Giving is a heart-response to the grace of Christ. When you see Jesus giving his life for you, paying for your sin, adopting you into God’s family, and sharing with you the riches of his glorious inheritance – the blessing of life with God, now and forever – then you will grow a heart for giving.

Followers of Jesus are called to give generously – giving yourself in service of God and in love for others is one of the most beautiful gifts you can give. Our giving is a response to God’s giving to us in Jesus. 

When you read the stories of Jesus in the gospels, you meet people who give generously after receiving the grace of Jesus. People like Zacchaeus – a tax collector who’d spent his life ripping people off. But look how Zacchaeus responds after receiving the salvation of Christ:

“But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” (Luke 19:8).

We are free to give our earthly riches, because in Jesus, we have found an eternal treasure that lasts forever.

‘Tithing’ comes from a practice found in the Old Testament Scriptures, where the Israelites would give a tenth of all their produce in response to God’s generous blessings. The tithe would be offered to the Lord and then distributed to the priests and Levites – people set apart to do the Lord’s work (see Deuteronomy 12:22-29; Malachi 3:6-12).

Followers of Jesus are not compelled to give a ‘tithe’, but we are still called to give back to God. Indeed, if we truly understand the gospel of grace, we will give as a much as we can – and even beyond our ability (see 2 Corinthians 8:9).

Our Finance Manager has access to all bank accounts, but explains the giving process as follows:

I export all the data from our bank accounts and compile it into a giving spreadsheet.  In this spreadsheet, each person is given a unique PIN and these pins, not names, are used for analysis purposes.  When I send the weekly giving update to senior staff members, I include the number of new givers, but not their names.  So in essence, the giving is confidential, rather than anonymous.

Biblical stewardship covers a broad spectrum of topics for discussion: from serving God, to being trustworthy Christians, to helping your neighbour, honouring God with your earthly possessions, and so much more. 

What is a steward?

A steward is a person who has been entrusted with, and who manages, another’s resources according to the owner’s vision and values.  The gospel calls us to recognize that everything we have is a gift from God (James 1:17) — and that those gifts are to be used for his glory and to further his kingdom.