Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The Gift of Being a Giver

I don’t know if she’ll be there tonight—my 83-year-old friend at church.  We have our annual Thanksgiving supper and praise service, and she has been shut in for about a month with health issues relating back to the two major cancer surgeries she had this year.  But she told me yesterday that she wanted to come tonight, and she even sent her daughter a chicken to “do something with” so she’d have a dish to bring.  She’s a giver.

        
My life is rich because of givers.  As a pastor’s wife, I can assure you that no pastor’s family could cultivate a healthy church ministry without the givers—the unsung heroes of ministry whose names are memorialized, not on plaques or marquees, but rather in the deeds of kindness they scatter everywhere.  Like Dorcas (Tabitha) of Acts, their works speak for them.   

 
Are you a giver in your church?  They are easy to spot, rare to find, and a treasure to keep.  If you aren’t a giver, maybe you can find encouragement from my 83-year-old cancer survivor and become one of those rare gems. 

 

1.  Givers notice other people.   

 
It’s easy to notice the problems in a church—the typos in the bulletin, the gaps in the ministry, the wayward notes from an inexperienced musician.  Givers notice people.  They view the people who share their pews as people with needs, and they seek to meet those needs.  Givers do not wait for someone to notice them.  They do the noticing. 

 

2.  Givers use the prayer sheet. 

 
Most churches have a prayer sheet or operate with a prayer chain—usually from their weekly prayer meeting.  Givers take diligent notice of the forgotten people—the shut-ins, the military, and the missionaries.  They pray for people they don’t know.  They pray for new requests, and they follow up on others.  Their prayers sheets are marked with dates and notations, folded carefully into a Bible where they will remember to pray for others each day. 

 

3.  Givers make contact with church attenders outside of church services.

 
While every pastor is thankful to have a healthy relationship with each of his church members and attenders, a truly healthy church is networked like a spider-web, with members reaching out to one another as well.  Givers make that happen.  A phone call to a missing member on Monday morning; a pot of soup to a shut in; a birthday card through the mail:  Givers find ways to reach beyond just a Sunday morning hand-shake.  If your only contact with your church family happens at a church service, you are missing a valuable opportunity to edify and encourage! 

 

4.  Givers give. 

 
They give their time—on a Saturday workday, or helping to clean up from a fellowship.  They give their money—tithing 10% of their income, and giving above that to offerings for missionaries.  They give their resources when special projects come along.  We recently collected ibuprofen for a missions trip to Haiti, and “givers” worked together to send almost 9,000 tablets to a needy village in Haiti!  I have observed the giving knows no financial bounds.  I watched last Sunday as one of our elderly widows folded a bill and tucked it into the missionary Christmas box.  Givers always have something to share. 

 

5.  Givers are dependable. 

 
My elderly friend who longs to be back serving has been such an example in this regard.  When she is able to drive herself to church, she comes early enough to welcome visitors.  She comes to every service.  She comes to our fellowships and watches to make sure newcomers have been greeted.  Givers are just . . . there.  When my friend is missing from a service, we usually realize it by about fifteen minutes prior to service time—since she surely would have been there by then. 

 




The demands on churches (and on their leadership) are extremely high.  People come to church with many expectations of what a church should be able to provide for them—financially, emotionally, socially, and of course, spiritually.  In many churches, those demands and expectations are placed on just a few shoulders. 

 

But to have one person who comes faithfully, ready to give: 

 

Givers are a gift.    

 

 






















 





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