I want to give, but who should I support?

Take a look at our six tips to consider when deciding which charitable cause to support.

1. Pray!

The Bible calls us to present ourselves as “cheerful givers” (2 Corinthians 9:7) but also to be faithful stewards of the resources that God has given to us. While we may understand what the Bible teaches us about giving, putting it into practice isn’t always easy. If you are struggling to decide what, how much, when and where to direct your resources, hand it over to God and ask that he guides your big, booming generous heart.

2. What are your priorities?

Perhaps you feel led to give primarily to your local church? Or perhaps you view giving to the Church as supporting a whole multitude of ministries, at home and abroad? Maybe you care about the environment? Have a heart for a particular country or want to support the work of a Christian mission worker linked to your church? It’s important to choose a cause whose work you value so that, ultimately, you become an advocate for that cause and encourage others to get involved. Make a list of issues or areas that are important to you and go from there.

3. Draw on your own personal experiences

It’s likely that at some point in your life you have personally encountered a charity who has worked with you, a family member or friend.

Perhaps at some point in the past you have been in debt, suffered an illness, or have experienced loss. A charity came alongside you and made a real difference to your circumstances. You may not, at the time, been able to ‘give back’ to the charity financially, but now feel in a position to do so.

4. What sort of work does the charity do?

Many charities operate in order to respond to an immediate need. Soup kitchens, for example, are set-up to care for the day-to-day needs of the homeless.

Other charities often look to prevent and respond to long-term issues. There are many charities, for example, who look at the root problem of homelessness, and work to help individuals off the street altogether. Likewise, there are charities who work to make a difference in both the long-term and short-term, however most charities usually have a particular emphasis to their work.

In your giving, it may be helpful to consider whether you looking to make a different to the needs that exist in peoples lives NOW or are looking to contribute to longer-term change.

5. Do you want to give to a small or large organisation?

Large charitable organisations can often be very well run, forward-looking and efficient with their money. Just because large charities can have bigger overheads, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider supporting them. Giving to large organisations can often ensure that your money is being put to good use in targeted areas that have been well-researched as a result of the work that has gone on behind the scenes. That said, you may feel it important to research a charities overheads before you start giving to them.

On the other hand, when giving to a smaller charity or individual Christian worker, your gift may constitute a considerable percentage of their annual budget. It may feel that your money is making a bigger impact to the work that they do. You may also find to easier to interact with a smaller charity set-up and even have the chance to get involved yourself with voluntary work.

This leads us nicely onto...

6. Volunteer

Volunteering for a charity can be a great way to get to know a charity more and understand the day-to-day work that the charity puts in to accomplish its mission. If you don’t have time to regularly volunteer, why not dedicate some holiday time to volunteer either locally or abroad? Some charities even organise teams of volunteers to visit other countries; learn about life in disadvantaged communities and encourage you to provide practical help to particular causes.

when the cameras stop rolling...

Image source: National Geographic

This scene from Sindh, Pakistan reveals an unexpected after-effect of the huge floods which hit the area during 2010.

As water levels rose, thousands of spiders took to the trees to escape. Because the flooding had such a devastating effect and has taken so long to drain away, many trees have become cocooned in the spider’s webs. Local inhabitants say that they have never witnessed such a phenomenon before.

It’s fair to say that a lot has happened since this flooding took place in 2010. It can be so easy to forget the hardships faced by those who live through the aftermath of a natural disaster. When the worldwide news teams move on, does our generosity follow them out of the country?

When we feel a personal conviction to respond generously to a particular cause, should we continue encouraging ourselves to remain sincere to that need until we are certain that our personal contribution is no longer required?

And does our personal contribution stop at our finances?

If you can pray, if you can write a blog post or update your Facebook status to raise awareness, if you can hold a garage sale and donate the proceeds, then you can stretch your contribution way beyond that initial donation.

Or, why not go deeper still? Maybe next time you could also search out and follow the progress of some of the charities that are responding, or make your own personal links with a local charity or Christian worker working in the most hard-hit areas.

In that way, you can continue to stand with the cause, even when the cameras stop rolling...

chasing the negative split

Photo by 'through my eyes only'. Used under Creative Commons licence.

If you happen to be one of those serious marathon runners who thinks little of fitting in a quick 10 miler before breakfast, then you’ll probably already know about the negative split. For the rest of us trapped beneath the duvet, an explanation: the negative split means deliberately running the first half of the race slower than the second, giving yourself time to find a pace and then improve on it, planning to have enough in the tank and cross the finish line knowing that you gave everything you had in those final miles. The negative split is the discipline to master if you’re serious about going the distance.

