Giving
Giving to God
But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Corinthians 8:7
"Becoming like Jesus, Bringing good news"
PARISH CORE VALUES
Passionate worship
Effective evangelism
Lifelong discipleship
Loving relationships
Sharing ministry
Giving to God should be responsive - Scripture says that “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it”. Therefore when we give to God, we are giving what is already His. We love God because he first loved us. We choose to give our lives to him, because Jesus gave his life for us. Giving is our response to God who gives, and gives and gives. Giving to God is a sign of a mature attitude to the responsibility of stewarding everything which is His.
Giving to God should be planned and proportional – Financial planning should always be very practical, thought-through and should not be affected by our fluctuating feelings. Giving to God is no different. We need prayerfully to plan what we give and the amount should be directly proportionate to income.
1 Corinthians 16:2 Each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income.
Giving to God should be first fruit (tithe) plus offerings – the little phrase “tithes and offerings” in Malachi 3:8 indicates an expectation that we pay our tithe and then we give our offerings. The storehouse mentioned in Malachi 3:10 is the church where we pay tithes and bring offerings.
Giving to God increases faith - We are a bible-believing church and as such we are privileged to take personal discipleship very seriously indeed. There are many ways in which we can see our faith grow, but none more practical than in the discipline of giving to God.
Our faith increases as our giving increases; the opposite is also true. We cap our faith level when we restrict our giving. A church leader does the church a disservice when failing to teach biblical giving principles, because the congregation is held back from the potential outpouring of God, and consequently growth in faith is restricted.
Malachi 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."
The only time we are encouraged in the bible to ‘test God’ appears in relation to our giving to God. In other commandments we are told; “do not put the Lord your God to the test”. But God knows the extent to which our faith can grow when we get our giving right, and he is encouraging us to try to out-give him. Many people will testify that to out-give God is impossible. God knows how to open the floodgates of heaven in so many ways.
Giving to God should be joyous and generous – It is incredibly liberating to be generous and to give joyfully. It would be brilliant if we skipped to the front of church to make our offering each week.
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each person should give what they have decided in their heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Giving to God should be sacrificial – no one is commended by Jesus for the amount they give. But Jesus highly commends the woman “who out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on". It is our attitude to our giving which impresses God, rather than the amounts of money we give.
Incremental steps of faith……
A step of faith will look different for each one of us. For some it will mean that we increase our giving from 7% of our gross income to 9%. For others it might mean the we increase our giving from 12% to 15%. There are sometimes circumstances which determine a reduction in our giving; this should always be viewed as a short-term policy.
Remember— because of Jesus’ love for us on the cross, we now live under the grace of God. Grace means that whatever way we carefully and prayerfully respond to the privilege of giving to God, there is no room for pride or guilt.
It is clear that giving the first 10% of gross income to the church and subsequently making freewill offerings to the church or other charities fulfils the biblical template for tithes and offerings. But grace means the provision of choice.
If you have any personal testimony about giving, it would be so encouraging to others if you feel happy to share it. Please contact the vicar with your story.
In order to achieve our vision, can we encourage you to…
1 Pray for the ministry and mission of St Philip’s Church.
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
2 Calculate your current giving into the general fund as a percentage of income. You may discover that your financial situation has changed lots since you last calculated.
3 Decide what percentage of your income you would like to give.
1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
4 Thank God for his love for you, and the privilege of giving to his work.
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each person should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Thank you for your partnership in God’s ministry and mission at St Philip’s Church
Vision 1 We desire comfortably to meet all our ministry costs.
Vision 2 We determine to provide quality ministry and mission to all ages.
Vision 3 We dream of having resources in the ‘storehouse’ to fund outreach.
ACTION: Please send details of your giving pledge and request appropriate forms in an envelope marked Private and Confidential to: Gift Aid Secretary.
Instruct your bank to initiate or change your Standing Order. A Standing Order means that the church can budget better. It also reduces administration and increases safety.
Please Note: If you are a Tax payer, please gift aid your giving to God, it will increase the value of your gift without increasing costs to yourself.
To continue to give at the same rate, do nothing more.
Bank Details: Lloyds TSB Bank
Account Name:
St Philip’s PCC Churchwarden’s Account
Sort Code: 30-99-83
Account Number: 02672938
For further information please contact the Penn Fields Parish office:
Tel: 01902-341943
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
