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Generosity & Stewardship

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ThuThursdayJanJanuary5th2012 Year-End Giving Update
Posted Thursday, January 05 2012 @ 1 PM byScott Landon Tagged No tags 0 comments Add comment

Thank you for praying and for inviting God into your decisions about giving! Thank you for taking seriously 2 Corinthians 9:7 (NLT):
“You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 
—2 Corinthians 9:7, NLT

We reported in November that we would need $2.7 million to reach our yearend goal of $10.1 million. This was revised down from the original budget of $10.4 million approved in January 2011. It was a significant challenge considering that we had fallen short of our yearend giving goal in 2010 and we had met our monthly budget expectation only once in the first ten months of 2011.


On January 4, when all gifts postmarked by December 31 were counted, we had received $3.1 million for a 2011 giving total of $10.5 million, exceeding our goal by $400,000! Praise God for allowing us to meet and exceed our yearend giving goal and our 2011 budget!


More good news:
  • After being down or flat for two years, total giving in 2011 increased by 4 percent!
  • November and December giving increased 20 percent over the same period last year!
  • Almost 100 households gave for the first time in November and December.
  • It took gifts of all sizes to reach our goal! 
Praise God for transforming many of us from fearful givers into cheerful givers. Praise Him for allowing so many of us to experience the deep joy of obedience. And, praise Him for the hope and confidence He has provided as we begin a new year of sharing the Good News that God is present in us and with us!
WedWednesdayDecDecember7th2011 Reflections on Giving
Posted Wednesday, December 07 2011 @ 12 PM byScott Landon Tagged Fear Giving 0 comments Add comment
When I think about valuable teaching on the subject of giving, a February 2005 series of messages by Pastor Rob comes to mind. Below are some highlights from one of those sermons that are well worth revisiting in light of today’s economy. 

Giving is a tough subject, one that is often off our radar screen. Admittedly, in many ways it defies human logic to give. But having a true vision of God changes everything, including— and especially—our giving. 

People who understand that God is great are great givers, but when we don’t understand that, worry about our future and how our needs will be met can consume us. 

Because giving is so hard, so counterintuitive, and so scary, and because there is so much failure in this area, I want to talk about our core problem with giving—not because I want something from you but because I want something for you.

Our biggest problem with giving isn’t that we’re greedy. It’s that we’re fearful. What God shows us in His Word is that the no of fear regularly trumps the yes of faith. 

“But over the years, as my income increased, I began to notice a slight hesitancy in my giving. I was still giving a dime out of every dollar, but now it was adding up. . . . Whenever I wrote one of those seemingly large checks, concerns such as these would run through my mind: What if I need the money for something else? What if I have an unexpected expense? 

“My struggle didn’t stop me from giving a certain percentage, but it sure took some of the joy out of it.” Stanley adds, “As I began to evaluate my hesitancy, I concluded that my problem wasn’t greed. It was fear. I was slowly turning into a fearful giver.” 

I can identify—especially as I move into my fifties, with retirement just a decade or two away and the need to help finance multiple college educations. 

Friends, Andy Stanley and I are not the only ones with this problem. Not surprisingly, cheerful giving within the Church has increasingly become fearful giving, and as a result, the percentages given to the cause of Christ have gone down and down and down. 

Don’t take my word for any of this. In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turns conventional wisdom inside out and upside down as He lays out His radical vision for Kingdom living. And nowhere is Jesus more radical than in what He has to say on the subject of giving. 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,” Jesus says, “where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19–20). 

We can read this and erroneously conclude that Jesus is saying money, possessions, and property are bad and unspiritual. But Jesus is not condemning the use of property or having possessions or money. 

What He is saying is, “Don’t try to store up your treasures here, because our earthly treasures are so temporary.” In other words, Jesus isn’t saying it’s wrong to store up treasures on earth. He’s saying it’s stupid. It’s shortsighted. 

So what are we to do? We are to store up our treasures in heaven—a treasury invested in Kingdom work, in souls saved, in lives transformed. Invest, Jesus tells us, in those things that will last for all eternity.

Jesus isn’t against treasures. He’s against bad investment policies. He isn’t saying renounce your treasures; He’s saying relocate them. 

We’re not going to take any of our stuff with us. But when we give to the Kingdom of God, we send it on ahead. 

Jesus is calling us to be radical givers. It’s one of the marks of Kingdom living, one of the marks of true disciples. 

