Online Church Part 2 "Financial Fears"
Financial Fears
I think this is a bigger concern for a lot of vocational minister types, even if they don’t let themselves acknowledge it. “If people aren’t attending worship, they aren’t giving, and that will hurt the ministries of my church and churches around the world (not to mention my own family.)”
Once again, this is where Coronavirus might be exposing our own theological weaknesses. The key truth forgotten being that God provides. He cares for His bride, and He is faithful to care for those whom He has called. However, alongside that remains the question: why are people only giving to church in worship services?
If pooling our resources as a church to accomplish the God-given mission of the church is understood, why are they not supporting the church like they would any other service in life? They pay their bills online. They automatically pay for services like cable and internet. Why do they not support the church that way?
The answer of course is that giving is an act of worship. (That takes us back to the over dominance of the service. Can worship only happen in a planned service “in the church?”) And true, we do give offerings in worship, but there is an aspect of what we give that we owe God. That is the “bill” part. In the Old Testament this was the tithe. Jesus did away with the tithe when He said that everything we had was God’s and owed Him. We now prayerfully consider everything we have as His, and commit to giving a portion (likely more than the OT 10% but also less than the widow's 100%!) So, we probably need to rethink the way we teach and do giving. Among other things, whatever the “tithe” means in your church, it ought to come right off the top, and get paid the way other bills do. Then, further giving in the form of offerings can happen in any number of ways, including the worship service.
That said, other changes are likely coming in this internet age that will reduce the costs of the way we do church. As more happens online or away from the central building, as we learn better to be church scattered throughout our communities and not simply walled up away from everyone, our costs may go down.
I think this is a bigger concern for a lot of vocational minister types, even if they don’t let themselves acknowledge it. “If people aren’t attending worship, they aren’t giving, and that will hurt the ministries of my church and churches around the world (not to mention my own family.)”
Once again, this is where Coronavirus might be exposing our own theological weaknesses. The key truth forgotten being that God provides. He cares for His bride, and He is faithful to care for those whom He has called. However, alongside that remains the question: why are people only giving to church in worship services?
If pooling our resources as a church to accomplish the God-given mission of the church is understood, why are they not supporting the church like they would any other service in life? They pay their bills online. They automatically pay for services like cable and internet. Why do they not support the church that way?
The answer of course is that giving is an act of worship. (That takes us back to the over dominance of the service. Can worship only happen in a planned service “in the church?”) And true, we do give offerings in worship, but there is an aspect of what we give that we owe God. That is the “bill” part. In the Old Testament this was the tithe. Jesus did away with the tithe when He said that everything we had was God’s and owed Him. We now prayerfully consider everything we have as His, and commit to giving a portion (likely more than the OT 10% but also less than the widow's 100%!) So, we probably need to rethink the way we teach and do giving. Among other things, whatever the “tithe” means in your church, it ought to come right off the top, and get paid the way other bills do. Then, further giving in the form of offerings can happen in any number of ways, including the worship service.
That said, other changes are likely coming in this internet age that will reduce the costs of the way we do church. As more happens online or away from the central building, as we learn better to be church scattered throughout our communities and not simply walled up away from everyone, our costs may go down.
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