Christian Giving: When to Give to Christian Ministries
Wed, Dec 16, 2009
This week I came across two great resources on the subject of giving that are the influence for this post.
Where to give
The first resource I found this week was an article titled “Where to Give” and was provided by Free Money Finance. The article was a well chosen book excerpt from Dollars and Doctrine. I haven’t read the book, but the Amazon review says it is organized as a handbook for a Biblical approach to personal finance. Side note: It sounds right up my alley, so I may look at purchasing it.
The excerpt spends some time discussing giving beyond the local church. By the way, the author does a good job explaining the reasons why the local church should be the first place to give for believers, so I recommend reading all of it.
I found the section of giving beyond the local church particularly interesting because I think this can be a point of confusion for many. There is often question of giving priorities (local church, ministries, etc.) and I think the author provides some good guidance. For example, we should never neglect our immediate church family’s needs in place of a Para-church:
The early church supplied the needs not only of their local Christian community, but also throughout the world. Believers are called to give beyond their local church. Returning to our original question of whether or not giving to a Para-church organization is the same as giving to our church, the Biblical answer is yes and no. The New Testament does not give a clear distinction between “church” and “non-church.” The best answer I can give to this question is that we should always be giving to the work of the Gospel in the world, but never at the expense of those who minister to us. Giving to a Para-church organization, ministry, or Christian non-profit is an excellent, honorable, and Godly action, but is never to be done in a way that neglects our immediate church family’s needs. If we don’t give to those who minister to us, we are not following the commands of scripture. Outside of this, it is impossible to pin down a theology with any kind of authority. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that Christians are called to give to both their church and beyond.
To wrap up this section, I will offer some pragmatic solutions. Many Christian thinkers have arrived at a simple solution to the dilemma of where to give: tithe (10%) to your local church and then all contributions beyond that go to the places the Lord leads you (even if that is giving more to your church). We are required to give to the places that minister to us, but that does not inhibit us from giving to ministries we are not personally involved in. (All Christians are involved in the work of the Gospel around the world.) The believer’s primary concern with giving is to support those meeting our spiritual needs, then secondly, to support those places meeting the needs of others.
The scripture refers to the money that we give to be set apart because “it is holy to the Lord.” (Lev. 27:30) I believe the Bible requires our contributions to be “Christian.” Our giving is to be in places where the glory of God through the pursuit of Christ is of first importance. Giving to medical research, pet adoption agencies, and your local school’s PTA are all great things, but this is not the portion that a believer has set apart unto God. Just because the IRS treats them as the same thing doesn’t mean we should. The Christian is called to be marked with generosity, and therefore will inevitably find himself giving to many “non-Christian” things, but this must be separate from what he has allocated to the Lord.
Minstry Watch: Is a ministry worth of financial support
Perhaps you are already giving to a ministry, or would like to start to give to one as an additional step in your giving. The second resource I found this week titled “Ministry Watch”, was provided by Crown Financial Ministries and is a summary from an episode of MoneyLife, their daily radio program. It discusses MinistryWatch.com which is a website dedicated to helping people determine if a ministry is worthy of financial support.
The founder, Rusty Leonard started the website so that people could make wise decisions about giving and to direct their giving to the ministries that are truly trying to advance the kingdom.
Each year, $15 billion is given to the ministries in the MinistryWatch database. Rusty believes that $1 billion of that money is being given to less effective ministries. The goal is to steer that money toward more worthy ministries.
Transparency is one of the criteria used to evaluate a ministry. Apparently, there are quite a few out there that don’t care to be open about how they manage or use donations.
The first criteria in the evaluation is whether a ministry is transparent. Ministries need to be open about what they do with the donations they receive. Some don’t want to share that information, about 30-40 ministries. There’s not a lot of government regulation of non-profit ministries. Transparency is the best way to combat scam artists.
Some ministries are transparent, but don’t do well with managing the donations they receive.
Some ministries aren’t well managed though they are well-intentioned. You can determine that when you analyze their budgets and expenditures. You look at how much is being spent on fundraising versus actual ministry and helping people. Donors want money to be used as intended, and you can get that information at the MinistryWatch.com Web site.
After looking around a bit at MinistryWatch.com, I found it helpful to use the find a ministry feature to look up some ministries in which I was familiar. Also available are the Donor Alert Ministries and Shining Light Ministries lists. You may want to pay attention to both lists if you’re thinking about adding a ministry to your giving plan. The Shining Light are 30 of the best ministries according to MinistryWatch.com. The Donor Alert list are donors that have at least one alert or concern associated with them.
Final thought
Overall, I think the excerpt from Dollars and Doctrine is one of the best in explaining giving as it relates to Christian ministries I’ve come across. In fact, I don’t recall where I’ve read anything that discusses it so well. While giving to Christian Ministries is important (and Biblical according to the author), it’s good to know that giving to our local church should be our first priority. A website like MinistryWatch.com can also help make sure those who give to ministries are giving to the ministries that again are doing their best to further the kingdom.
What do you think about what the author of Dollar and Doctrine had to say about giving to ministries? Do you think knowing when to give to Christian ministries (in the scope of overall giving) is confusing or possibly unknown to many people? Do you think MinistryWatch.com is a helpful resource to support you in your giving decisions? Please share your thoughts on any or all of these questions in the comments.
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Tags: Giving
Jason,
Interesting questions! I think the excerpt from Dollar and Doctrine was good on some points but lacked on others. His “pragmatic solutions” aren’t exactly Biblical. I agree we should support those who minister to us, but that can be done through Biblical New Covenant giving principles rather than relying on Old Covenant tithing laws.
I’ve been wondering about how churches use money and whether it’s good or not. For example, churches that spend money paying for a light to shine on the steeple all night long (that aren’t open 24 hours) – is that a good use of money that’s been given to the church? I can understand outside lighting around the building to deter thieves, but no one’s breaking in through the steeple. Why do we even spend money on steeples in the first place???
Those ideas tie in to what Ministry Watch is doing. Inefficient use of money given to advance the Kingdom is irresponsible and wasteful. We need to carefully manage and use whatever God has given us so we can do the best job as stewards of His blessings.
Paul Williams @ Provident Planning´s last blog ..Tithing in the Bible: Summary
Hi Paul. Yes, I think ministries also have a responsiblity of financial stewardship, just like people. I think the folks running MinistryWatch.com are doing some good things to help people direct their giving to responsible ministries. Again, I haven’t read Dollar and Doctrine, but obviously, the priorities on giving (local church vs. ministries) was something I found of interest and felt it worthy of a post! Thanks for commenting.
I think the Dollars & Doc excerpt was quite insightful. I really like how the author uses a lot of scripture (instead of just opinion) but also ties it together really well.
Scott´s last blog ..Give Where?
Less than 3% of Christians tithe. That is sad. Giving is an outside indicator of how much we trust God. Seems that many Christians are in financial bondage and do not trust God very much.
Arthur, yes, I think being in financial bondage is the perfect time to trust God! I am a huge advocate of giving while in debt.
I admit, tithing while in debt took me some time. God had to work on me a bit in this area. I can be hard headed sometimes. It’s human nature to insist we do things our way.
Excellent post. This is really nice to read. Thanks for sharing.