More on giving

Back on the 7th of this month I mentioned some blog posts Richard Beck was writing relating to a different view of giving in our churches. He thinks giving in a way that connects with what we're actually giving to might be more helpful than just tossing something in a plate or offering bag.

He's now onto his third post on the subject. Here's an extract:

The most spiritually formative giving that my church does occurs around Thanksgiving when, on Sack Sunday, the church members take up to the front sacks of food for our food pantry. By the ending of the service the stage is packed with food. Then, after the service, we all grab the sacks and take them to a waiting truck. I expect lots of churches have giving times just like this.

The most spiritually formative aspect of this is the shopping during the week in preparation for the service. It's particularly meaningful for my boys who love to go up and down the aisles of the grocery store picking out food items. As we do so we get to talk about giving, poverty, gratitude, and what all this means for someone who follows Jesus of Nazareth.

It's well worth reading the rest because of the way he develops this argument....

Giving - because it's good

Remember the verse about 'giving a cup of water in My Name'? What about those who give cups of water, or time, or do an act of kindness not in Jesus' Name? Does he strike those events out of the Book of Life?

I think not.

Giving to others, being kind to others, doing something heroic for another is built into our DNA, I suspect, which rather undercuts Richard Dawkins' idea of the 'selfish gene.' Giving, being kind, being heroic may not be what we focus on, or do very well (either as Christians or not) but it is still there in our system, and comes out frequently. For instance, the anonymous truck driver who rescued a little girl from a blazing car near Milton in the last day or so probably just got on and did what he thought he should. I doubt that there was any particular 'spiritual' motive behind it.

What prompts this meandering is news that a website has been set up in New Zealand called 'Giving for Good: the generosity hub.' You can read stories about giving and helping, and volunteering, and recent news reports of generosity, and you can contribute your own.

You're also nudged to think about giving money to good causes, and shown some examples of how this might be achieved. There's nothing churchy or spiritual about any of it - not that I've noticed so far - but it's great that the groups putting it together think it's worth emphasising generosity within our society.

Thinking about Giving

Richard Beck doesn't call himself a theologian, but he does a lot of theological thinking. He's just started a series called Thoughts on Church Giving and begins his comments in this fashion, going on to say that while he appreciates the value of church buildings insofar as what they allow congregations to do, he also appreciates being able to give directly to people's needs as they arise....

If you are regular church goer I'm wondering if you have been experiencing something similar to what my wife and I are experiencing. Specifically, it seems harder and harder to drop money in the collection plate.

To be clear, we tithe. But we don't drop all 10% in the collection plate on Sunday morning. We devote some portion of our tithe to the weekly offering, but the rest we spread around to charities or needs where we can give more directly and/or interpersonally.

And that got me wondering. My hunch is that a lot of people give the same way. A small portion goes to the church and the rest is given directly to people with no "middle man."

Gifts that cost....nothing

Yesterday I posted a link to Kim Fabricius' sermon on Christmas. Today I'm offering something far less Christmassy, not at all religious, but still well worth reading - and possibly worth incorporating into your Christmas programme somewhere. (Yes, I know it's getting late in the day for this.)

One of the Harvard Business Review's regular writers is Peter Bregman. I've mentioned him before; he often writes somewhat self-deprecating pieces that have basic good sense and a bit of wisdom. He might tie these pieces into the business world, but they could easily be adapted for many other areas. As can his recent piece called, The Real Point of Gift-Giving.

He writes - after having explained that he's recently celebrated his 43rd birthday - as I emerge from this birthday, I can't imagine feeling any more appreciated, respected, and loved. Because on this particular not-a-big-deal birthday, in addition to those two presents, I received some other gifts — gifts that cost nothing, and that I have come to realize are, actually, a very big deal.

And he goes on to explain why. Check out his reasons.

Generosity

The Office for the Community and Voluntary Centre (no, I didn't know they existed, either) in a paper entitled, How do New Zealanders Give? Ethnicity and Income Research Supplement, tells us that:

No matter their ethnicity or income level, approximately three quarters of New Zealanders support the community and voluntary sector in some way.

In 2007, three quarters (75.4%) of people 10 years and over supported the community and voluntary sector. This was by any combination of giving, volunteering or other support (such as purchasing products). When compared to this population average, the differences between ethnic groups or different personal or household incomes are relatively small.

Besides this paper, which gives some extensive information on who gives to whom, there are four reports on Generosity by the same department. These have been coming out over the last couple of years, (the latest arrived only last month) and can be found here. The papers ask:

What do we mean by generosity?
What value do we place on generosity?
What do we know about generosity?
What can we do to promote generosity in New Zealand?

None of the papers are lengthy, but they have some interesting things to say about the state of generosity in NZ (pretty good) and our attitudes towards it.

