Archives by: Gary Hoag

“Churches today increasingly spend resources on themselves and the needs and wants of those who attend their own congregations…It’s true that buildings and programs can be helpful, and we certainly want to attract unbelievers. But if we’re sticking to our biblical mandate we should attract people by “advertising” the sort of love and giving exhibited by Jesus, who called his followers to die to themselves…

Perhaps we should be more willing to give up our own gymnasiums and build them where safe after-school and summer activities are desperately needed. Perhaps instead of renovating our adequately functioning church to ensure that our carpet and wallpaper or sound system “keep up with the times,” we should invest in dilapidated or underserved churches in poorer places. Perhaps meeting in homes and other locations rather than in seldom-used “church offices” or rooms could save money to be used for missions.”

Jason Hood in “The Generous Church: Building a Budget that Reflects God’s Agenda” (Chattanooga: Generous Giving, 2006) 6-7.

If you want to read the entire article which includes seven suggestions to help make your church budget more biblical, search: The Generous Church: Building a Budget that Reflects God’s Agenda

“The Advent Conspiracy Project is all about spending less on Christmas gifts in order to give more to those that are in need, thereby loving them the way God intended us to. This allows us to worship fully the One that sent His only Son to be born in a manger for the salvation of mankind. Worship fully. Spend less. Give more. Love all.”

I’ve been working in Chicago and staying with my brother and his wife in Highland Park, IL, this week. For info on this program their church is promoting this Christmas, visit: www.adventconspiracy.com

“Generosity isn’t just for the rich. It’s not about those with excess giving to those who have little. Generosity is about displaying the character and heart of God.

I’m reminded of the story in the Gospel of Luke of the widow’s offering. A poor widow gave two small coins while the rich gave larger gifts. And yet Christ said she put in more than all the others because the rich were giving out of their wealth while the widow put in all that she had.

What does generosity look like in your life? Do you only give out of your wealth, or are you willing to cheerfully give all that you have in order to display the heart of God?”

Blanca Garcia, excerpt from November 12 blog post on thegenerouscity.com.

“Money betrays with false promises and conflicting loyalties. Seductively, it lures in a once godly ambition and converts it into a scheme to secure cash at all costs…

How do we know if we are being betrayed for money? If our lifestyle has surpassed our modest means and handcuffed our home, we have been betrayed by money. If we worry more about stuff and having a status symbol, we have been betrayed by money.

Moreover, we may be in the process of being exploited for money if our company or boss owns us. No margin for relationships, health, hobbies, emotions, family and faith is a warning sign to slow down, stop and objectively evaluate. Money’s betrayal steals…the remedy to money’s betrayal is generous living in the moment.

By God’s grace we release the unrighteous motivation to make money and replace it with devotion to Jesus and generosity to our community. We rest in who we are in Christ, not being tossed back and forth emotionally by feelings of letting people down, because eventually, we will let them down.

Our heart is to fear the Lord, not fear what people say, do or think about us. The reality is people think very little about us anyway. So, we die to self and stuff, and we live for Christ. We turn our backs on money’s betrayal and turn in trust to God and His loyalty.

Heavenly Father, I turn from money’s betrayal and turn toward You in trust of Your loyalty to me.”
 
Boyd Bailey in Wisdom Hunters daily e-devotional November 12, 2013.

“We focus on raising funds, not raising stewards … In America today, the most prevalent sin among Christians is our materialism and greed. Preachers are afraid to confront it as a core problem and offer the training needed to correct poor stewardship.”

Jeff Iorg, president of Golden Gate Seminary, as cited in Empty Tomb, 23rd Edition (Champaign, IL: 2013) 135.

“The great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor. When the worlds of poverty and wealth collide, the resulting powerful fusion can change the world. But that collision rarely happens…I long for the Calcutta slums to meet the Chicago suburbs, for lepers to meet landowners and for each to see God’s image in the other. I truly believe that when the poor meet the rich, riches will have no meaning. And when the rich meet the poor, we will see poverty come to an end.”

Shane Claiborne, Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 113-14.

My family has never been the same since getting to know the Treasures (the destitute poor of the garbage dump of Guatemala city) served by Potter’s House. We invite you to get to know them with us.

Check out this YouTube Video (lyrics below):
Jason Gray, With Every Act of Love

Sitting at the stoplight
He can’t be bothered by the heart cry
Written on the cardboard in her hand
But when she looks him in the eye
His heart is broken open wide
And he feels the hand of God reach out through him
As Heaven touches earth

(Chorus)
Oh – we bring the Kingdom come
Oh – with every act of love
Jesus help us carry You
Alive in us, Your light shines through
With every act of love
We bring the Kingdom come

There’s silence at the table
He wants to talk but he’s not able
For all the shame that’s locked him deep inside
But her words are the medicine
When she says they can begin again
And forgiveness will set him free tonight
As Heaven touches earth

(Chorus)

God put a million, million doors in the world
For his love to walk through
One of those doors is you
I said, God put a million, million doors in the world
For his love to walk through
One of those doors is you

(Chorus)

Oh – we bring the Kingdom come
Oh – with every act of love
Jesus help us carry You
Alive in us, Your light shines through
With every act of love
We bring the Kingdom come
With every act of love
We bring the Kingdom come
With every act of love
We bring the Kingdom come

This weekend I am pheasant hunting in Kansas with my 17 year old son, Sammy, who alerted me to this song. He loves it and rightly so, as it reflects his heart and the impact of our Christian generosity.

“Simplicity cultivates the art of letting go and de-attaching from possessions. It brings with its practice, freedom and generosity.”

Excerpt from Stewardship and Spiritual Gifts as part of “Matters of the Heart”, a publication of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church.

“If the church is not developing and strengthening its own authentic approach to the area of money through discipleship, integrating faith and practice, the secular culture will be all too happy to fill the void, and to lead in ways that may not be in the church’s best interests.

It may be noted that an authentic approach to the area of money through discipleship is not something that can be led by church stewardship or mission personnel without the involved commitment of the top denominational leaders whether in formal or informal roles.”

The Kingdom of God, Church Leaders & Institutions, Global Triage Needs, and the Promises of Jesus, Chapter 8 excerpt. ed. John and Sylvia Ronsvalle, Empty Tomb, 23rd Edition (Champaign, IL: 2013) 131.

“God’s acts of love toward humans are acts of gracious generosity, of undeserved kindness to which no rights are correlated. God expects of covenantal communities the same extraordinary generosity.

Hear, then, Jesus’ appeal to his disciples to practice extraordinary generosity: “If anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles” [Matt. 5:40-41]…The generosity of the second mile is a duty the Christian should deliver even though the neighbor has no right to it…

Clearly, unmerited generosity of this sort presupposes that Jesus’ disciples possess a character of faith, hope, and love that predisposes them to mercy and forgiveness and not to vengeance and retribution; a character whose habits invite emotions, like gentleness and compassion, that inspire acts of kindness for which the aggressor can claim no right.

What is extraordinary about Christian generosity, then, is that no rights correlate to its acts and when this is the case such acts may very well benefit a wrongdoer. The generosity Jesus showed toward the woman caught in adultery was extraordinary because the grace of merciful forgiveness was directed toward one who was clearly a wrongdoer and deserving of punishment…

The merciful generosity with which God has redeemed the faithful is the same generosity with which the faithful are to redeem the world…By undertaking projects of extraordinary kindness especially toward the undeserving, a covenantal community bears into the world the same extraordinary grace whereby God in Christ redeems and reconciles the world and establishes a kingdom of peace.”

James E. Gilman, Fidelity of Heart: An Ethic of Christian Virtue (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) 84-86.