November 9: HOW DO YOU FIGURE?

It’s that time of year when many churches begin to plan their budget for the coming year. My own church will vote on the annual budget next week. To do things in an orderly fashion is becoming for the church as a public organization, it operates on the voluntary contributions of its members. The books are always open for public scrutiny, unlike the six televangelists who were subpoenaed by Congress this week.
Is there a biblical guide that the church uses for its members in supporting herself? Yes, several.
One in particular is Malachi 3:10 (NIV), “Bring the whole tithe (one-tenth) 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.”
This simple guide will keep the church from being a burden on the community, never needing any kind of government funding or getting involved in ridiculous money-making adventures. Since giving is a wholly voluntary act, the element of worship through giving is always possible, if the giver’s heart is attuned to God.
Another good guide is 1 Corinthians 16:2 (NIV) “On the first day of every week (Sunday), 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.” The importance of this passage is the reminder that God provides material blessing weekly for us to cover the expenses of our household and we should likewise carefully provide for the expenses of the church performing her deeds of service to the community.
Churches that take these and other Scriptural guidelines seriously have no problem in supporting the annual budgets of their church.
How do you measure up to the guide? If you would reverse the words of Malachi 3:10 you would soon discover that you cannot live without the blessings of the Lord.

“Teach us to love our church and all she does to help our community rise
to a higher level of love and concern for one another, especially the needy.
Amen”