Jesus taught that true generosity is not a matter of who gives most, nor is it a question of easing off once we have given ‘enough’. Generosity plays by a different set of rules. Generosity, it seems, has far more to do with our response to our heavenly Father than the specifics of our finances.

Which brings us back to the idea of the race. If we see generosity as a one-off event only to be engaged when we feel sufficiently guilty, we won’t be fit for purpose. We were made for more than just ‘doing our bit’ or offering ‘the least we could do’. We were created in the image of an overwhelmingly generous God, so is it any wonder that we should feel the urge to give? Forget all you’ve seen of the way the uberwealthy live - with their high gates and privacy glass. What we have should not isolate us from the world around. Instead, it should draw us closer to others.

But what about those negative splits? This innate urge to give needs training. Just as discipline and preparation matter for the serious runner, so it can help us to be deliberate in our acts of generosity. Spontaneous giving is good - just like the quick burst of pace that is called for by unexpected changes in the race - but aren’t the best givers among us the ones who have woven generosity into the fabric of their lives? Don’t we want to be part of a community of generous givers that keeps on going, keeps on giving, keeps on growing?

That’s why 40acts matters so much this Lent. Sign up and you’ll be joining with thousands of others who are choosing to make generosity a priority, not just a passing fad. Each day of Lent the 40acts email will offer a challenge that will bring you closer to your community and your environment, strengthening your generosity for the years to come. Join us, and together we’ll get better at being generous.

the generosity of our resolutions

New year, new you! Lose weight, feel great! Ditch the smokes! It’s everywhere at the moment, isn’t it? As soon as the indulgence of Christmas ends, people start wagging the finger of resolution, promising it’ll make you happier. And we all know that a hastily-made resolution to give up chocolate only lasts until M&S slash the prices of their Yule logs. Surely real resolution – real transformation - ought to last longer, and have more of a domino effect, than that? Is it really just about how we as individuals transform?

Over Christmas I sit and evaluate all that has happened during the previous school term. Hard work, exhaustion, receiving verbal abuse, physical assault and very little thanks! Then I remember the lives of those kids; the broken homes and disappointment they carry. I remember with a warm glow that those same kids are now moving forward, feeling loved and beginning a life of transformation.

All those years ago I was one of those kids, worse than most of them!

After a life of crime and drug addiction I found myself in prison, serving five and a half years for armed robbery, but God had a transformational plan for my life that I could never have seen coming and it was much more powerful than any resolution I’ve ever tried to stick to by myself. While in HMP Wolds I attended an Alpha course and Jesus broke into my life. From that day on I have lived for Him and use my testimony to reach those who think they are beyond reaching and inspire the Church to reach further than they thought possible.

I joined Hope Corner Community Church on the 4th August 2000 and I am now a minister with Assemblies of God. I am responsible for running Xcel Youth Ministries and The Progressive Social Inclusion Project (PSI) - our award winning and highly successful social action project, working with excluded and marginalised young men and women in Runcorn, Cheshire. We are currently building a new centre to house the growing project and congregation. The new building will also house the Hope Corner Academy - a church-run independent SEN school.

I am married to my beautiful wife Rebekah and I have two children – Benjamin and Lydia-Grace. I graduated Mattersey Hall (bible college) and received full ministerial status with Assemblies of God (Pentecostal) in 2009.

If you had told the man I used to be that such a transformation would happen, I would have thought you were mad. All this has come about because of the faithful, generous believers coming into the prison, with their testimony of transformation on their lips. Through them Jesus found me and through me Jesus is reaching others; what an incredible domino effect!

God is now using His story in me through my book ‘Unreachable’, and in just two months since its launch 100s have responded to God’s invitation. They have begun their story and I’m sure they will pass it on too, but will you? You have an opportunity this New Year to allow God to help you make a worth-while resolution, and in doing so, achieve a transformation that ripples beyond what you could ask, hope or imagine.

The generosity challenge:

Spend the start of the New Year in prayer. Ask God to show you how you can show His love in your community, with the aim of creating lasting transformation not only in your life, but in the lives of those around you. Use the topic of New Year’s resolutions as a talking point with your colleagues, friends and family, and share your vision of a resolution that leaves a legacy far beyond the cold mists of January.

