Our Financial Support

This is a recent E-News Article that I would like feedback on please...

Our Financial Support

Last week I wrote an article about the gifts of the Spirit. Since that time I have been writing in the daily messages about the gifts of the Spirit so I will not continue to write in this location about the gifts for now.

This article is about our financial support for the ministry of Jesus Christ at Mt. Oak. I know that some do not like to deal with finances in the church. We are supposed to be spiritual, right!? Well, God spoke more on giving in the Bible than most other subjects. God realizes that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). Our financial support of God’s work at Mt. Oak and in other places speaks about our spiritual maturity and our daily trust in God.

If you have noticed, most recently, there have been some small budget notes in the weekly bulletin. This week those numbers will look like this:

After 17 of 52 calendar weeks for 2008 our budgeted need will be presented as $290,003. Our offerings or income in that time will be presented as $251,756. That would equal a shortfall of $38,247 so far in 2008. Another way of looking at this would be our weekly need to meet our 2008 budget is $17,059 and our weekly average to date has been $14,809. That is a weekly average shortfall of $2,250.

The shortfall will have to be dealt with one way or the other. If the giving and support for the 2008 budget doesn’t increase, we will have to determine our course, which way to go. Items we prayed over and voted on in the fall of 2007, that we felt God wanted us to accomplish in 2008, will either have to be cut or reduced in scope. We have already approved beginning the work on our Children’s Center which was budgeted (instead of asking for special giving throughout the year). We are not coming back to you asking for increased giving for a new project, but rather asking you to support the approved budget.

At the start of the year, Carolyn and I determined, because of the increase in the budget for 2008 from 2007, we would increase our weekly giving by $20. We challenged others to follow our lead. I’m not sure if anyone has followed that lead or not.

If the people who give regularly to support the ministry of Jesus Christ at Mt. Oak would increase their giving by $20 a week the increase in support would be approximately $3,000 a week which would not only meet the weekly need but would help us catch up some of the shortfall after 17 weeks.

Would you pray about your giving? Would you allow God to bless you by giving you the freedom to be generous in your support of His ministry?