Hi Dewey,
Just wanted to address my thoughts on financial offerings and thanksgiving.
This has been on my heart for a long time and I have never expressed it to
anyone other than my wife. Regardless of whether or not we believe in tithing or
giving from the spirit I believe this is an issue in the Church. When someone is
led by the spirit to give to a ministry or a particular Church why is that
offering not received with a “thank you, we appreciated your blessing” or “thank
you your offering will be used in many ways to serve The Lord? Most of my
Christian walk I have given to ministries only to receive a letter in the mail
encouraging me to give more! How cruel! Why not be appreciative of what you have
been given? The Church comes to expect people to give and at the end of the year
you may or may not receive a letter of appreciation for giving. For some people
giving is purely sacrificial on they it hurts to give and others not so hard but
yet to we tell our brothers and sisters that we truly appreciate them or do we
forget about them? Why should we continue to give? You Dewey are different. You
are not the modern day Church, you are genuine and are truly appreciative and
humble, realizing it is a gift from God!
I have in my time missed the offering plate during service and gave the
offering directly to a pastor or volunteer and literally have been told “I will
take that” not a thank you or one time the volunteer just snatched it from me
and placed it in the pile. Why is this so? I also once heard a pastor tell a
congregation that if they were not tiring they were worse off then Judas as in
the example with the money bags!! Yes that was preached!! It is gross!! Under
condemnation and fear tactics, grace and the spirit are not present. Do you want
to serve The Lord out of love or fear? Which produces the right fruit? Could
this be a reason churches are hurting financially? I have seen churches struggle
with finances and ask members to prayerfully consider giving more. If that
doesn’t work it leads to emails and announcements then desperation settles in
and they go and take the book of Malachi out of context to say we are stealing
and robbing God! It is hogwash. Why have we strayed from spirit filled giving
which does not offer a number or percentage but encompasses all of who we are?
Could be to give anything like donate your car to a needy family instead of
trading it in! Donate your vacation time to a mission trip, go next door and
help your neighbor paint their house. Instead I see Christians who tithe under
the old covenant law and are cheap with other things like treating someone for
coffee or giving in another way. Have we stopped to think that is 10 percent
tithe may not be from The Lord?
Love, Ken Widelski
If you have a response to Ken’s comments please make them below. If you also have an article you would like us to post here at FGGAM email Pastor Dewey at pastordewey@fggam.org It is a blessing that we have this forum that God has provided so that God’s people can express themselves and ask questions, there is so much freedom in our Lord!