What is the role of the pastor in year-end giving in your church? Do you have any responsibility in regards to biblical stewardship in the life of your people?
I believe we do have a responsibility for biblical stewardship in our church.
The No. 1 Question in December
In the month of December, we are in the final month of giving for the year. Every nonprofit ministry in the country will make appeals to the members of your church to support their ministry financially. While these may be good and some are worthy of consideration, the church should receive the No. 1 priority in the lives of our people.
The key question we need to ask repeatedly is: As you review and understand clearly ALL of your sources of income in 2014, have you honored God by giving at least the first tenth to your local church? If you have not, then ensure you do so before Dec. 31 so that you can know you have walked in complete obedience to God in 2014 in relationship to biblical stewardship.
Your Two Major Roles as Pastor in Year-End Giving
I want to suggest that you have two major roles in relationship to biblical stewardship in year-end giving:
1. Lead your people. Lead your people by example in biblical stewardship and lead with the authority of God's Word. The only people that want you to be bashful about biblical stewardship in the church are the people that do not practice biblical stewardship personally. Take the initiative weekly in worship by asking people the key question above.
2. Challenge your people. Challenge your people to obedience to God in their stewardship. I don't believe you would back away from challenging them to personal holiness, evangelism, discipleship or the Great Commission. Therefore, you should not shy away from boldly challenging them to walk in complete obedience to God in their stewardship of all their resources.
How You Can Lead and Challenge Your People
Consider these suggestions as you lead and challenge your people to biblical stewardship:
1. Write each member a letter and extend the challenge to answer this key question: As you review and understand clearly all of your sources of income in 2014, have you honored God by giving at least the first one-tenth to your local church? Thank them for what they have given, and challenge them to finish with complete faithfulness to God. Share a testimony or two of what God is doing through the life of the church because God's people have been faithful to give.
2. Weekly, as you extend the offering, ask them to answer the key question above. Again, thank them for what they have given already. Share testimonies of what God is doing in the church because of their giving.
3. Challenge your people to give above the first tenth in a special offering to the church or join you in giving to support international missions. In our Southern Baptist churches, we have a special annual offering we call the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Lottie Moon was a missionary in China over 100 years ago.
Last year, our 46,000-plus Southern Baptist churches gave $154 million to international missions through this offering. This past week, I began challenging our people. I will do so boldly and gladly, as Jeana and I have already given to it sacrificially. Any church can give to this offering, so I want to encourage your church to join us or join your own global missions offering in your denomination.
Finally, pastor, step up in December by leading and challenging your church to complete 2014 in obedience to God in regard to personal biblical stewardship.
Dr. Ronnie Floyd has been a pastor for over 37 years. Since 1986, Pastor Floyd has served as the senior pastor of Cross Church, Northwest Arkansas, which has baptized over 17,000 people during his tenure. Cross Church was one of the first churches in America to go multisite. In June 2014, Pastor Floyd was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has authored over 20 books including FORWARD: 7 Distinguishing Marks For Future Leaders, releasing in 2015.
For the original article, visit pastors.com.
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