Category: Church

Whenever you are prayerfully considering giving to a project of any kind, here are a few creative ideas to consider:

1. Give of what you already have. That could be something from you personal savings and investments or even a loan redraw.

2. Sell some of your assets. We see this occuring in the first church at Jerusalem when Barnabas sold a block of land and donated the proceeds to the work of the church (Acts 4:32-37). Put everything “on the table” making it available for God’s use. Maybe have a garage sale or put some unwanted items on eBay. Downsizing can have a very freeing affect on us, including reducing financial pressure (see Ecclesiastes 4:6).

3. Go without something (reduce expenses) and give from those proceeds. 

4. Stop spending unnecssarily by not buying more stuff and use those proceeds to give away. "Impulse buying" involves buying things we really don't need and is the number #1 budget buster. 

5. Earn more money and give the profits. Some creative ideas from people in our congregation include a person working overtime and giving those funds, a teenager mowing lawns and donating proceeds and a single mum renting out a room.

When considering giving, it is important to get the right balance between faith, wisdom and sacrifice (King David would not give an offering that did not cost him something). It's about equal sacrifice, not equal gifts. Everyone can do something. Sacrifice luxury not basic living … be radical but not reckless.

May God guide you as you seek him with an honest heart as to how and what you could invest in the work of His kingdom on earth. 

A lot of organisations conduct various types of fund raising today, including churches. I value the Bible as God’s Word. It is inspired by the Holy Spirit and beneficial for every aspect of personal and church life. We know the Bible has a lot to say about “giving”, but what about “fund raising”? Interestingly enough, the apostle Paul, along with the many other things he did, spent many years raising funds from his churches for some needs in the church at Jerusalem. This is referred to in his letters as “the collection”. He gave some detailed instructions to his churches concerning their giving (see (1 Corinthians 16:1-3. 2 Corinthians 8-9. Romans 15:25-27). Let’s look at how he went about this and draw some lessons on “Giving to God’s Work”.

1. Give Willingly

Giving to God’s work is to be done voluntarily and willingly. It is not a command to give specific offerings like it is to tithe (2 Corinthians 8:8). It’s entirely up to you to choose whether you want to be involved or not. Paul was pleased when people were “eager” to give (2 Corinthians 8:3-5; 9:1-2). When God moves on people’s hearts they voluntarily and willingly choose to give to God’s work. There should not be any sense of pressure or obligation (2 Corinthians 9:6-8).

No one “has to” give to any project. Giving is a heart issue and where your heart is, your treasure (or finances) will follow. When a person’s heart is in the church they are a part of, then they want to contribute as they are able towards it’s future.

2. Everyone Should Consider Giving

Paul encourages willing and voluntary giving but then he says “each one of you” should give (1 Corinthians 16:2. 2 Corinthians 9:7). It’s like you don’t have to give but you really should! Paul believes strongly in the cause he is raising money for and therefore he believe that everyone should contribute. He desires unity of vision and purpose amongst his churches. 

3. Prepare to Give

Paul did not resort to pressured giving or hasty decisions in financial matters. He encouraged each person to think and pray about what they should give. Each person was to “set aside” a sum of money during the week and then bring it to the church gathering where it was collected (1 Corinthians 16:1. 2 Corinthians 9:3). There are so many creative ways to give.

4. Give Proportionately

Paul asked people to give “in keeping with their income” or “according to their means” (1 Corinthians 16:2. 2 Corinthians 8:11-12). He understood that a person can only give of what he or she has, not what they don’t have. Paul’s desire was that there would be equality – not one “hard pressed” and the others “relieved” (2 Corinthians 8:13). God is pleased with “equal sacrifice not equal gifts”.

No gift is too small, in fact small gifts matter to God (read the inspiring story of what God can do with a little girl's donation of only 57 cents). Of course, those with greater financial capacity can help us by giving more.

5. Give Generously

Paul encouraged generous giving (2 Corinthians 8:20; 9:5-6). There are three aspects to generosity: giving based on wisdom (a calculated decision – “giving of what you have”. See 1 Corinthians 16:2. 2 Corinthians 8:11-12), giving sacrificially (“giving up something” – see 2 Corinthians 8:2-5,9) and giving in faith (believing God for a harvest on what we sow – see 2 Corinthians 9:6-13).

