Until a few months ago, the church that meets in our home did what I suspect the majority of simple/organic churches have done with their giving.
Nothing!
That’s not to say that people haven’t been giving. They have–generously. (A few years ago, a friend of ours did research on how giving within simple/organic/house churches compares with the traditional church. Well over half the people give more than 10 percent of their income. The typical American Christian gives 3 percent.) But most people don’t tend to give via the house church. They give to friends they know on the mission field, needs within the church as they have come up and various other charitable/spiritual projects they have wanted to support. All of it good.
The issue was forced on us recently when a couple told us they wanted to do some of their giving via the church.
What to do?
As a church, we sought the Lord and had the sense that he wanted us to be more strategic in our giving. It’s not that one or two people should make the decision about where the money should go. As his body, together, we were responsible for asking him what he would like us to do with any money collected. Even with people continuing to give their regular support to projects they are committed to, with no buildings and no staff, there’s a lot of money available.
So we opened a bank account, and each week we have a pot available for people to put money in.
In the past three months, as a church, we’ve spent time seeking the Lord as to what we should do with the money collected. Each time, there’s been a general consensus as to where it should go. We’ve given to missions, we’ve helped some people within the church who had overwhelming financial need, we’re helping one of our young people go to camp over the summer and we’re giving a proportion (rather than a set amount) regularly to House2House.
The most strategic network of churches I know of regarding finances is in Killeen, Texas. Last time I heard, they’d given more than $1.2 million since their inception.
What if the rest of us were to be strategic with our giving too? What if, as a movement, we were strategic with our giving? What more could God accomplish?
2 replies on “Rethinking giving”
An open heart will lead to an open pocket book.
I have a question. Were the funds placed in a personal account and allowed to accumulate? We are wanting to do the same thing but don’t want to establish a 501c3 or a non profit corporation and the other option was a business account but we needed a large minimum balance and then would need to deal with what might be considered a profit. So what are you doing and how is it working out?