> If you would like to support our ministries you can find more details at http://www.hopecorner.co.uk

> Or join me on the journey through twitter http://twitter.com/PastorDHCCC

online giving reaches record high

Image source: Flickr: Easterbilby

Did you know that online giving among the good people of Great Britain experienced an increase of 75% between 2008 and 2011?* Pretty good hey?

A survey published this week by the Evangelical Alliance also revealed that within the UK evangelical Christian community, over half of those respondents surveyed said they had made online donations to a charity or ministry in the last 12 months.

The survey also reports that direct debits, standing orders, traditional cash or cheque donations still remain much more popular whilst another pioneer giving technique – texting – remains low in the popularity stakes with just 13% of survey respondents saying that they have given in this way in the last 12 months. Text-giving was, however, more popular among women and the 35-55 age group.

Here at Stewardship, we have been encouraged by the popularity of our own online giving service, successfully launched a year ago. During this time we have seen over 8591 people logging on to use their Stewardship giving accounts and in just 12 months, £7 million in online account donation requests have been fulfilled.

Over a third of all one-off gifts made into Stewardship accounts are now made online and last year £6,000 of online donations were made on Christmas day! Take a sneaky peek at how YOU could join the ever-growing generous bunch of online givers at www.stewardship.org.uk/give-funds.

So how do you like to give? Do you prefer the good old traditional giving techniques or have you dipped more than a toe into the ever expanding cyberspace giving community? Leave us your comments!

*Source: www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sites/default/files/clickable_UK_Giving_2011.pdf

27% of Christian workers earn less than 10,000 pounds, our survey reports

Our recent international survey of full-time Christian mission workers has revealed that 27% of those surveyed rely on an annual income of £10,000 or below.

Of those Christian workers who took part, the average income for survey respondents was revealed to stand in the region of £15,000 per year.  This is at a time when the average salary in the UK is reported to be £27,415 (Source: PayScale).

When queried on perceptions of a ‘suitable’ level of income; mission workers regarded an annual income in the region of £21,500 would be adequate in meeting their financial needs and those of their family. The results of the survey conducted by Christian charity Stewardship, an organisation who supports a network of over 2500 individuals in or studying for ministry, serve as a reminder that the financial needs of many Christian mission workers around the world are not being sufficiently met.

Michael O’Neill, Chief Executive of Stewardship comments;

“The figures from our latest international survey suggests that a large percentage of Christian mission workers are surviving on an income which is a third less than they require.  As an organisation we are committed to seeing mission work generously resourced, however these survey results will certainly challenge Christian mission workers, their supporters, sending agencies and churches and reveals that we still have a long way to go.”

Read the full survey breakdown here.

she speaks/he speaks: preparing for Christmas

Debbie:

As a mother of four girls I used to look forward to Christmas the same way my mother - also of four children - did: with doom and gloom. Rather than a glorious celebration of family, feasting and fun, all I looked forward to was the endless lists to tick off, novel presents to buy for my ever-growing family and innumerable God-children. Cards, presents, food preparation, decorating the house, let alone fitting in nativity plays, Christmas concerts and church prayer evenings. When did I ever turn into such a scrooge and such a kill joy? It all had something to do with setting my sights on perfection. The perfect day, present, outfit, family gathering, the perfect meal, - oh and let’s not forget the perfect homemade Christmas card. My pursuit of perfection of course never quite happened, and each year I vowed I would start earlier, plan better, buy a bigger freezer perhaps. I had become a slave to the ‘perfect Christmas’.

Last year that all changed. A friend’s husband suffered a critical life changing stroke in early December and it turned their family life upside down: Christmas was put on hold and suddenly the real priorities in life appeared. I was caught up short! I couldn’t believe how my relentless pursuit for a perfect Christmas had so subtlety enslaved me and how I had become so ‘way off the mark’.

Where was my perfection and planning in that nativity scene? Mary and Joseph were refugees, Jesus was born in an animal shed as no hotel room had been booked - there was no forward planning for them! But in all of this God’s glorious generosity was on display, his outpouring love showered upon us, breaking into our world in the form of a helpless babe. It was if the scales fell from my eyes, and instead of looking inwards, I now look outwards and upwards. I still have my lists (I can’t completely abandon to a free-wheeling existence, but perhaps I’ll be persuaded by Advent Conspiracy this year) but now my eyes and my heart are fixed on Christ – God made flesh. That jaw-dropping, miraculous event has become the centre of my preparations and the centre of our Christmas.

