You are free to give or not to give.
Your money is yours to do with as you please.
The book of Acts has a great story regarding this topic.
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
With his wife’s full knowledge,
he kept back part of the money for himself,
but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
[Acts 5:1-2]
This couple were making a big mistake.
No-one forced them to sell their property.
But they were acting as if they “HAD” to give this money.
Let us see what Peter says about their financial obligation to the church.
“Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold?
And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?”
[Acts 5:4]
Peter tells the husband, the money was theirs before they sold the property.
And it was still their money after the sale.
They were unaware their giving was voluntary.
How would this influence the way I would run a church?
“If I was taking over an established church?”
I would not be brave enough, to start telling everyone they were free.
To give or not to give.
It would be a lot safer if I said nothing.
But what about a new church!
“I could preach this message in the first morning service.”
I could tell everyone that ours would be a debt-free church.
And the theme of the church would be,
to get everyone in the church out of debt.
No-one would feel any pressure to give.
I would tell the board not to take out any loans.
And to buy things…only when we had the money.
The church could lead by example.
The people in the congregation would see how it is done.
They would be inspired by what they saw and their faith would get a boost.
I would call it the “Debt-Free Church.”
Then I would turn the emphasis onto evangelism.
We would have such an advantage.
The media are always accusing the church of,
” Only wanting people’s money.”
Our congregation would be able to say that our church never asks for money and never talks about money.
So, everyone could invite their friends and workmates knowing the minister would not get up and talk about money.
If it needed to be mentioned, that could happen at a mid-week meeting.
Sundays would become celebrations of our salvation.
Instead of celebrating a financial target being met.

Tony Egar.