An Often Asked Question

I mentioned that we have seen our average attendance grow by 400 over the past few years. Many are already believers who have been sigificantly committed to a previous church. They have many questions about our fellowship, but one comes to the forefront fairly quickly - some form of “how do I give to this church?” or “why don’t you take an offering in worship services?” Our practice for 22 years has been to allow members and friends of Crossroads to discretely drop their contributions to the work of the church into collection boxes at the back of the worship center (or, deliver them to the church office during the week).This choice (which pre-dates my joining the staff) wasn’t made because we considered collections in worship to be wrong or unbiblical and in looking back at the leadership records of that time we find that there were three understandings that lay behind the decision:

• Taking up a collection in the middle of worship was seen as a distraction, often breaking the flow & emphasis of worship.
• People outside the church in the early 1980’s seemed to be very put off by churches and ministries that were “always talking about money.” It was one of the primary spoken excuses the un-churched gave for avoiding church. The same feelings continue to be held by the un-churched today.
• A conviction that offerings were to be “given”, not “taken”.

There were those who were concerned that the church would run out of funds, lay off staff, or have to cut back on missions when donations shriveled up. (Even today we still have some who suggest that we’d get a much more in financial support from a weekly worship offering). Interestingly, a look at the financial records shows that donations to the church increased by 10-20% weekly after the use of collection boxes was implemented.

An earlier statement of ministry convictions included this statement:

 Our ministry is supported by faith in an omnipotent and sufficient God who provides for His church through the faithful financial gifts of its members and friends.  Because we believe that an offering is to be given rather than taken, offering boxes are located by each doorway for the convenience of those who understand their God-given responsibility.

The manner in which people give to the church may change over the years, but that first sentence will remain true in all times. We do talk about money as appropriate, and always let the congregation know if there are financial concerns, believing that God will move through his people — no cajoling, begging or manipulation required.

I suppose that I should note that we do take up one collection monthly as part of our remembrace at the Lord’s Table. As a tangible response in remembrance of God’s great grace and mercy we give to our Benevolence Fund which is used to minister to those in need (a topic for a future post).