Our philosophy of giving
To be a Christian means to trust in God’s generous benevolence (good, well-meaning support) towards all people and the world God created. Christians believe we are supported in our faith and guided by God’s Holy Spirit, and in gratitude, we respond to this generosity by agreeing to share our time and personal abilities and skills, and resources (generosity in response). We follow the model of tithing in the Bible, where our offerings are made from the “first fruits” of our “harvest”. This means that we take stock of our annual income and time, and predetermine how much we will share from those resources for the ministry of the congregation. All of us struggle with time-management, and we are constantly forced to decide whether we think we have the time to volunteer with certain activities as they come up. Redeemer encourages people to commit a portion of their time to one of our many ministries, and consider that your offering of time and talent.
As for financial resources, we are given the opportunity to set this amount every fall season, during our Stewardship campaign. Redeemer has no requirement for tithing, and only two appointed individuals in the congregation know what people give to the church. The pastor and others are not privy to this information. The bottom line is that we don’t give back to God from what’s left over at the end of the year, but rather determine ahead of time what we will give over the next year, and live on the rest. We do it this way because it is biblical, and also because we can trust that God knows what we need and respects the gifts that we think we can offer. In the end, we trust that God cherishes our well-being, and encourages us to live a life of fruitful generosity by sharing our time, talents and treasure with the church, so that it can share them with others.
From time to time, Redeemer engages in special fund-raising events that we call “Capital Campaigns”. There have been special campaigns for sanctuary renovation, a new organ, and to make our facility fully accessible. These special campaigns all help the church make improvements, and the money raised is considered above and beyond the annual amount of support that each member has already committed to.
As for financial resources, we are given the opportunity to set this amount every fall season, during our Stewardship campaign. Redeemer has no requirement for tithing, and only two appointed individuals in the congregation know what people give to the church. The pastor and others are not privy to this information. The bottom line is that we don’t give back to God from what’s left over at the end of the year, but rather determine ahead of time what we will give over the next year, and live on the rest. We do it this way because it is biblical, and also because we can trust that God knows what we need and respects the gifts that we think we can offer. In the end, we trust that God cherishes our well-being, and encourages us to live a life of fruitful generosity by sharing our time, talents and treasure with the church, so that it can share them with others.
From time to time, Redeemer engages in special fund-raising events that we call “Capital Campaigns”. There have been special campaigns for sanctuary renovation, a new organ, and to make our facility fully accessible. These special campaigns all help the church make improvements, and the money raised is considered above and beyond the annual amount of support that each member has already committed to.
