Sound Theology? Pastor says give lump sum or increase giving

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Is this based on sound Theology?

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jes100
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Sound Theology? Pastor says give lump sum or increase giving

Post #1

Post by jes100 »

Greetings in the name of Jesus,
Following are 2 emails from our pastor (of an evangelical charismatic church of England church, congregation 100), telling us to make a sacrifice in our giving, to fast and pray to God re the amount we will give, to give a larger lump sum or to increase our giving by standing order.
There is no deficit or urgent need, this request he sends out I think, yearly.
Every week a basket is passed around, no offering speeches accept last week in preparation for us to give more this Sunday, sermon by an elder: “when i give more, I have more to give�
We are in London experiencing autumn, the pastor is now in “sunny brazil�. He has 5 children under 18.
I’m interested to know what you all think?
Email last week;
“our Gifts & Talents month culminates with a Gift Day on Sunday 24th September, which as has been mentioned, is an opportunity to pray and pledge a one-off lump sum financial gift to God’s wonderful work through our church, and/or to review your regular standing order giving with a view to adjusting it upwards (or to start a standing order for the first time).�
In previous Gift Days, people have found this to be a time of drawing close to the Lord and building faith as they trust him with a decision to be sacrificial in giving financially. In fact, many have been doing this for years. This kind of activity should only really take place in the context of seeking God through prayer. As it says in Ephesians 6:18: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.�
Received today:
“Greetings from sunny Brazil! I’ve seen some great things going on at the New Destiny project that our church supports. I’m back in the next day or two and can’t wait to get stuck into to the above.
Beneath my sign-off below, I have added at the bottom a reminder of what this weekend is about, but I wanted to email with a further encouragement to you to join me, if your health permits, in fasting from something material – whether food or screens or something else – from Friday morning until Saturday morning at 8.30am when those of us in the church at the end of the 6-9am prayer will sit down to eat and drink together.
Fasting involves a certain degree of sacrifice and focuses on the prayer we are doing. Giving financially to God’s work through this church is a very important matter and it is crucial that we take it seriously. Fasting is serious! Therefore we have more time to pray if we are going without food after Friday breakfast, or if we are feeding others in that time, we certainly have the feeling of earnest coming to us each time we are reminded of the slight ache in the stomach or of the other type of thing that we are giving up.�
I’m interested to know what you all think?Image

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Re: Sound Theology? Pastor says give lump sum or increase gi

Post #2

Post by JehovahsWitness »

[Replying to post 1 by jes100]

Greetings,

I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses and all our contributions are used for Disaster relief or for the furtherance of the preaching of the Good news. Every church needs money (to pay for utilities and buy suppies) but contributions should in my opinion be entirely voluntary.

Jesus never commanded his followers to fast.



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Re: Sound Theology? Pastor says give lump sum or increase gi

Post #3

Post by amortalman »

[Replying to post 1 by jes100]

I don't know how long you've been a Christian but I would guess you haven't had much experience in things along this line.

Neither do I have any knowledge of the character of your pastor.

You wrote: "We are in London experiencing autumn, the pastor is now in “sunny brazil�. He has 5 children under 18." Very telling.

I've never been out of the USA but let me guess, it's crummy weather in London during autumn.

Sounds to me like you're questioning exactly where your "Gifts and Talents" are going.

All this stuff about sacrificial giving in order to draw closer to the Lord and to build faith is a line used by churches around the world.

I've found that most of it goes to paying the salaries and benefits of the pastor, his staff, building upkeep, insurance, and a dozen other things that have nothing to do with accomplishing the mission of the church.

And the only thing fasting ever did for me was to make me hungry for FOOD.

Be wary and above all take a very close look at what you're believing.

Good luck!

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