Where does It Go?

Reading: Galatians 6: 10

‘whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone…’

 

When I was growing up my Dad was the minister of our church. This led to me having some quite strange assumption about how things worked. One of the worst mistakes I made was to do with the church offering. My Dad’s catchphrase that he used when talking about the offering was ‘gifts towards the work and witness of this church’ which my ears heard as ‘gifts that go on paying my wages. All through my teen years I refused to give any money in the church offering as in my eyes I would just be funding my own pocket money, which is a bit pointless!

 

When I turned 16 I was allowed to attend church meetings, which seemed more exciting then it actually was. In one of my first meetings the church treasurer took us through the church accounts for the last year. I could tell from the expressions on other peoples faces that this was not usually one on the highlights of the meeting. I listened as he went through all the money that came in from members and clubs that ran in the church building. He then went on to talk about how that money was spent. I was surprised to learn how little went towards my Dad’s wages and how much went on supporting people within our community and the world. I realised that my assumptions had been wrong and that I needed to start giving. The treasurer then read out the above verses followed by a challenge about how many more people we could reach if we all continued to give.

 

 

So, the challenge is to think about you own perceptions about how the money you give is used? Are you holding back based on your own negative ideas?