Sam:

Perhaps it is when you hear ‘Slade’ blasting out across the supermarket floor, or when you first pull on that maroon coloured turtle neck sweater. Maybe it is when the Z-list celebrity ('He starred in Doctor Who, he was the guy on the left in the mask, oh, and he was once in Paddington Green, do you remember?’) arrives to switch on the village lights. Maybe it’s when you finally get the tree up and the tinsel on, dreading the following six months of hoovering up pine needles from behind the sofa. Perhaps only Marmite causes as great a war of opinions as the question of when the Christmas season actually begins. ‘Far too soon’, you scrooges out there cry; ‘Not soon enough!’ reply the romantics who have been wearing knitted Rudolf socks since mid-August.

For me, however, Christmas begins when the adverts kick in. No longer is it acceptable to simply add a cheesy Christmas hit to a standard advert in order to sell your Christmas stock, no, it seems inherent now that a Christmas advert must get Mike Tyson reaching for the Kleenex. And when I saw the John Lewis Christmas advert the other week I was suitably impressed. I had heard rumours of grown men reduced to tears in front of their television screens (something unheard of outside of relegation battles, F.A Cup Finals and the odd episode of the X-factor) and it did not disappoint. The advert ends with the tag line ‘For gifts you can’t wait to give’. Ultimate cheese you may say, and you probably have a point, but the adverts message has an echo of something a Nazarene bloke said over 2000 years ago; ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’. This guy was counter-cultural; he turned the world upside-down, everyday thinking turned on its head. Like the advert, with Jesus the ‘ending’ was not what the beginning might have suggested. A new King born ends up dead on a cross, the ultimate sacrifice; the ultimate gift.

Christmas is about generosity; not my generosity, nor yours (and definitely not that of the fat bearded man in the red coat), but the generosity of our God, who sent his only son into our broken world to pay the ultimate price for our sin. Generosity that was not changed despite the full knowledge that his son would be ridiculed and abandoned and the gift would go unappreciated by millions. If that isn’t enough to encourage us to be generous this Christmas then what is?

Debbie Wright is Head of Content at Stewardship. Sam Gibb is our guest author this month: click here to see his bio.

want and need

Camel-hair shirts and the locust diet.

A long time ago, in a garden overflowing with goodness, a naked young lady was convinced by a talking snake that she wanted more.  This lie was an enormous whopper the like of which no-one had ever heard because, in reality, this young lady wanted for nothing.  All of her needs were met.  But from the moment the lie was heard, she itched for more.

The problem spread down the centuries and into every human heart until, one day, a desperate crowd stood by a desert river and said to a man,

“What should we do?” (Luke 3:10)

The man was John the Baptist, a desert preacher who had no possessions whatsoever.  He ate locusts and wore a robe made of camel-hair.  He dedicated his life to not wanting, so he was qualified to speak on the matter.  He answered,

“Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” (Luke 3:11)

Notice that John didn’t say give all your shirts, just the ones you don’t need.  But I bet no-one who heard him speak that day offered him a shirt or topped up his supply of locusts.  But that’s OK; it wasn’t a literal instruction – it was massively more important than that.

Giving away half your wardrobe does not immediately give you spiritual and personal fulfilment.  You do not become perfect by donating to charity shops.  So we can’t ignore the next tsunami or stop giving to the DEC because we cleared out our least fashionable shirts.  Rather, John the Baptist was talking about a life of absolute generosity where everything we own is to be halved and shared with those who don’t have enough.

That was a tough calling, but the people responded.

John the Baptist was immediately surrounded by a host of ‘sinners’ asking for individual advice and direction.  ‘But what about us tax collectors?’ ‘What about us soldiers?’  Every answer he gave was different in the detail but the same in spirit. 

Use only what you need and give the rest away. 

This message was so radical (apparently) that people began to wonder if John the Baptist was the Messiah (Luke 3:15).  They hadn’t even met Jesus, the real Messiah, who would set the bar at the highest level.

Give back. Give more. Give yourself. Give from the heart.

The itch of want will take over and blind us to the need of others, if we let it.  Giving generously helps undo the process.  So I suggest we start small and build up. 

The generosity challenge:

First, throw open your wardrobe door and pull it all out.  Find the good stuff that (for whatever reason) you just don’t wear.  Bag it up, and give it away to a worthy cause.  I know John the Baptist didn’t mean this literally, but why not, eh?  Give it a go.