As you pray about giving, use wisdom; then add in as much sacrifice and faith as God directs you too. There is a powerful biblical principle at work when we give. We are investing in the kingdom and, in due time, there will be a return that is greater than what we give. This is a law, a principle and a promise from God’s Word. Giving is not just about sacrifice. It positions us to receive some tremendous blessing from the Lord. God blesses and helps those who invest in and help to build his purpose on planet earth. God is the God of “re-supply”. You can’t out give God! As Jesus once said, "It is more blessed to give than receive."

6. Give Joyfully

Paul encouraged joyful giving (2 Corinthians 8:2-3; 9:6-8. Romans 15:25-27).

Giving to worthwhile projects is not to be drudgery or a chore. It’s a joy to invest our lives in something that really matters.

7. Ensure Financial Accountability

Paul wanted to ensure that the church leaders took good care in handling the money given (2 Corinthians 8:18-21). Integrity was very important.

Integrity should be a high value, especially in the area of finance. Ensure propers systems and procedures for collecting, counting and spending donated funds. 

8. Excel in the Grace of Giving

Paul wanted his churches to excel, or be good at, giving, just as they were at other aspects of the Christian life (2 Corinthian 8:7). God is a great giver who gave his only Son willingly, sacrificially, generously and joyfully for our benefit. All Christian giving is our response of gratitude for God’s generosity to us (2 Corinthians 8:9; 9:15). Also, we are to be like him. This means becoming generous and giving people in every area of our life – time, service and finance. Giving provides for people’s needs, is an expression of thanks to God and causes people to praise God (2 Corinthians 9:12-14).

Yesterday we talked about some lessons from LEGOLAND.

LEGO is so simple yet when individual bricks are joined together with others, they can contribute to the creation of something quite amazing and complex. 

Think about this:

• Two 8 stud LEGO blocks can be combined in 24 different ways (remember that LEGO bricks can connect at the top and the bottom). 
• Three 8 stud LEGO blocks can be combined in 1,060 different ways.
• Six 8 stud LEGO blocks can be combined in over 102 million different ways!

Like LEGO, we have different capacities but yet with endless possibilities. Connect with God each day and connect with others around you. Be a part of the church that God is building. Everything really is awesome when you are part of a team. 

LEGO was invented in 1947 by a carpenter from Denmark by the name of Ole Kirk Christiansen. Before this breakthrough idea for a plastic toy, he suffered many challenges and setbacks, including his wife dying, a factory fire, and navigating the depth of the Great Depression. Today, LEGO is one of the top 50 brands in the world, it's a word in our dictionary, it's now a major movie, and most homes would have a few LEGO blocks laying around somewhere. LEGO has become a timeless toy for kids of all ages. Interestingly, Ole Kirk was a Christian and said that his faith in God and the support of his local church helped him through his darkest hours. 

What lessons can we learn from LEGO for our lives today?

Let's read some words from the apostle Paul first:

Ephesians 2:19-22 That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick (a prophetic reference to LEGO?), stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home. MB

Paul refers to followers of Christ as (1) citizens of a new kingdom (no longer foreigners), (2) members of God's family (no longer orphans), and (3) bricks in the building God is constructing (no longer aimless) – his church. As a result of this amazing change, gratitude is the most appropriate response, along with taking serious our new responsibilities. 

Like LEGO we were designed to CONNECT – upwards to God and downwards to people. Everything really is awesome when you're part of a team.

Here are a few lessons from LEGOLAND that I shared with our church a few weeks back as we honoured the 2,615 volunteers who have served faithfully in our various ministries this year.

1. You are a part of the church Jesus is building. If you are a Christian, the question is not IF you are a part of the church but whether you have responded to God's call? Ministry is not optional for disciples of Jesus. We all have such great potential in God.

2. You have a unique contribution to make. Each of us has a unique SHAPE – Spiritual gifts, Heart (or area of passion), Abilities, Personality and Experience. Pray about your contribution, explore the possibilities, experiment with as many areas as you can, examine your feelings, evaluate your effectiveness, and expect confirmation from others. 

3. The church is incomplete without your involvement. Like a puzzle with a missing piece or a LEGO construction with one missing part, you are needed! Everyone may not be prominent but everyone is significant in God's work.

4. You will be rewarded for the work that you do. We don't give in order to get but in giving we do receive. As we serve, we grow personally, we often make great friends, we have the privilege of contributing to others, and God is pleased. There is an immediate and an eternal reward for using our gifts to benefit others. 

So, what's your next step? As we each do our part, the church of Jesus Christ will be filled with his presence and be a light to our needy world.

