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folNews October 2018

folNews October 2018

by fol CHURCH on September 30, 2018

Dear Friends,

One of the key spiritual disciplines is that of financial giving. It’s an expectation that Jesus puts upon His disciples because He knows it will lead to spiritual growth. Jesus said: ‘when you give’.  Someone once commented: if you want to find out whether or not Jesus really is Lord of a person’s life take a look at their bank statement. Does the way we spend our money reflect the values of the Kingdom? There’s an expectation that Jesus will have supremacy over your wallet as well as your heart. So, what would Biblical guidelines be for how much we give.

Give proportionately. There’s an expectation in the Old Testament that a starting point is to tithe – that is to give a tenth of our income away. It is hard to imagine that Jesus would have an expectation that we should be giving less than this. Particularly when you consider that it is estimated that under the law the average person through tithes and sacrificial offerings would give away more like 20% of their income. How much more should we give by grace?

Give passionately. The apostle Paul speaks about giving generously when writing to the Corinthian church (2 Corinthians 8 & 9). Each person should decide how much to give in his or her heart, not because they must, but because they are moved to give in response to the generosity of God. We are to give cheerfully, joyfully and eagerly. We can’t wait for the opportunity to give. When we were in Uganda with a team from this church the Sunday morning offering was a joyous occasion to witness. Members of the church came with live chickens, eggs, vegetables, fruit as well as money – all to be used to enable the work of the local church to flourish – accompanied by dancing, singing and much joy.

Give privately. Giving is between you and God. So, keep it that way. For some of us the proportion of our income looks larger than others – it’s not about the amount, it’s about the level of significance and measure of sacrifice that the gift is to the giver. When Jesus witnessed the poor widow putting in her mite He contrasted her gift of everything with others who were simply giving out of the overflow of their riches.

The story and family of the Fountain of Life is built on financial sacrifice: it’s how we come to be in the place and position that we are. We don’t need to speak about giving too often because your generosity demonstrates that this discipline is alive and well in our midst. But, every now and again, it’s good to be reminded that the Kingdom of God does not exist on fresh air and excitement alone but needs the nitty gritty of hard finance in order to advance.

So give what you can and if you would like to increase your giving or start regularly supporting the work of this church by standing order, or any other means, then please pick up a leaflet on the information table or email our treasurer, Rysia at

With love, prayers and deep appreciation of all you are, do and give

 

Stephen & Pippa

 

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