The Simple Pastor
Simplicity & Generosity
The early church: unbelievably generous: I’m reading Henry Chadwick’s history The Early Church and there are some ... http://bit.ly/a5CIUn 11 hrs ago
I’m reading Henry Chadwick’s history The Early Church and there are some absolute gems which I’ll post for your reflection, edification and application.
Chadwick writes that in the 2nd century AD a ‘vivid and cruel portrait [of the church] was painted by the pagan satirist Lucian of Samosata (c.170)’ and then he says this,
“Lucian had a low opinion of the human race, and treated Christianity as merely additional evidence of human absurdity and folly. But he knew that the Christians were unbelievably generous with their money and preferred to be open-handed rather than inquire too closely into the recipients.” (p57)
Emphasis mine. Could our opponents possibly say that of the church today? Unbelievably generous and open handed?
So says Randy Alcorn and I believe him. Here’s some powerful words from a man living what he’s talking about.
“God was and is the owner of all things. I was and am simply His money manager. He has never revoked his ownership, never surrendered his claim to all riches and treasures. God didn’t die and leave this earth to you and me. He still owns it. The more I thought about it, the more real it became.”
And
“Do Nanci and I go to bed each night thinking, “It sure is a big sacrifice giving away all that money”? Not at all. I go to bed feeling joy, because there’s nothing like the thrill of giving to God’s purposes and His people. It’s participating in God’s grace. It’s exactly what we were made for.”
And there’s more
“We didn’t need a higher standard of living. We didn’t need a better house or car. We didn’t need a better retirement program or more insurance…We don’t need a million dollars or a hundred thousand dollars. We do just fine on a lot less, and God will provide for us every step of the way.”
Read the whole thing here
This is remarkable (a must look)
“In June, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett started the Giving Pledge: an initiative aimed at getting billionaires to pledge at least half of their net worth to charitable donations. So far, 40 individuals have signed up. The roster includes household names like George Lucas, David Rockefeller, Ted Turner and, not least, founders Gates and Buffett, who have pledged significantly more than half of their net worth. While some have already argued that part of the estimated $600 billion that this initiative could raise would have been donated anyway, the impact of the Giving Pledge remains astounding. We break down the numbers in this infographic.”
See it here
I discovered Bill Clinton’s Giving: How each of us can change the world a few months back for the bargain price of £2.50 down at the haven that is Hay-on-Wye. I was hopeful.
It’s a straightforward enough guide to giving, talking about money, time, things, skills. It also takes a look at giving into a variety of areas such as micro-finance such as Kiva, or to entrepreneurs, foundations and NGOs and the role government plays in poverty reduction.
It’s a view of the world that very few people could provide, with almost unparalleled access to the world’s biggest organisations, richest donors (like Bill & Melinda Gates), biggest stars (like Bono) that allows him to see the best ideas, the best practices and the best opportunities. And there are a lot of good ideas around, from the chess clubs that help raise exam performance in the poorest schools in the US, or malaria reduction in Rwanda its evident that there are a lot of people working at doing a lot of good. There is hope.
There are a lot of resources too, with plenty of links to useful organisations and a helpful bibliography. I’ve noted a few of the books to try and get hold of.
The emphasis is on encouraging giving but it demonstrated to me that the world knows very little when it comes to the issue of giving, the sums and percentages are quite small and the framework for giving quite limited. It’s quite an opportunity for the church, we could be (and absolutely SHOULD be) at the forefront of giving – people who regularly hit 10% minimum and desire to go far beyond it.
However this is not a great book, the style is quite dry with one case study after another, no real passion and no real style in the delivery, inspirational stories told without inspiration. Workmanlike was the word that ran through my brain as I read this book. I devour books on giving and this one was tough chewing, not because it’s bad but because it’s dry.
If you’re involved in development work then actually this gives a good big picture of some very interesting and innovative programmes, if you don’t have faith then this indeed may be a good book to read on giving, but there’s a bigger and richer world on giving out there for those of us who follow the Great Giver.
So last Thursday about 40 people gathered together from a variety of churches to think about freedom. What does it mean to be free? The event was part of the Breathe network’s Conspiracy of Freedom tour.
