"Rise Up To The Challenge"
Beginning A Culture
of Generosity
Did you know that the average protestant church member gives away about 2% of their income to the church? Another statistic shows that the median protestant (person in the middle if lined up smallest percentage to largest) only give 0.62% of their income to the church.
 
For most people the reason for this has less to do with their wealth or income and more to do with intentionality and regular systematic giving.
 
Over the course of a year, $1 per day comes to a gift of $365, which for about 35-40% of Americans would be significant growth in their giving to the church. The average Starbucks coffee costs $2.75. This amounts to over $1,000 if one is purchased every day of the year.
 
Regular systematic giving can help all of us become more generous. We get overwhelmed when we think about larger numbers like $1,000. However, most of us can find $2.75 per day. As you think and pray about your generosity this year, consider how systematic giving may help you become more generous.
 
Quote from a church member:
 
For years I didn’t think my giving was very important to the life of the church.  After all, we were just starting out, had a lot of expenses, and didn’t really have much money. Then, we started by giving $5 per week. It felt like a lot of us. I don’t think we could have written a check for $250, but we could do that $5 per week. We have grown this amount every year and it is through the discipline of regular gifts that the amount doesn’t overwhelm us. I did not realize how important I was and what a difference I made to my church. How proud I was to be able to support my church with pride and love, giving me a church home to pray, learn and have friends who had faith and cared.
The day of my 16th birthday I had been to the drivers license bureau to get my legal license to drive. I then started a new adventure of taking my mother to Dallas, Texas to a cancer hospital. My dad and her had suspected that she possibly had cancer and it was time to find out for sure. I remember driving 900 + miles that day to Dallas with sadness of what the trip represented, but it had to be done. The following day my mother was examined and was told that she did have cancer and was then told that she could expect to live only six more months and to go home, go to bed and wait to die.
 
What a shock to my mother, dad and myself. We were not ready to let her go. I remember my dad saying “We are not going to let you die!” During the following months, church friends, family members, mom, dad and I spent a lot of time praying for hope of mom to recover from this terrible sickness. My mother proceeded to teach me how to do the duties that she had done before learning of her early expected death. She taught me how to clean house, wash and iron our clothes, scrub and wax the floors of our house, wash and dry the dishes and many other household duties that she had faithfully done before her instructions of wait to die. I will have to admit cooking meals was not one of my strong points as I had the tendency to burn water and that did not go over well. However, we waited and prayed for her recovery.
 
Two months past, four months past and then the dreaded six months came and past and mom was still alive. Nearly fifty years past and mom and dad were still praying that cancer had gone away and she had returned to her normal healthy life.                                                                                                                                
 
How did this happen? I believe that a major reason for her survival was prayer. All of us were praying to God that she would be okay and she would retain the gift of life for several more years. The power of prayer became the strength of my life and the help that others cared enough to support us. It was one of God’s many gifts. 
 
Weekly, we are reminded at Holy Love the opportunity to join in prayer for those who are sick and in need.  It gives me the pride and honor that we all have a place to meet and expand our opportunity of the privileges to join in offering our generosity through prayer.
 
                                                                                             ~ shared by Roger Collins

 
Holy Love Lutheran Church - www.holylovelutheran.org