I wish we had the space here to share all Pastor Rob’s messages on giving, but one thing I would add is to point you, as Rob did that day, to the six different times in Matthew 6 where Jesus mentions worry—and challenges us to live, and give, in the light of God’s faithfulness. I encourage you to say ‘yes to faith’ and be a cheerful giver. n
MonMondayNovNovember21st2011 Thanksgiving is a time for giving!
Posted Monday, November 21 2011 @ 11 AM byScott Landon Tagged thanksgiving 0 comments Add comment
Thanksgiving is not merely a day to be observed once a year. For a Christ follower it must be a way of daily living. If we take time to think about it, we each have much for which to be thankful. Start with 2 Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

Wow! The gift of salvation – a personal relationship with the almighty God! Yet often we don’t stop and thank our Lord for all that He has done in making this gift possible. Even if this past year has been or is presently difficult, let’s remember Pastor Rob’s words that adversity is inevitable but faith in Jesus Christ trumps adversity. Let’s do as God’s word says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

During this week, read Psalm 100 and take time to reflect on all that God has done. As Johnson Oatman wrote in the hymn, “Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your many blessings, see what God has done.” Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!
SunSundayOctOctober16th2011 Hope for the Vulnerable
Posted Sunday, October 16 2011 @ 1 PM byScott Landon Tagged Africa Drought HIV/AIDS Missions MissionsFest 2011 0 comments Add comment
As you learned in today’s service, the food emergency in northern Kenya remains dire. In the Turkana region, this should be a time of harvest after the long rains of June and July, but very little will be harvested as the rains came late and in many places not at all. Livestock, weakened from a lack of pasture and water, are dying.

As most in Turkana are nomadic pastoralists, this loss of livestock is not only a loss of wealth and livelihoods, but represents the extreme challenges of their way of life in a harsh, semi-desert landscape.

Without flocks to tend, many Turkana families are now forced to establish makeshift communities largely dependent on foreign aid food and assistance. It seems this drought is threatening to unravel the very fabric of the Turkana way of life.

As the people of Turkana face this dire situation, we also realize that this group of people has historically had little access to the Gospel. In their situation of hopelessness they do not know of the Hope that is for everyone in Jesus.

Through today’s MissionsFest giving project, we are hoping to expand our work in Kenya. Through partnering with World Relief, we have the opportunity to make a significan difference for the people who live in this region of Kenya which has been devastated by the drought and by HIV/AIDS. Your gifts will help to provide food and water in Turkana for the duration of the drought. It is our goal to also bring hope for a long term response to extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS and food insecurity. Most importantly, we want to share with the people of Turkana the reality that Jesus is the Hope for Everyone. Stand with us for the vulnerable in Kenya by making a financial contribution to this project. All proceeds will go to WBC’s ministries in Kenya, including our Heart for AIDS initiative.
MonMondayOctOctober10th2011 Hope for the Vulnerable/East Africa
Posted Monday, October 10 2011 @ 10 AM byScott Landon Tagged Africa Giving HIV/AIDS Missions MissionsFest 2011 0 comments Add comment
MissionsFest 2011 Giving Project: Hope for the Vulnerable/East Africa

In a partnership that spans decades, World Relief and Wheaton Bible Church have worked together to serve vulnerable people around the globe. Right now we have an opportunity to build on that longstanding relationship as we respond to the pressing needs facing the people of Kenya.

Today in East Africa, a food emergency threatens the lives of millions. During this year’s MissionsFest, we want to have our eyes opened to that need and engage in meaningful and practical ways. Throughout the seven-year history of our Heart for AIDS initiative, we have had the privilege of standing together with Kenyan believers as they serve the vulnerable in their communities.

Now, through this MissionsFest giving project, we can help to grow that work in Kenya in a region known as Turkana, an area which has been devastated by the drought and by HIV/AIDS. The purpose of our project is to provide food and water in Turkana for the duration of the drought, and at the same time bring hope in the form of a long-term response to extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS, and food insecurity. More importantly, we want to share the message that Jesus is the Hope for Everyone with people who have only been marginally reached with the Gospel.

This is a time for the Church—Kenyan and global—to stand up for desperately hungry people. With your help, we seek to mobilize our church to garner the resources needed for the people of Turkana through next week’s MissionsFest giving project.

Please pray about and consider how God might use you and your financial resources to share Jesus—The Hope For Everyone—with the people of Turkana. Respond using a special MissionsFest giving envelop in the chair racks or at the Welcome Desk, or give online. Visit www.wheatonbible.org/MissionsFest2011 to learn more.
Generosity & Stewardshipby Giving is at the heart of the Christian life, at the heart of the Gospel and at the heart of God. God has set the pattern for giving, and there is no worthier goal than to give as He gives.
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