We worshipped, listened to my friend Mark Powley on consumerism and freedom, and then we watched this video
(let me know what you think)
Then we talked and it was just encouraging to see people engage with ways we can live that go against the culture and towards generosity and simplicity. Try it out for yourself, it’s liberating.
After having recently visited this school in Pakistan and writing about it, I was contacted by Michael Wakely of Starfish Asia who support the school financially.
Michael is the author of this excellent little book on generosity (my review here) and he generously has given me a few copies to give away. I’ve shamelessly pinched Tim Challies‘ way of handling this giveaway:
“You may only enter the draw once. Simply fill out your name and email address to enter the draw. As soon as the winners have been chosen, all names and addresses will be immediately and permanently erased. Winners will be notified by email. The giveaway closes Saturday at noon.”
I’ll also send a copy to the best comments on how you’ve seen generosity in action.
It is the goal of discipleship to become like Christ (2 Cor 3:18) but it’s a constant battle to keep thinking and working on this. Often I’m just hoping that somehow it’s happening. This provoked me to think again:
“‘Life’ and ‘life-style’ obviously belong together and cannot be separated. All Christians claim to have received a new life from Jesus Christ. What life-style, then, is appropriate for them? If the life is new, the life-style should be new also. But what are to be its characteristics? In particular, how is it to be distinguished from the life-style of those who make no Christian profession? And how should it reflect the challenges of the contemporary world—its alienation both from God and from the earth’s resources which he created for the enjoyment of all?”
It’s a pretty deep conviction of mine that because the church has largely failed in its thinking and response to materialism and consumerism that the church is not at all distinguished from the life-style of those who don’t believe. A challenge to the simple living movement is also not to simply draw a new line with the environmentalists and eco-friendly brigade, not that that’s all bad. Instead we need to be thinking about redrawing the connections between our life style and Jesus. So I agree with this:
“Those of us who live in affluent circumstances accept our duty to develop a simple-lifestyle in order to contribute more generously to both relief and evangelism.”
Here’s some advice and I’ll let you have this one for free. When you believe God is speaking to you write it down and don’t lose the notebook. I discovered today an old notebook that I haven’t looked in for years.
In 1996, five years before I was asked to plant a church, I felt the call of God to do that. The call to plant churches, to teaching, preaching and justice. It would have helped if I’d had that notebook in 2001!
More encouragement to come because there are things that God has spoken about that I cannot let go. How about these things from the summer of 1996:
“Commitment to the poor, to live with open hands, to discipline myself to give generously and make it a lifestyle.”
Long before I knew what consumerism was, it seems God was speaking to me about generosity, compassion, simplicity, church. I’m very grateful for God’s grace to me in all of this…so we keep going.
A while ago I read my friend Dave’s account of the impact of a talk I gave, and he listed the questions I posed that night, I’ve turned those questions into a series of posts which I’ve now finished. Here’s the complete set
From a talk John Hosier did on ‘remembering the poor’ at CCK Brighton.
“If we reject materialism and asceticism it seems to me we are left with the biblical way of generosity, which in turn is linked with simplicity. Simplicity is not to be understood in ‘nothing’ but ‘enough.’ When we consider the needs of the poor, and indeed the needs of world mission, then there is a challenge to generosity – something that can always be increased as we simplify our lifestyle.
This is a sensitive area, for simplicity can easily become pharisaical when we begin to bring our opinion and judgement to bear on how others should simplify their lifestyle. (And particularly pharisaical if others should suggest how we might simplify our lifestyle!) The reality is that we are all extravagant in different ways. Voluntary simplicity of lifestyle is a way to increase our generosity.”
The other day our church treasurer forwarded me an email from Christian financial organisation Stewardship. I liked it a lot, so here it is…
“In early July 2009 a woman pulled up in the drive-thru at the Steamin Bean coffee shop in Blue Springs, Montana. She bought her coffee and insisted on paying for the driver in the car behind. Within a week over 1300 people had done the same thing. It’s happening in other places too.
