I want to apologize to everyone with the spiritual gift of administration in advance. We make things way too hard as Christian leaders. Sometimes we are simply too smart for our own good. We think too much instead of moving forward in faith with what we know is right.
This weekend, CBS News attended our church services at Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, GA. They are running a profile on our congregation’s commitment to generosity which will be shown on their evening news this Thursday, March 22nd. Now, many churches are committed to generosity but our church is involved in something rather unique.
This past fall, many in our church made sacrificial financial commitments to provide assistance to those we sit beside each week who are unemployed, severly under-resourced, or struggling mightily. I had the privilege of being one of the architects and leaders in this effort.
Nowhere in the Bible is anyone called to an easy task and this was no different. When it comes to Christians and their money, getting an entire body of believers across the finish line of generosity is an arduous task. Getting leaders on board to release their financial resources is even more difficult.
The following are just some of the questions you have to deal with;
- Why are we giving to that?
- Has anyone ever done something like this before?
- How is the money going to be distributed?
- What happens if people are just looking for a handout?
- Shouldn’t we be giving money to something else?
- Are people going to actually come forward and ask for help?
- What about plans we already have?
- Well, in the past, this is what happened to me and how I was treated. Why should I give?
- And on, and on, and on.
These questions are common at every church in America who wants to raise money.
Quite frankly, because I do this professionally, I knew these questions had to be dealt. So we did. But the reality is that I really didn’t care about those questions. I just knew many people I sat by each week were losing their homes. They were out of work. They were stressed. Marriages were falling apart. Kids were hungry, cold, and were not going to have a Merry Christmas unless someone did something. People were scared.  So we did something about it.
When CBS News heard about what we were doing, they were amazed and had to tell the story.
What this taught me is that the outside world doesn’t care about the eight questions listed above. All they knew is that a group of people saw their friends hurting and said, “We are going to do something about it.” They knew us by our love for one another.
I’m not saying we should be reckless and not do our due diligence, but maybe that is attitude we should have as Christian leaders. If a problem exist, if people are suffering, just solve the problem and bring hope and relief.
Pastors and leaders, if something is the right thing to do, are you prepared to move forward in faith while not having all your questions answered?
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