What Your Offering Does

As a boy in church, I thought I understood our offering. After we gave our offerings, the ushers placed the plates on the Lord’s Supper table in front of the pulpit. Like the whole burnt offerings in the temple, I assumed the offering went up to God sometime after the worship service ended.

Eventually, I learned it doesn’t work that way. How does it work?

In our church it works this way.

First, we have careful financial controls and checks on the proper collection, counting, and disbursement of the offerings given. Our Finance Team has been charged with this task, and they take their responsibility seriously.

Second, we establish a budget which gives a financial plan for the use of the money. Currently, we use over 16% of the budget for mission work both far away and close by. One of the big items this year is the establishment of our first multi-campus site on the southshore.

Third, we work within the framework of the budget.

Let me give you some answers of what your offering does.

Last weekend several of us participated in the Angola Prison Revival. We learned then that our giving for the Cooperative Program (Louisiana Baptist Churches joining together to do a statewide ministry) helps provide a ministry to Angola (an “unto the least of these” kind of ministry). We also learned that our giving to the Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering helps support the training of prison chaplains to do the work of ministry inside Angola and other state institutions.

Your weekly giving also does work far away. As we give each week, we help support over 5,000 international missionaries like our former staff member Jesse Hoyer and Will Robbins and his family (son of Bill and Nancy Robbins).

But our giving also blesses people close by. For example, our new Upward Recreation ministry reaches out to kids and Celebrate Recovery helps our community deal with the “hurts, habits, and hang-ups of life.”

Your faithfulness in giving makes your church ministries flourish.

By the way, if you would like to read about people who tithe and how they fare generally, please click here and read “Are Tithers Better Off Financially?”

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One Response

  1. Good example of what happens at a focal point, one dimension, of Romans 12:5 well executed. No part is easy. Every application is a wonderment in Blessings.

    Blessings

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