Stories of random kindness are not new. The whole idea was beautifully told in the film Pay it Forward – well worth an evening; tissues needed. But two things struck me about this one. First, no one wanted to break the circle of generosity. Once we embrace it giving is deeply attractive, compelling. Secondly, generosity is more than giving money. To be sure, giving money is the hallmark of generosity but generosity is richer: an awareness of others, the freedom to let go when the world says hold on to it, an attitude to all we have.
In a church in Manchester I sat under a ‘freecycle’ board where stuff, good stuff, was not ebayed but given away free to those who need it. Leading seminars at New Wine, as the rain came down in stair rods, I saw stewards, unpaid and giving up a week of their holidays, parking cars, marshalling crowds; soaked to the skin but with the light of grace in their eyes.
Because giving is first and foremost about grace. At the Steamin’ Bean someone set the ball rolling; someone gave first. Paul knew this. In 2 Cor 8:1-3 he tells the Corinthians not about the money that the Macedonians gave but the grace given first to them. He then points to the fountain of all grace: You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich for you he became poor that you by his poverty might become rich (2 Cor 8:9).
By Steve Pierce
The latest update from Breathe is available
Tim Creber from Journey Beyond writes,
“Because life is a gift… we live with open hands.
Imagine in your mind tightly clenched fists – what does it make you think of? I think of control.
It is absurd to think that we are ever really in control. Life happens – young people get cancer, the poor die unjustly, good people suffer, banks fail, hard workers lose their jobs… When we face these realities, chasing control is futile, unrewarding and, I would argue, in no way contributes to human fulfilment.
So why do I still chase control?
Jesus epitomises what it means to live with a life posture of ‘open handedness.’ With an open hand we are vulnerable – we surrender a position of strength. Facing life without chasing control forces us to trust. Having an open hand permits generosity without discrimination. Having an open hand allows us to travel light. By allowing room for grace we can let go of emotional wounds. By allowing generosity we do not horde our possessions.
An open handed life is profound – it gets to the root of the human condition, and sums up so much of the person of Jesus. Because life is a gift, we live with open hands… in the hope and expectation that when we do so, our God is able to give us more than could ever be taken away.”
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I really appreciated this quote from John Piper:
“The more sacrificially generous you are on earth, the greater will be your enjoyment of heaven. Therefore, since Jesus loves us and summons us to maximize our eternal joy in heaven, he demands radical freedom from the love of money and radical generosity, especially toward the poor . . . The reason money is so crucial for Jesus is that across all cultures and all ages it represents the alternative to God as the treasure of our hearts, and therefore the object of our worship. . .There are two things being said here. One is that a selfish spirit will keep us out of heaven. And the other is that there are degrees of reward, or degrees of joy, in heaven, depending on how sacrificially generous we were on earth.”
HT: Adrian Warnock
I’ve been listening to (and am still working through) a number of preachers on money, generosity etc…Here are some of them
If you know of anyone who has preached a cracking sermon on money, generosity, consumerism and the like I’d be grateful if you could let me know.
This is great (HT: Tim Chester)
Buying a car is a stressful experience (here and here for the story of my previous agonising over this) for me but that is exactly what I’ve just done. Here’s the scoop on the ins and outs of it.
I first had to ask myself do we need a car at all? Not what sort of car but just any car. The answer is a yes and no. We could, of course, live without a car but it is a different sort of life we’d live. As my friend Jeremy says in his review of Car Sick,
“Unfortunately, we have structured our whole way of life around cars – to get to work, do the shopping, meet friends, or take children to school. Fifty years of motoring has radically re-ordered our towns and cities around the automobile, and it is hard to do without one even if you want to.”
And that’s what we found, hard to do and right now too hard for us. So while we could do without a car for many away from Shrewsbury trips, public transport in town is quite poor. Another friend, relayed to me how it would cost his wife and three kids £10 to make the short-ish 2.5 mile journey to the hospital by bus and return. In the end the sheer inconvenience and hassle of it told us we weren’t ready for (or possibly not brave enough) a life without a car.
The second issue we had to grapple with was generosity. We’d been given money by various people (who having seen our old car took pity on us) and their gifts were for a replacement car. You honour the giver and the gift by using it as intended. God has blessed us with friends who love us, care for us and incredibly generous to us.
