Until the introduction of online giving, givers weren’t really thanked for their donations to their church. It was their obligation and their worship, so they didn’t expect a thank you. 

It’s no easy task trying to get people to understand the beauty of giving and generosity. Giving is an expression of worship, an invitation to partner with God in everything. It requires you to “place your bet” on the work of God over the physical comfort of predictability. Many of us have felt the discomfort of calculating the amount of money God has deemed his tithe and tried to do the math on how that would impact our wallet.

In our last article, we shared the difference between stewardship and generosity; you can read about it here. In this article, we're diving deeper into generosity and what it really means to be generous.

"General Fund" and “Tithes” are the most common designations churches use to support day-to-day operations like staff salaries, facilities maintenance, and outreach programs. 

These things, while perhaps not as tangible or inspiring as, say, digging a well in Somalia, are crucial. They ARE the cost of doing good. 

Today is Giving Tuesday, a movement that began in 2012 to encourage generosity. According to givingtuesday.com, "GivingTuesday is an opportunity for people around the world to come together through generosity in all its forms by sharing acts of kindness and giving their voice, time, money, goods, and advocacy to support communities and causes."

Building a generous church is hard. It may even feel impossible at times. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In just a few short weeks, the CSN Team is heading to Augusta, Georgia to attend Give Conference!

Spending is a typical daily occurrence for us today. The difference between our spending and people living one hundred or more years ago is that not all our spending is necessary for our survival. Modern inventions and industry have made it possible for us to get what we need quickly and at affordable prices. This progress has not only freed up more of our time, it's made surplus, having more than what's necessary to provide for basic needs, a reality for most people.

It’s a common feeling for many believers to feel “called” to advance the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s as if God is constantly looking for donors to fund his mission; he’s got a goal set and those buckets keep sloshing around dimes and nickels. Pair that with the trend in many churches to do capital campaigns where Pastors reveal a “number” God gave them, and if we’re not careful, it can feel like we’re doing God a favor by giving generously.

Doing what’s right is a struggle for us in most areas of life. Because following God’s commandments goes against our fallen, sinful nature, our attempts to do it right can often take the form of tasks we perform. We do so to prove to God, or perhaps more to ourselves, that we are Christ-like, that we’re doing what’s right.

Planned giving is not for the faint at heart. Nevertheless, an increasing number of churches across America are hosting estate planning (wills and trusts) educational seminars. These churches are serving their members with essential end-of-life decisions while at the same time adding hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars, of future gifts for ministry.

There's a huge disconnect between what Christians are instructed to do and what they actually do when it comes to giving. Why is that? Most Christians know the Bible encourages them to be generous, yet a large majority of them give little or nothing at all. Is this open rebellion or something entirely different?