The Bible provides clear guidance on how we should direct our giving.
Give to your Church: Paul commanded that “the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.” (Galatians 6.6), and a few verses later he says “as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6.10).
Give to Gospel work around the world: As we have opportunity, we should be involved in supporting the work of those who take the Gospel to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28.18-20; Acts 1.8). Those who don’t know Christ will never hear unless missionaries are sent (Romans 10.15).
Give to provide for the poor and the weak: God hates injustice, and calls on us as his people to fight against it (Micah 6.8). Jesus encouraged us to give generously to those in need (Matthew 5.42), knowing that “whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD” (Proverbs 19.17).
Why prioritise Gymea Anglican when there are so many other needs?
The church is a pioneer colony of the New Creation - we are at the heart of the mission and purpose of the Lord Jesus in the world. While Christians should always seek to give to worthy causes beyond their local church, it would be a mistake to neglect the responsibility we have to support those who minister directly to us at church. In 1 Corinthians 9:7-11, Paul writes:
“Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?”
The New Testament commands that pastors be paid (1 Corinthians 9:8-14; Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 5:18). In addition, Paul implies that an offering should be taken weekly (1 Corinthians 16:2), which presupposes generous giving from the congregation. Given the enormous good that can be done through our generosity, we invite you to consider financially supporting Gymea parish, and we encourage you to give over and above this to other worthy causes.
Practical tips
Budget to give, save and live. It will look different for each household, but good stewardship always involves budgeting.
Unless we plan to give, save and live, we will almost certainly find ourselves giving less than we want, and indulging more than we should.
In particular, it is a biblical principle that we should work out our giving first, and then live and save from what is left (eg. Genesis 4.3-5; Exodus 23.19; Proverbs 3.9; 1 Corinthians 16.2)
You can put together a simple giving budget in four easy steps:
Calculate out your income
Consider how much as a proportion you will set aside from this amount to give. The percentage you choose us is ultimately a matter for prayerful consideration before God.
Prayerfully decide how you will distribute this giving amount between different causes.
Work out how much you have left, and distribute this amongst living and saving.
Be accountable
It is a social faux pas to ask someone how much they earn. But since the idols of money and career will lead people away from God, it is important to have someone to keep you accountable. Find an older and wiser Christian who you trust and be accountable.
Take the first step
In our materialistic society, it is difficult to know at what economic level to live. With whom should I compare myself? How much can I give? What sacrifice will I make? It can be very tiring to resist the pressure to buy more and better and bigger. Everyone around us breathes in the culture of consumerism, even our Christian brothers and sisters. It is exhausting to say ‘no’ continually or to have to stop and think about how to use our money. Why not take one step? Make one cutback. Make one choice that will mean that you step away from your peers.
How to give to Gymea and beyond
You can give electronically by setting up an automated payment from your bank (preferred) or through the collection on Sundays.
General Church Banking Details:
Account Number: 870267 BSB: 032-154 Bank: WESTPAC BANK
As you might imagine, we have opportunities at Gymea for over and above giving. These will typically fall under three main categories:
External Mission Partners: Our general practice will be to raise these funds in addition to general giving, but to administer them through the Gymea Anglican account. We therefore invite you to make your donations to Gymea Anglican Church, but to include the name of the particular mission partner in the description field. We will typically distribute these gifts in quarterly lump sums or at the end of each calendar year.
One-Off Gifts And Projects: From time to time our members may wish to make special “one-off” gifts. This may be as a result of a promotion, an inheritance, the desire to push forward a special church project, or simply to say thank-you to God for His blessings. To help with this, each year our Parish Council selects some special projects that we believe are real priorities, but we cannot afford to budget for yet. This includes our SRE and Music trusts.
Organic Giving: At Gymea, we want to be a community that loves and cares for one another. To that end, it is our prayer that church members would always be on the lookout for opportunities to be generous to others within our church community, over and above the formal structures that already exist. When a need arises, we want to be the kind of people that rejoice in the opportunity to meet these needs. We expect that this will take the form of both financial and non-financial donations.
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