Secondly, when you’re queuing to pay for your coffee, count the money in your wallet or purse and divide it by two.  Pay for someone else’s drink even if it means changing your own order.

Thirdly, look for an opportunity to give a substantial amount to a cause.  Make personal sacrifices so that you feel the pain of giving.  Forego a pleasure or want so that you can fulfil the need of another.  If your wealth is in time, hospitality or skills, give from those.  If it is financial wealth, you know who to talk to.

This blog series is the next step on from Stewardship’s Lent initiative, 40Acts.  We don’t have to restrict sacrificial and generous giving to the time of Lent.  Why not carry on the Lent challenge throughout the year?  Find an opportunity to give – and I mean really give – this October.

the real gifts of Christmas

Despite making a conscious effort each year to avoid the Christmas consumer frenzy and keep my mind focused on the real meaning of Christmas, the reality is that it’s very difficult to keep an eye on spending during the festive season.  It’s a bit like hoovering up the needles under the Christmas tree, just when you think you’ve finished, more appear! 

Even if you rigorously scale down on present giving, only send e-cards, or make all your own decorations, there are plenty of other little extras that can catch you by surprise and eat up your cash. 

To avoid being tangled up by unexpected expenditure, why not take some time out over a coffee and review your Christmas spending with the help of our Christmas budget challenge?

There is also another lurking danger which may not be quite so obvious: that faced by the overt message of commercialism we can refuse to participate at all and stifle the Christian message of generosity so apparent in the Christmas story.  If you’re in need of an antidote to commercialism or feeling a bit ‘bah humbug’, perhaps take a look at a short clip from Operation Christmas Child following a journey of a shoebox.  Volunteering to fill and check boxes is a small act of generosity which happens every year in churches around the UK.  Maybe there are similar opportunities near you that might be able to give a little time to?

Giving our time to preparing for Christmas, whether it be planning activities or budgeting spending could help you to maintain a clear head when faced with the seasonal onslaught and give you that important head space to concentrate on the real gift of Christmas – one that never tarnishes, runs out or disappoints.

Planning for Harvest

Take a look at 2 Corinthians 9 and you’ll come face to face with some bumper sticker verses: ‘whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly’ (verse 6), ‘God loves a cheerful giver’ (verse 7) and ‘God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work’ (verse 9).

If you weren’t a fan of context you could take these as fuel to fire a prosperity gospel: after all,  if we give a big enough offering with a big enough smile we’ll surely end up with a whopping great blessing on our lives, right?

Sadly, that’s not quite what Paul has in mind, but the passage is still dynamite when it comes to the subject of our giving.

Paul’s right when he says that we reap what we sow, but we should remember that Paul’s using the agricultural term metaphorically here, and so we are not meant to take the words literally. Instead of giving as a transaction, Paul paints a picture of a bolder, brighter way of being, one where our choices are motivated by our heart rather than our wallet. Each of us should give ‘what he has decided in his heart to give’. As the late John Stott commented, ‘there is a sense here of a settled conviction about how much to give; of a decision reached after careful consideration, and always with joy and cheerfulness.’ 

Stott also made the link between this passage and Paul’s earlier letter to the Corinthians where he encourages planned, systematic giving (1 Corinthians 16:1-3). While there’s nothing wrong with spontaneous, Spirit-prompted acts of generosity, we primarily need to approach the matter with care, prayer and time. Decisions about what, and how, we give should not be left to spur-of-the-moment emotions, just as a harvest cannot be reaped when the farmer feels ‘in the mood’.

Harvests, like generosity, take time, purposeful planning and an eye for the long game. As well as making us more efficient in our giving, this also allows for a greater connection with God through the process. As Paul says,

‘This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.’(verse 12)

We 21st century Christians have such potential. We have the power to become informed about so many areas of need, and the possibility to plan our giving in ways that make a sustained, effective difference right where we feel God is calling us. We have the opportunity to share our stories with others across the planet in an instant, and the chance to let our generosity become one of the driving forces in our faith. What a great, indescribable gift!

Take action:

Engage more with this harvest time: go to www.biblefresh.com and read more of Stewardship’s blogs. 

Take stock of your budget and accounts and spend some time reviewing your giving.

Tinned goods have become ubiquitous at harvest, but tin cans sitting in the back of dusty cupboards are poor symbols of God’s abundance and generosity. This autumn let’s reconnect with the idea of celebration and generosity, go to or even run a harvest supper or harvest celebration.