Why wealthy children are giving their inheritance to charity

The so-called Me Generation is proving, in some cases, not to be quite so self-centred as it's painted. In an article in the Times Online, a number of young people are shown as being far more philanthropic than was expected. And these aren't just young people with a bit of spare cash; in several cases they've been young people who've inherited large amounts of money and have decided to put most or all of it into charitable works. Michael Amherst used the proceeds of the sale of a private school his father had set up to begin funding schools in other countries. Karen Pittelman inherited $3.5 million and has given it away to a foundation for poor women in Boston.
Furthermore, rich parents are beginning to instil in their children the wisdom of giving away most of their inheritances rather than spending them in a dissolute lifestyle.
So, just when you think the world might be going completely to the dogs, it challenges our assumptions.

Give up those extra tax dollars

New Zealand's Government tax cuts came into effect October 1st. Most people will see it as a few more dollars in their pocket. Some will be a bit wiser and bank the extra. Even though for many it's not a lot of money per week, the $12 to $28 a week individuals save on their tax bill can make a real difference - especially for those who can get along without it.

A simple suggestion has come from the Anglican Social Justice Committee: - give those extra dollars up!

By giving them up to those who do need it, and to those working to make a real difference, you can take an active part in changing our nation and our world into more of the kind of place we, and our children, might like.

The Give It Up! site has the look of a newspaper about, but there are plenty of links to check out, and plenty of ideas of ways to put that extra cash to good use. (Furthermore, the more you give away the more the Inland Revenue will give you back next year - it's one big merry-go-round!)

Dave Gibbons asks:

In the light of increased costs (as much for New Zealanders as for Americans), are we spending our money on the wrong things? Dave Gibbons looks briefly at the issues in a post on Out of Ur:
Buildings for one...
The largest expenses for most churches are facilities and staff. First, let’s consider the stewardship of our space. Is it really the best to buy as much land as possible and erect large buildings, when the same dollars could be better deployed in other initiatives that prove more impactful? How much of our space is actually utilized during a given week? In expensive urban centers, every square foot comes at a very high purchase price, and we can’t forget about the cost of furnishing and maintaining the space.
Or staff...
How about staffing? As culture moves from a hierarchical model to a more flat, open, or wiki model, how should we staff? When I looked more closely at our budget, I realized that over 55% of our budget was staff related. While our staff is amazing, it had unintentionally created a bottleneck in our mission—it impeded the development of our people because we were “staff-driven.”
Read the rest of his post to see what his thinking is.

Being Innovative 2

After yesterday's post on innovation, I came across an article today that had appeared in the NZ Challenge Weekly. (Unfortunately I can't link to an online version of it as they seem to be rather behind in their archiving. However, there's a slightly shortened version of it here.)

In the article we learn that Papakura East Presbyterian Church gave members of their congregation envelopes containing various amounts: $20, $50 or $100. There were two rules as to what was to be done with the money:
1. People couldn't just give the money back to the church; they had to use it to make a difference in someone else's life.
2. They had to link up with at least one other person in the congregation to combine their envelopes.

Thus the exercise served both the church by increasing community, and served the community by increasing church amongst them - you might say.

Apparently many of the congregation struggled with whether to take an envelope, and with the responsibility in using the money wisely. In the end 191 people took them and found a variety of ways to use the money: hiring a bigger vehicle for a family holidaying with a wheelchair-bound son; paying for a doctor's appointment; buying bike helmets for the children of a refugee family; giving money to a solo parent to buy shoes for their child; giving money to someone who had an unexpected vet's bill.

More than 90% of the recipients had no particular connection with the Church. The minister of the church, Geoff New, said that rather than expecting people to come to a particular church programme, this project met them where they were at. Furthermore, it gave the members of the congregation a sense of mission in ways they hadn't realised previously.

Being innovative

One of the biggest difficulties we face as Western churches is our seeming inability to reach out to the world around us. Calvary Bible Church in Colorado has used five (mostly) innovative ways to reach out over the last few years. These are the first two. You can find the others here.

They gave $100 to 100 people and directed them to use the money to raise more money. This idea was, of course, based on the parable of the talents. Their $10,000 was multiplied into $50,000, which they donated to local charities - it wasn't used to prop up the church.

Using the verse from Luke 12 that a man's life doesn't consist in an abundance of possessions, they challenged people to live radically, stop accumulating possessions, and give to the poor. The project was for 200 people to sell $200 worth of their possessions and give the money to the poor. $84,000 of possessions sold went to local community organizations. The congregation, meanwhile, was encouraged to live with less and be more kingdom minded.

Generous Revolution

On the Australian morepraxis blog (more praxis? is that a word to attract people? interesting....) there's a post about Generous revolution, which leads onto using road signs - particularly the Give Way ones - creatively. You need to read it to make sense of it. A couple of the signs might offend, so be warned.

The writer considers 'generousity, creativity and hospitality to be very subversive practices.' What do you think?

Being Missional and the way it affects our finances

A blog post by Mark Broadbent (of City Life Chrisitan Church) on the way they choose to deal with finances in their church. There are several good points including:

As missionaries, we are not called to give 10% to the local church. Rather we are called to surrender 100% to God.

From day one, City Life has allocated 10% of its budget to outside causes.

We encourage everybody to be generous with their whole lives.

You can read the full post by clicking here.

The photo shows Mark Broadbent in a somewhat excited mood.