Lost and Found

I heard an amazing story recently about a young boy in India who accidentally got separated from his brother and ended up lost. His name is Saroo Munshi Khan. He survived on the streets for weeks then was eventually taken into an orphanage where he was later adopted by an Australian family and grew up in Hobart, Tasmania. He was happy yet had this longing for home. Twenty-six years later, he found his way back to his hometown with the help of Google Earth where he was re-united with his family.

In many ways, we are all a bit like Saroo. We are lost people longing and searching for something, trying to find our way back HOME. Humans are restless. We have inner yearnings; cravings to belong, to connect, to find meaning and to contribute. For many people this leads them sooner or later to search for God. Saint Augustine once said, “You have made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.” An ancient songwriter wrote, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1).” A notable sage observed that, “God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). There is a God-shaped vacuum in the human heart that only He can fill. C.S. Lewis described it this way: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” More recently, the band U2 expressed it in their classic song: “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

Jesus came to call all those who are LOST (who have drifted from the Garden) to come HOME. The Cross is the place where the LOST can be FOUND and come HOME to the Father. The entire biblical and redemptive story is about God calling His people HOME. Then WE become his HOME … now and one day more fully (see Revelation 21:3). The apostle Paul puts it like this:

You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all – irrespective of how we got here – in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day – a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home. (Ephesians 2:19-22. Message Bible)

Home Church

We find our home in God and then he makes his home in us, his people. The church is to be a home for those who have come to experience the Father’s love, sons and daughters of God. It is where we are to experience a spiritual family as God intended it.

We each have different things come to mind when we hear the word “home”. For some it is a physical place while for others it connects them more to an experience. We use phrases such as: “Home sweet home”, “A home away from home”, “Make yourself at home”, “Home-sick”, “No place like home” and “Homelessness”. Both positive and negative experiences can take place in what we call home.

We also have different things come to mind where you hear the word “church”. Like a family, no church is perfect. Each church has its own mix of healthy and dysfunctional aspects. Each of us has a range of both positive and possibly negative experiences with church. At CityLife, we want to be the very best church we can. Each church has its own unique personality and culture. During this series, we’ll be looking at some aspects of the kind of church we believe God wants us to be, including qualities such as welcome, love, community, contribution, mission, generosity and gratitude. We have a dream that is gradually becoming a reality. Of course, it requires us to stop just ‘going’ to church and start ‘being’ the church.

What about YOU?

As you think about today’s message, what is God saying to you?

1. Maybe you feel spiritually lost and sense that longing for home. God put that cry in your heart and he’s the one calling you to himself. Offer your life to him today. Come to the foot of the cross and lay your burden down. Start following Jesus today.

2. Maybe you do have a church home. You may have been there for years or maybe you are quite new. They say, “Home is where the heart is”. It’s easy to take for granted our home and what we have together. Ask God to give you a fresh heart of love for your church home. See it with new eyes. Commit yourself to work to make it the best home it can be. After all, we tend to get out of something what we put into it.

3. Maybe you’ve been treating your church more like a hotel than a home. It’s so easy to become a consumer of spiritual goods and services. We can come along to be served, critique the service then move on if we find something better up the road. That’s not what God intended. Jesus designed church to be a home – a family of people doing life together with God in the midst of them, not just a place we visit or an event we attend. Is it time to move from being an attender to becoming a member?

Two Challenges

While praying for our church recently, I sensed the Lord speak two challenges into my heart:

1. “Re-dig the wells!” There is a story in Genesis where Isaac had to re-dig the wells his father had initially opened up but that had been filled with debris by his enemies (Genesis 26:15-18). He also took time to dig new wells of fresh water. Water speaks of the life of the Spirit. To be the home God intends us to be requires an increase in spiritual vitality. For that to happen we each have to re-dig our wells and ensure nothing is blocking God’s life in us, lest we become spiritually dry and of no use to anyone. You are the keeper of your spring.

2. “Go fishing!” I‘ve been doing some very amateur fishing lately. I don’t know a lot yet but I do know that when the tide turns the fish move and that’s when you are most likely to get a catch. Spiritually, you can feel the tide turning in our society and people are most open to God during those times of transition and also pain. The church is not here for us; we are here for the world. Our purpose is not to be entertained or become more comfortable, but to engage together towards our vision of seeing over 10,000 stories of transformation over these next few years. To do that, we all need to go fishing. Who is God moving on nearby you at the moment? Who is God calling home, that you could help show the way?

