving of ourselves practically and financially these prove impossible.
There are some biblical models of giving
Some of the first people gave one tenth of their crops as an offering to God. New Testament believers sold all their possessions and gave as each had need. Throughout history, people have expressed their giving as an act of worship. These models inspire and inform our giving, but don't define it.
What we give is not as important as how we give
When Jesus watched an old woman give a tiny amount he observed that she had given more than the wealthy temple visitors that day, even with their massive offerings. The principle of proportionality and our attitude towards giving - joyfully and not out of obligation, remains central in God's economy.
Giving is a practical as well as spiritual issue
Financial giving allows the practical things of church life to happen, enables us to release the time of people who in turn release others' potential, gives a pot of money from which we can bless others and redistributes the wealth in the community so that low-income members aren't left out of pocket.
The bible suggests we are blessed by giving
Just as the Old Testament talks of blessings that come from giving a tenth of our first fruits to God, so the New Testament promises that whatever we give will be given back to us, pressed down and flowing over. Acceptance of Jesus' lordship means acceptance of his promise of care over us.
For many in CLC, these values inform a decison to give
around 10% of their income to the church community.
For some, they also give more to other charities and individuals, beyond this 10%. They tend to give by standing order as this helps the church to budget effectively - and if they are taxpayers, they will sign a gift aid declaration that means CLC can reclaim the tax.
Our commitment as leaders of City Life Church
- we will publish projections of our expenditure online each new budget season
- we will be open and honest about how giving into the central pot is going
- we will uphold the Charity Commission's best practice when it comes to church finances
- we will give a monthly opportunity to give, and make it easy to give by standing order
- we will consult the church community about what we give to outside of CLC
|
|
| | |