I have to say I’ve been hugely fortunate when it comes to transport. I’ve owned (including this new one) 6 cars and I’ve been given 4 of them. Every time I get into the car I drive I have reason to be thankful, grateful and humble.
Then, from generosity we needed to think as stewards. The 19 year old, 164000 mile Golf has been a great car. Worth every one of the £750 we paid for it more than 5 years ago. But at the same time we were given a substantial gift for a new car, our old one needed around £400 spending on it to get it through the next MOT. Was it good stewardship to sit on a gift and spend money on the old car? We thought not.
By now we’ve decided the right thing to do was to replace the old car but what with? Our criteria was something that would hopefully (barring the arrival of quads or quins) should see last our family some time. We wanted something economical, efficient, safe, reliable and within our budget. We weren’t going to borrow for this.
So what did we get? A 2004 Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDi Elegance with 45000 miles on the clock. Diesel is better than petrol and it can (I think) run on bio-diesel which is something I’ll definitely be researching. It it is economical, hopefully reliable, cheaper to tax and with less emissions than our old trusty Golf, should last us ages. It is also fun to drive and a bit more comfortable.
We’re seeing how we can give the Golf to someone so it will be a blessing to them too.
What have I learnt? One that my car was a symbol of my simplicity, I worried that with a new car people would judge me as consumerist and someone who doesn’t practice what he preaches. My old car was my way of showing how simply I lived. It did become a weird badge of honour. I’ve a long way to go to free myself of consumerism and its trappings but being a joyless moaner isn’t the way to go.
I’ve just listened to a talk from The Gospel Coalition. It’s titled the The Gospel & Money by Tom Nelson and Matt Perman. It’s OK. ‘C’ grade at best. They both talk really fast and say a lot without saying much. I was a bit disappointed. The best thing Tom Nelson said was that church leaders should model generosity. Other than that it still amazes it me that we need to point out to people that the Bible talks about money and generosity, why is this still surprising? Anyway his point was if you preach through the Bible you’ll talk about money quite often and then it won’t be relegated to gift days. Fair enough.
Matt Perman was the second half of the audio and he blogs here. I’m not sure quite what made me uneasy but it really did. A few things bugged me. His justification for having 4 laptops was in case he went away on a trip and left one at home, was just lame for someone who blogs on efficiency. Just don’t forget your laptop Matt, it’s not difficult.
At one point he said having ‘too much’ wasn’t wrong and we shouldn’t feel guilty about it. I’m not so sure about that because the point of ‘too much’ is that it’s ‘too much’. If I eat too much it’s gluttony. If I sleep too much its laziness. If I work too much its unhealthy. If I want too much its greedy. The whole point Matt is that it’s too much. It’s too much for us, it’s not good for us because it’s too much. If God has given us an abundance then that means we have enough, we can enjoy our enough, we can enjoy our plenty AND we get to give.
It was OK when he talked about money and possessions being a relative good but when we make it an absolute it fails us. By that he means when we make something more important than the kingdom of God.
Even so I was left with the distinct impression that he gave comfort to the rich and comfortable, that he began by justifying wealth and then in talking about the texts that challenge our wealth was just a bit average, saying nothing new and let the listener off the hook in the way he accused others of doing.
I’ve listened to Tim Keller on money and it’s been excellent, so I had high hopes for TGC on this subject and this seminar but it was a disappointment.
Will Willimon reflects on giving after having read Passing the Plate. Here are some great quotes,
“Evangelical Christians tend to be the most generous (giving the lie to the misconception that liberal Christians are more liberal in their concern for the less fortunate), but even their giving is nothing to brag about.”
and
“Americans earning less than $10,000 gave 2.3 percent of their income to churches. Those who earn $70,000 or more gave only 1.2 percent.”
and
“Poor leadership by the pastor always results in poor congregational giving. Faithful giving begins with every pastor…saying, ‘I have discovered the joy of cheerful tithing, and you can to’.”
Read the whole thing
Conversion. I can remember the moment of my conversion quite clearly yet I would say I’m still being converted. Knowing Christ as Saviour is much easier than knowing Christ as Lord.
