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| “Each man (or woman) should give what he (or she) has decided in his (or her) heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” |
| —2 Corinthians 9:7 |
At a particular time of year in many Protestant churches in the United States, the governing board seeks to carefully plan a budget for the coming year. In order to have some idea of the financial commitment that members and friends of the church intend to make during the year ahead, some churches use a system of pledging.
It is understood that no one will pursue you if you are unable to give your pledged amount. It is a decision between you and God. In fact, most churches include the phrase, “As God provides and enables me, I promise to give…” on their Pledge Cards to make certain that members and friends of the church understand this is a commitment between the individual and God.
Your particular church may not use the Pledge System. In fact, you may have some sound theological reasons for not doing so. But, the church where I worship, an Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), does use the Pledge system because it has worked well for us for many years.
The Pledge Card is usually accompanied by a letter. One recent year, our annual Stewardship Letter included these words:
To our Members and Friends:
In the fall of each year, the Session of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (EPC) must look back at what we have accomplished as a church and also look forward to the coming year in order to set a course toward those things we hope to accomplish. A part of this process involves reviewing our Budget for the past year and formulating a Budget for the year to come.
We depend on the generosity of those of you who continue to support the mission and endeavors of Redeemer. It is important that you know how much we appreciate your faithfulness in supporting our ministry. For a church of our size, we have an enviable record of sacrificial giving on the part of our members and friends.
Because of your generosity and faithfulness, we have not only maintained our current local programs, we have also had the opportunity to contribute significantly to local, national, and global mission projects, such as the Erie City Mission, and the work in Fintonia, Sierra Leone, to name just two. In addition, we have continued to have a vital partnership with the Coalition for Christian Outreach and its ministries to college campuses, including at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
In sincere humility, we ask that you examine your planned giving for the coming year and consider if you might increase your giving to help us expand our work in the Erie community. If you are not yet tithing 10% of your gross income, we ask you to prayerfully consider doing so. If you are already giving your tithe and beyond, we ask you to consider whether you might give even more generously.
Enclosed with this letter, you will find a Pledge Card for the coming year. We respectfully ask you to fill out this card and return it to church on the Sunday designated on the Pledge Card. If you will not be able to attend that Sunday, please give your Pledge Card to our Treasurer.
Let me close by once again thanking you for your past generosity and also to thank you, in advance, for your continued faithfulness in giving to the work of God in Erie through Redeemer Presbyterian Church. You are a vital part of our ministry. Your gifts, and even more so, your time and talent, are all used by God in a significant way.
Whether your church uses the Pledge System or not, it still depends on the loving, faithful gifts of God’s people in order to do the ministry for which God has called it in your community. It is instructive to read what the Apostle Paul wrote about this subject, found in 2 Corinthians 9:7:
Each man (or woman) should give what he (or she) has decided in his (or her) heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Think about it. God gave His one and only Son, Jesus, to die in our place and pay the penalty for our sins. Can we out-give God? No! But, if we accept the fact that all that we are and all that we have has come to us as a precious gift from God, then we should willingly give to His church—the one we attend and that ministers to us—a reasonable portion of what He has given us. Many believe that 10% of one’s gross income is a good starting place. Some can give much more. Others, due to individual circumstances, may have to give less.
The new iPhone costs around $1,000. When faced with such an expenditure, I believe Christians should ask themselves whether they really need to spend that much money on something that, if they looked around, they could find another model at a greatly reduced price. Yes, there may be someone who actually needs that new iPhone for business. That’s a different story. But, to spend large amounts of money for things that have little or no eternal value should at the very least cause us to pause and consider if our money could be better used by the church.
Okay. That’s my Stewardship Blog Post for this year. As we begin another day, let’s remember that God does indeed love a cheerful giver, And, perhaps this year we will determine to be such a one.
