Ask your family - Is our faith in God real enough to give Him our money?

If you want to strengthen your home in 2014 be sure to manage your life according to a family budget and above all, be sure to entrust your finances to God so He can bless you!

Discussing finances

Each week I enjoy the opportunity to meet with a number of men from our church for mentoring, coaching, prayer or sometimes just to encourage them.  Recently a couple of my meetings have had discussions revolving around the topic of giving to the church.  I didn't go into the meetings with that on my agenda but it came up anyway.  

I love to help young believers wrestle with this issue because it's directly tied to our discipleship.  Our willingness to worship God/trust God by giving sacrificially is an important step of spiritual growth.  Tied to this is the character formation that God is wanting to do in us that results in becoming people who are truly generous.  I see this as a topic I need to continuously revisit in my own life and also teach to my boys.

Family Bible Study

Would you say that in 2013 your family demonstrated true faith and worship through financial giving to your church?   What about to other mission causes?  

Looking at who you are today vs a year ago would you say you're more generous than you were...that you're growing in this area of your life?  If because of your financial situation or because you're new to your faith, you find that it is difficult to give more (or at least something) to God, that's good!   It's good because God is pleased by offerings that require sacrifice and faith.

This begs another question...because sacrifice and faith are what God wants to see in us, if you faithfully tithed 10% of your income in 2013, was it a sacrifice or simply your "duty?"  10% was the OT instruction to the Jews but with the coming of the Holy Spirit there is no limit to the amount of sacrifice God may instruct us to give.  If you have been giving 10% or 5% or 1% or 20% the issue is still, what does God ask of me?

As a family read 2 Sam 24:18-24.  Why wouldn't David offer something to God that didn't cost him anything?  What have you given to God recently that cost you something?  What amount or percentage of income will you give as an offering to God in 2014 that will require faith and sacrifice?  Do you believe God will bless you for your faith?

Who decides: the young-uns or the fuddy-duddies?

A question was recently passed along by a ministry friend/mentor.  My short answer is that resources are scarce and a church can only accommodate a limited amount of "consumerist needs."  Yet this is simplistic and not always the true answer so I've pasted the original question below and then give my longer answer.
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"I know that there is and always will be some level of tension between generations - even in the church of Christ contrary to His wishes and directions. However, on a philosophical note, I have to ponder, why this tension and adversarial situation seems to be a pretty common thing in the church of our time? How does it develop? How can it be addressed? Is it "normal" and should we just learn to deal with it, or is it against the model of the church Jesus has given to us?  

I just recently returned from an 11 day vacation with five days designated for the family, a transition day, and then five days with just my wife.  The two parts of our summer vacation couldn’t have been more different.

We spent the family portion on the Mogollon Rim of AZ, tent camping.  We experienced camp fires, smores, fishing, games, reading kids' books, hiking, whittling sticks, chasing wild life, and ducking for cover when the daily monsoon storm came rolling in.  We also made sure to break up the routine with trips into town for pizza and one trip to Payson to go bowling.  It was good family fun:)

The next week when it was just Tammy and me we used our credit card points to book a nice hotel in Las Vegas.  We ate at nice restaurants, walked the strip (side stepping the sex vendors,) shopped, visited the fountains of the Bellagio, watched some gambling, read next to the pool, visited the Spa, took in a spectacular show, and of course there was the part that will have to stay in Vegas.  Most of what we enjoyed was not kid friendly, ranging between boring for kids and inappropriate for kids.

The point is that there are times in the family life when the adults do things especially for themselves and there are times when the family needs and interests are the focus.  With four young boys we find that the latter is more often our focus.   Youth sports, school and school functions, structuring their chores and free time, home education and faith development, etc. etc. require the bulk of our focus.  Unity in the home is experienced when the adults work hard at creating a home environment where the children can grow and thrive.

Like in a family, churches also should be places where the environment is intentionally created by the mature/leaders to bring benefit to the young/immature and the unbelievers.  We learn to forgo our stylistic preferences and superficial desires because we understand that young ones require sacrifice from adults so that the environment is suitable and even fun for them.

So, my answer to this question is ultimately about creating the right expectations for the spiritually mature people in my church - 

1. Affirming them as the true leaders of our church 

2. Giving reminders - as leaders they will often be asked to make sacrifices 

3. 

Teaching them to help safeguard the “substance” of the church (i.e. beliefs, discipline, values) but to let go of stylistic preferences for the benefit the "kids"

4. 

Promise them occasional “trips to Vegas” - events and opportunities that challenge the leaders at a high level and include them in adult conversations that would be inappropriate for the young ones

So, the fuddy-duddies (spiritually mature people) win.  They get to decide what church will look and feel like. However, if that group of people are truly leaders, they will decide to design a church that appeals to the young-uns, ahead of their own preferences.  Of course if the elders/seniors in the church aren't also it's spiritually mature group - then there's a whole other set of dysfunctional issues to worry about that goes far beyond what the church feels and looks like.