Something highly unusual -- possibly even historic -- is happening at Elim this weekend.

We're giving it all away.

The offering, that is. Typically the weekend offering is used to support the church budget. But for this weekend, the staff and elders felt the Lord leading us to take an unusual, bold, and risky step. Every penny that comes into the church offering plates this weekend is being given away to local and international ministry. It won't be used to pay the salaries of our staff and pastors, or our gas heating bill, or to purchase curriculum materials for children's ministries or Awana, or any of the other "usual" and necessary expenses incurrred in the running of a church.

And this is over and above budgeted expenditures for outreach and missions. Why are we doing this?

Two words: gratitude ... and faith.

Gratitude

As we are all painfully aware, our nation (and our community, and even our families) are in the midst of a difficult economic recession. Despite this, during these past months we have seen (time and again) God's faithfulness expressed to us, through the tithing members of this church body. Giving has been consistently above budget and has consistently broken records. In light of this economic climate, that fact is nothing short of mind-boggling.

The elders have spent a lot of time just praying prayers of gratitude and thankfulness for God's faithfulness, expressed through the faithfulness of his people. We have been, are, and will continue to be grateful beyond words for what we have been experiencing. We know that it is a symbol that God is in our midst, that he is moving in people's hearts, and that they are responding to His leading with very specific and concrete acts of faith.

Faith

Second, this weekend's giveaway is an act of faith. As we have spoken about how to manage this bounty of finances, obviously we have considered many possibilities. There is a strong temptation to "build bigger barns," to try and do what we can to insulate our church against the possibility of future economic hardship. But somehow, doing that just doesn't seem like the most faith-filled act.

After all, our future isn't in the hands of our bank account. It is in the hands of a loving God who has expressed his faithfulness to us time and time again, both in lean times and in times of plenty.

World Vision's president, Rich Stearns, tells a moving story about something that happened to him and his family during this country's recession in the '80s. He had a young family then and was a newly appointed corporate CEO. He made a fat salary but had a lot of money invested and was seeing a lot of that investment suddenly disappearing into thin air. He spent several sleepless nights wrestling with his calculator and financial contingency plans. He says his wife, Renee, finally had enough of his behavior and told him she thought that their money had too tight a grip on his heart. "You are trusting in it rather than God," she told him. "There's only one cure."

That night, in the midst of the loss notices and economic pressure, they sat down and wrote out checks for church and charity. It was a large amount, tens of thousands of dollars. They simply gave it away.

But it was more than just paper, it was an expression of the heart, a commitment that their faith was in God, and not in the economy. The economy will fail us, but God never will.

Jesus said: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Rich relates how that single act of faithfulness was a turning point in his life. "I suddenly felt freer than I had ever been in my life," he recalls. He hadn't realized how strong a hold the power of possessions had exerted on his soul. Suddenly, he was investing his treasure in something eternal and he felt a huge weight lift.

We may not be able to write checks of tens of thousands of dollars like a corporate CEO can. (I know I certainly can't!) But we can do what the widow did with her mite. We can take what we have, what we think we need to live on, to provide a comfortable margin of safety, and give it away, rather than hoarding it for a rainy day.

So Elim is investing your generosity in God's greater purposes. Whatever comes in this weekend, we are going to use to the last penny to help the poor and needy in our own community (the people so very close to God's own heart) and beyond. We are going to use it to help spread the Good News of the Gospel -- that Jesus came to give us ultimate freedom, freedom from the tyranny of sin and the grip of the flesh, of the things around us which try and distract us from His beauty.

Please be praying about this weekend. Pray that God would prepare your heart. Pray about how He would have YOU to respond to this challenge.

Hallelujah! Bring it on!

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