BIBLICAL GIVING

Biblical Advice for Cheerful Givers

Weve been told this since our days in Sunday school: We want to give and we need to give gladly. A spirit of generosity isnt enough to guide us in our decisions. What else does Scripture have to say on the subject? Three kinds of nancial giving are mentioned in the Bible: oerings, tithes and alms. Understanding what they mean helps us achieve a thoughtful, balanced plan for our cheerful giving.

Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, for God loves a cheerful giver.
(2 Corinthians 9:7)

Oerings and Tithing

On the rst day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come (1 Corinthians 16:2). The faith practice of making a regular nancial oering to your congregation is grounded in a rst fruits philosophy. We might think of this giving as business as usual. You pay the rent, you buy groceries and you contribute regularly to help carry out Gods mission in the world. Your generosity isnt an afterthought; its part of your dayin-and-day-out joyful response as a child of God. These oerings rst help to support local ministries, outreach and more. Your congregation then shares a portion of your oeringmission supportwith your synod and the churchwide expression. Stories of Faith in Action is lled with examples of how mission support enables us to do Gods work with our hands. Many Christians talk about their regular contribution as a tithe. This helps them to dierentiate between their nancial commitment to their congregation and the special oerings they designate to specic causes. Such causes may include ELCA World Hunger, a program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, your congregations building fund or a pan-Lutheran organization such as Lutheran World Relief. We encourage your designated support of these worthy causes. But we also recommend that these oerings are given above and beyond, and never in place of, your commitment to your regular congregational oering.
STORIES OF FAITH IN ACTION

Alms
Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys (Luke 12:33). Alms are our compassionate, heartfelt response to the people Jesus mentioned in Matthew 25: those least of our sisters and brothers who are less than we in circumstance only and always our equal in their humanity. This is our most personal and spontaneous kind of giving in response to people in need. Think about the homeless man you see everyday by the bus stop or the family in your congregation whose home was lost during a re. Your outreach makes Gods love for them feel very real and very immediate; your kindness reveals Christs presence within them as well.

Time and Talent

Its also important to remember that when we focus exclusively on giving in terms of money alone, we lose sight of the bigger picture. God calls us to be generous in all areas our lives and invites us to explore the many opportunities to share ourselves through our time and talent. When we ground our giving in a biblical context, our nancial generosity becomes an expression of our love for God, for our neighbor and for ourselves. We are new people in Christ: compassionate and eager to share. We give cheerfully because God has given us so much.

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GROWTH STEPS GIVING CHALLENGE

Find the step that matches your current weekly giving. Prayerfully consider increasing your giving by one step.

$100increase by 1% - $150 or $75 - $99i

What percentage of income do you give?

Weekly giving

$50 - $74 $40 - $49ii $30 - $39 $20 - $29i $15 - $19 $10 - $14 $5 - $9

Weekly income Percentage of giving (.10 = 10%)

Copyright 2002 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Permission is granted to congregations of the ELCA to reproduce this resource.

$1 - $4i

GROWTH GIVING CHALLENGE

A challenge for all members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is to increase your giving through the congregation by 1% of your weekly income, and to consider similar growth at least annually, moving toward and beyond a tithe (10%).

Worksheet
Individual or household weekly income: Current weekly giving: Use the chart below to find the percentage closest to your current giving: $ ____________________ $ ____________________ ____________________%

Consider growing by at least 1% to new percentage of: ____________________% My new weekly giving amount from the chart below: $ ____________________
Annual Income Weekly Income Weekly Giving 8% 7%

15%

12%

10%

5%

3%

1%

5,200 6,500 7,800 9,100 10,400 11,700 13,000 14,300 15,600 18,200 20,800 23,400 26,000 28,600 31,200 36,400 41,600 46,800 52,000 65,000 78,000 91,000 104,000

100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,250 1,500 1,750 2,000

15.00 18.75 22.50 26.25 30.00 33.75 37.50 41.25 45.00 52.50 60.00 67.50 75.00 82.50 90.00 105.00 120.00 135.00 150.00 187.50 225.00 262.50 300.00

12.00 15.00 18.00 21.00 24.00 27.00 30.00 33.00 36.00 42.00 48.00 54.00 60.00 66.00 72.00 84.00 96.00 108.00 120.00 150.00 180.00 210.00 240.00

10.00 12.50 15.00 17.50 20.00 22.50 25.00 27.50 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00 50.00 55.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00 100.00 125.00 150.00 175.00 200.00

8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 18.00 20.00 22.00 24.00 28.00 32.00 36.00 40.00 44.00 48.00 56.00 64.00 72.00 80.00 100.00 120.00 140.00 160.00

7.00 8.75 10.50 12.25 14.00 15.75 17.50 19.25 21.00 24.50 28.00 31.50 35.00 38.50 42.00 49.00 56.00 63.00 70.00 87.50 105.00 122.50 140.00

5.00 6.25 7.50 8.75 10.00 11.25 12.50 13.75 15.00 17.50 20.00 22.50 25.00 27.50 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00 50.00 62.50 75.00 87.50 100.00

3.00 3.75 4.50 5.25 6.00 6.75 7.50 8.25 9.00 10.50 12.00 13.50 15.00 16.50 18.00 21.00 24.00 27.00 30.00 37.50 45.00 52.50 60.00

1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25 2.50 2.75 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00 5.50 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00 12.50 15.00 17.50 20.00

Copyright 2002 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Permission is granted to congregations of the ELCA to reproduce this resource.