39 The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and olive oil to the storerooms, where the articles for the sanctuary and for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians are also kept.
“We will not neglect the house of our God.”
This chapter reminds me of the challenges many small churches like our have with finances. We have a $500k offering budget which makes its difficult to cover staff and building costs. We have maybe a 120 to 150 giving units a year, 300 attendees a week. So the average giving is around $5k per year.
I think we have pretty committed people and we do. But at $5k per year that would suggest $50k average family income per year if everyone tithed. Given where we live I'm guessing that is pretty low. I think the idea of giving first fruits is difficult, but if we thought of it in the context of not neglecting God's house maybe it would have some impact.
continued prayers for Rich and God using you to support him.
have a good weekend.
Knut
They say that 10% of the people give 90% of the money. Its sad really. I've noticed my own greediness when it comes to the first fruits. I got the biggest bonus of my career this year.....and I have yet to put anything in the plate. Not that I won't, and I plan to......but, I find it easier to put that off than to put off whatever it is that I want.
ReplyDeleteKim and I were just talking about it in terms of volunteering too. Same story. Every event we volunteer for, and its most of the events....its the same people working.....same families.
Think what we could do if we had everyone fully engaged.
have a great weekend!