Christ the Saviour deals with my guilt and shame. I feel better. I feel loved.
Christ the Saviour assures me of forgiveness and a new start. I feel better. I feel good.
Christ the Lord calls me to deny myself. I feel resentful and unwilling.
Christ the Lord calls me to hate my own life. I feel this is unlikely.
Christ the Lord calls me to pick up my cross and follow. I feel if he loves me then he wouldn’t ask too much of me.
I’ve been wondering for a while, that I need to ensure when I preach and call people to respond to Christ that I’ve proclaimed Christ not simply as Saviour but also as Lord, that the cost has been announced as well as the reward. But this submission to Christ as Lord is not just something for altar calls, but something for the people of God. We need to be converted to His way every day. That’s the mark of a disciple. “Today God, convert me again. I submit.”
Evangelicals are very familiar with the idea that becoming a Christian involves moral change. If we’re promiscuous we should rediscover chastity, if we’re lying we need to speak the truth, if we swear we must rediscover pure speech. But the whole point of Lordship means influence over all spheres of life – the way I spend must be just as converted to Christ as the way I speak and the way I deal with sex.
Yet I believe that by and large evangelicals have failed to yield to Him in the area of money and that goes for people who tithe too. We can give God our 10% and pay our religious dues and feel that in the area of money we have done our part. Money is a powerful thing and even a little can grip us. Generosity is not often achieved by a static percentage. Grace filled living and giving, joyous freedom from the ‘deceitfulness of wealth’ is not often achieved by the mere keeping of a rule.
Having said that for many of us the regular discipline of regular tithing would be an excellent place to start, but it’s just a shame that so many of us stop there instead of pressing on to excel in this gift of generosity.
More than ever today the world needs to see that the church, the people of God are not held in the sway of money that it is Jesus not Mammon that is Lord over the church. The god Mammon may have taken a few blows right now, but none of the solutions being offered by the governments of this world suggest that Mammon is about to be dethroned. Now is the time for the church to rediscover a deeper conversion, a deeper following that frees us and others to discover ‘the life that is truly life’.
The book is a study of giving in American Christianity and it doesn’t make for encouraging reading. Here are some headline numbers for you:
Here are some of the observations that Sider notes,
“In addition, the widespread consumerism and materialism of the culture—expressed above all in our incessant advertising—seduces many people into making extravagant decisions about major purchases like houses and cars and smaller things like recreation, eating out, vacations, etc.; and the result is that most families are financially pressed in spite of enormous wealth.”
This paragraph (I should just copy the whole thing) is spot on
“They think there are five primary reasons for the fact that “the wealthiest national body of Christian believers at any time in all of church history end up spending most of their money on themselves.” The most important is our society’s ‘institutionalized mass consumerism.’ The second is the failure of pastors to deal with the issue. The third is that many Christians seem to be confused about the meanings, expectations, and purposes of faithful Christian giving. Fourth, some have distrust about whether their donations will be used wisely. Finally, the near total privatization of the topic means that almost no American Christians discuss their giving with anyone else.”
I don’t think there’s any room for self-righteousness this side of the pond, we can’t claim to be any less affected by consumerism and the seductions of wealth. I’d be surprised if the statistics (if ever done) were much different here and for that we should be ashamed. What we give and what we keep is a reflection of our priorities and it seems for too many of us, too often – neither the church nor mission, Jesus or the poor feature on our priorities. We give little because we love little.
I recently came across Todd Hiestand’s blog and he’s starting a series on giving from 2 Corinthians 8 which was enough to catch and hold my attention. He writes,
“Now, I am not a mathematician. In fact, its a little known fact that I actually got an “F” in 8th grade math and somehow still graduated Jr. High. But let’s think about about the equation that is presented here:
Severe trial + Overflowing joy + Extreme poverty = Rich Generosity.
Huh.”
Read the whole thing here
I believe Jesus when he said 'life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions'. I believe he offers something better. This blog is mostly about that search.
I'm also a church pastor, a bookshop owner, a husband, a father, a keen runner, reader, and motorcyclist. These and a few other things make guest appearances from time to time.