In the matter of giving and receiving, the church has responsibilities, just as the giver does. We have seen that God wants His people to refrain from giving financially when there are unresolved conflicts in the church. We have also seen that giving is a response of obedience over time, and not the result of an emotional warp spasm. But what responsibility does the church have?
The first is that the church is responsible to be teaching the people the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). We are not to teach what the Bible says in bits and pieces, but rather are to gather it all up in a systematic whole. But this includes teaching the people what the church should do in the presence of the people, and not just what the people should do for the church.
When it comes to godly fund-raising, there are two basic methods employed in the Bible. When Paul puts the godly squeeze on the saints, it is for the sake of distributing practical relief to others (2 Cor. 9:2-4). Even there, there is a point made of having accountability (2 Cor. 8:18-20), but Paul does lean on the saints to dig deep and give . . . to the poor.
When it comes to building construction or reconstruction, the method we see in Scripture is the method of putting a box at the entry way of the sanctuary. This is how the Temple was rebuilt under Jehoash. “But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the Lord: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 12:9). We also see that this is how donations were taken in at the Temple at the time of Jesus. The Lord watched as the widow woman put her two mites into the offering box at the entry to the Temple (Mark 12:42).
This is why, incidentally, we don’t pass the plate during the worship service. We present our tithes and offerings as part of our worship, but we don’t collect them that way. When we pass anything around, it is to distribute, to give. When we celebrate the Supper together, the elders send men out into the congregation to give, not to take. And when the Lord leads you to give, you may do so at the entry, and with no one looking over your shoulder.
So let the stones cry out.
I don’t comprehend how you present your tithes and offerings during the worship, but don’t pass the plate. How do they get gathered up?
Are the tithes and offerings presented during the worship service in the sanctuary in some way? Do you all walk up to the front and drop them in a bucket?
Or are you saying the only way they are presented is in the box in the back?
jafrtiori — The box is on a side table before the service, and folks put their offerings in it as they come in. During the service, one of the elders or deacons brings the box up to the front on behalf of the congregation as we all sing an offertory song (usually a short Psalm or other Scripture portion). And then there are those of us who tend to sneak our offerings in after the service because we got there too late or forgot or didn’t want to walk all the way to the other side of the gym. ;^)
I am in a church that makes the collection and presentation of the offering a small ceremony within the ceremony. When I attended First Evangelical Church in Memphis, you placed your offering(s) in boxes on the way in or out…or both. I liked that, and I think I liked it mostly because it left more time for the sermon. The pastor was Duane Litfin, and I much preferred an additional 4-7 minuted of his teaching me. Though we were quite poor at the time, we would give on the way in. Sometimes I searched through my pockets on the way… Read more »