Sample Reflection Questions

1. Reflect on your own experiences of HOME throughout the stages of your life.

2. Where do you feel most at home? What is your favourite place? Why?

3. What has been your experience of church? In what ways can it be like a “home”?

4. Read the church’s We Have a Dream statement. What part excites you the most? What part do you think needs the most attention right now?

5. Consider the three possible responses to this message. Which one may apply to you right now?

6. Mediate on the two prophetic words. Which one spoke to you the most? How can you respond to it personally? 

7. Spend some time praying – for yourself, for family and friends, and your church.

A sobbing little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was too crowded. “I can't go to Sunday School”, she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by. Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday School class. The child was so touched that she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus.

Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings and the parents called for the kind-hearted pastor, who had befriended their daughter, to handle the final arrangements. As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump. Inside was found 57 cents and a note scribbled in childish handwriting which read, “This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school.” For two years she had saved for this offering of love. When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do.

Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion. He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building. Church members donated a total of $250 (a large sum of money at that time) and a house across the road was purchased, providing more space for the Sunday school. The over the next 5 years, the church and ministry grew, and more money came in. This little girl's unselfish love had paid large dividends.

When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300, and Temple University, where hundreds of students are trained. Have a look, too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday School building which houses hundreds of Sunday scholars, so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside during Sunday school time. In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history. Alongside of it is a portrait of her kind pastor, Dr. Russel H. Conwell, author of the book,  “Acres of Diamonds” – a true story.

Goes to show what God can do with 57 cents!

Be encouraged in your giving to God's work.

[There are a variety of versions of this story circulating on the internet. Some of them have been embellished somewhat. The above details are based on the first hand account of Rev. Russell H. Conwell, as delivered in his sermon on 1st December 1912 at Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia] 

Predicting is as much of an art as it is a science. And if any prognosticator is honest, he or she will tell you that they don’t always get it right. I know. I certainly don’t always get it right.

But I don’t pull my predictions out of thin air. To the contrary, each of them has a reasonable explanation. For these seven predictions, I gleaned from several sources:

• Data-based research, particularly LifeWay Research.
• Trends that are already underway and gaining momentum.
• Conversations with hundreds of church leaders.
• My own experiences, based on 25 years of consulting and research of American congregations.

This year I am adding a new feature, a confidence factor. For example, if I said I had 100 percent confidence that a prediction would become reality, it would mean that I have absolutely no doubt about it. None of these predictions have a 100 percent confidence factor. But none of them fall below 70 percent either. That means I have a fairly high level of certainty about each of these trends.

The order of the trends is random. They are not ranked in any particular priority. I actually have 14—I will share the other seven in the near future.

1. Increased church acquisitions. Smaller churches will seek to be acquired by larger churches in increasing numbers. One of the big factors is simply personnel cost. Many smaller churches can no longer afford to pay a pastor a salary and benefits, particularly health care benefits (75 percent confidence factor).

2. Downsizing of denominational structures. Many denominational structures are becoming smaller because their churches are declining. Others are feeling economic pinches. This trend of smaller and more efficient denominational structures at all levels will only become more pervasive in 2014 (90 percent).

3. Decline in conversion growth. American churches that grow are more likely to get their growth at the expense of other churches. Evangelism is waning in many churches, and fewer non-believers are becoming Christians. The negative reaction to programmatic evangelistic methods has evolved into an overreaction. Too few churches emphasize personal and church-based evangelism (75 percent).

4. More megachurches. The data are clear that there are more megachurches (average worship attendance of 2,000 or more) today than a year ago. There is also little doubt the trend will continue. The only uncertainty is whether or not the rate of growth of megachurches will continue to climb (85 percent).

5. Greater number of churches moving to a unified worship style. For years a noticeable trend was churches offering different worship styles. The most common was the offering of two services: traditional and contemporary, though the definitions of each were elusive. In the next year we will we see a reversal of that trend, as many of those same churches decide to move to one common worship style (70 percent).

6. Increased emphasis on high-expectation church membership. For decades American congregations as a whole lowered their expectations of church membership. One could be on a church roll in many churches and not even attend worship services for years. We will see a gradual reversal of that trend in 2014 as more churches move to higher-expectation membership (70 percent).

7. Increased challenges for congregations to build and acquire land due to restrictive governmental policies. American churches will experience more frustration with governmental authorities as they seek to expand, build, and acquire land. Part of the reason will be due to the authorities’ concern about traffic and congestions. Another part is the underlying concern of losing a property tax base to a nonprofit organization. In a few cases there will be outright animosity and prejudice against Christians and churches. (80 percent)

Visit the original article to give feedback on these seven trends.