So last week was pledge Sunday. How did you feel about it? Confused, guilty, pressured, encouraged or awkward. Those range of reactions are normal in churches. I think one of the reasons is that pledging is so unfamiliar to us. So it can feel like a fundraising drive or the dreaded cold call from one of the countless charities. Perhaps you’ve had a bad experience of giving to church in the past. Some churches seem to do almost nothing else but talk about money. Others seem to be careless and irresponsible with the money given to the budget. So I want to write a bit more about this issue to clear up our confusions and challenge our false views.
Think stewardship not obligation or guilt.
As we seek to worship God in every part of our lives, one of the things we need to do is think critically and carefully about our culture. For us to just passively absorb the values and trends in our culture is to follow the path of idolatry not true worship. So we need to wrestle with how deeply materialistic and selfish our culture is. This is the air that we breathe. We see in the fact that none of us think we’re rich. I don’t think I’m rich. You don’t think you’re rich. But we are. We are in the top 5% of wealth in the world. But we take all that for granted. Studies have been done that say no matter how much money you have, you will always think ‘if I could just have 10% more then I’d would be comfortable’. This means that the person who has 10% more than you, thinks that they need 10% to be comfortable! Do you see what’s going on? Because we’re so materialistic, we always expand our spending and expectations to our current income. We can never be content because we keep on looking for just a bit more to be happy. This is linked to our second blind spot . We think ‘it’s all mine…I worked for it, I earned it…it’s all mine’. We become selfish and self absorbed with our stuff.
The Biblical view is very different. Have a look at Deuteronomy 8:17-18, Psalm 50:10, Haggai 2:8 and James 1:16-18. They very bluntly and powerfully tell us that everything belongs to God. Everything is not mine or yours but God’s. Now God is not stingy or reluctant but he’s a generous giver. He gives us good things to enjoy and use wisely. This is stewardship. God entrusts life, abilities, resources, time and money to us to use wisely for his glory. Now if you don’t really get this then you operate in the land of confusion and guilt with your giving. Let’s unpack this.
1. Asking for a pledge doesn’t fit with trusting in God’s provision
Sometimes we feel like the whole idea of pledges and budgeting don’t fit with trusting in God to provide for us. If we trust that God provides, then we should simply pray and remind people to be generous. I feel like this incorrectly separates life and spirituality. It might be that we say budgets are the realm of business not churches. Or it might be that we think ‘my giving is my private affair’. But this separates our life into personal private spiritual things and public secular things. The Bible calls us to worship God with every part of our lives. The whole point of stewardship is that God calls us to live, serve, and give wisely in this world. The book of proverbs is full of insights and wisdom about the bits and pieces of life. For us to pledge our giving and seek to budget accordingly is not opposed to trusting in God’s provision. It’s simply seeking to be wise with what God gives us.
2. Asking for a pledge is using a guilt trip to get people to give more
I think this is a common reaction to giving appeals or calls to pledge our giving. Perhaps it’s understandable given the frequent calls on our money from charities and good causes. However, when people feel this way it’s a tragedy. The first thing I need to say is ‘be careful not to transfer your feelings onto others’. Let me explain. Because we’re all basically self-absorbed we assume that our feelings are the most important. So if I feel angry about something, I want everyone else to be angry. This is how factions develop in churches. We try to gather around us people who feel the same way as us. It’s the same with giving. If I feel guilty or ‘guilt tripped’ into giving then I assume everyone else should feel that way too. But let me be clear about this. If I feel guilty about my giving then, it most likely has nothing to do with a pledge or giving appeal. It’s more likely a problem with my own insecurities or struggles. This relates to the second thing. You see, if we’d sprung the pledge on 645 without any notice, then that would have been a guilt trip. But we were very careful at 645 to place the pledge within a larger context of stewardship. We gave people a month to think, pray, talk, and get advice. We offered a budgeting seminar. So if you’ve taken that approach and you know you’re being wise and generous then there’s no need for guilt or embarrassment. What you give is irrelevant. What matters are you being wise and generous.
This is stewardship. This is worship.
James
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