ARE YOU A ROLE MODEL?
No Church can truly become extravagantly generous if their Pastor(s) are not generous themselves. It is just not possible. People will sense every time you preach to talk about money that you are not living your own message. This ultimately results in the loss of respect and credibility.
We are all on a journey and so, for each of us, this will vary in its difficulty. For some of us, this will be more natural, for others it will be a real faith tester.
It is not about words, but about perception. Do people consider you to be a generous person? Do you just talk the talk or do you also walk the walk? In order to answer this question, here are a few things to consider:
- Do you follow your own advice?
- Have you got examples of God acting in your own life whenever you apply his word and principles on money to your circumstances?
- How much money do you give to God in proportion to your earnings?
- Is it evident to the members of your congregation that you are a committed person when it comes to giving and generosity? (This does not only apply to finances but to time and resources as well).
- Do your members feel blessed by having you as their leader? What value do they feel you add to their lives?
It is about realistically walking your members through your own journey of self-centeredness to God-centeredness. This is of course as much of a lifelong journey for you, as it is for the rest of us. This is about demonstrating to them, the need to be real to themselves and to God. You want to show your members a vision of what it would look like when you reach the destination. Take them on the journey with you. The journey towards being rich towards God.
Are there any practical steps you can take?
Here’s a challenge for you! Tell your members what you actually earn and what you actually give. You might find this very difficult and confronting, but it will be very powerful. Consider the impact it might have. It will show: transparency, honesty, and most importantly true generosity.
Share a personal story on how God met your needs and guided you through a particular period and provided for something you needed during a period of obedience where despite you having to give up things God managed to bless you regardless. Let me share a true story with you from some pastors I know.
God was calling this particular couple to become Pastors. At the time, the husband had a very good job, the kids were in a great school and life was looking good in general. To them, walking into their calling would mean that the husband had to give up his handsomely paid job and of course, that would have a great impact on their finances and their quality of life.
So, the question is, what do we do when God asks us to give up something? Something we want, something we need? Something we could really use but we choose to go without, trusting God to provide for it.
They decided to step into their calling and hence they had to adjust their finances accordingly. One of the decisions they had to make, perhaps the hardest one, was to relinquish the great quality education of their children. To their surprise however, when they had the meeting with the school Principal to explain the situation and their decision to withdraw their three children from the school, something happened they did not expect. The Principal picked up the phone and made a couple of phone calls and it was all arranged. Their kids were staying in the school. The Principal said to them “we like your family and we don’t want to lose you all”. Now, for you to understand the impact in their lives and the size of the blessing, their youngest son was still in preschool! He was three! They got scholarships all the way through to the end of high school. Now that’s what I call heavenly provision!
Your story will be different. The point however is that God knows our needs, and is more than happy to meet them in order to help us fulfill the calling we have over our lives.
Reflection
Let me ask you a tough question. If a member of your Church happened to pick up your household budget, would they be surprised about how generous you are despite your income? To have a Church of true generosity it is going to start with you!
Call to Action
Review your budget and ask yourself does my budget honor God? Is it generous? Seek God’s help and guidance to become more generous. Build generosity in to your daily life. Then be confident and go forward and release your members into the blessing of a life of true generosity! As Jesus himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.