Celebrate Generosity
It’s hard to believe its fall again. Students are back in school and leaves will start changing soon.
Hereat Zion Lutheran Church, members of your Stewardship team have been planning something exciting called, “Celebrate Generosity.” I think you’ll find this a fresh approach to the ministry of helping all of us discover the joy of giving.
“Celebrate Generosity” has one primary purpose and that is to help us grow spiritually. While at first you may suspect that the bottom line is to get more money for the church budget, we hope to surprise you with a deeper and more lasting goal.
While it’s true that Christian discipleship involves growth -- and being a disciple includes stewarding our time, our talents and our financial resources -- growth itself is not motivated by appeals to give more money. And spiritual growth is certainly not motivated by guilt.
Rather, “Celebrate Generosity” begins with the conviction that giving brings us joy and helps us grow spiritually, because the God we worship is an abundantly generous God. God so loved the world that he gave His only Son.
And so why do we give? First of all, we give as a grateful response to God. Pastor and Stewardship Educator Eugene Grimm has written, “Gratitude for all the blessings God has given is the number one reason people give. Christian people have a built-in desire to say thank you. They like to give because they have already received. Giving is thus an act of worship, as well as an act of thanksgiving. They give as a response to God’s giving.”
Several children were being asked why they gave to their church. They came up with different reasons, all of which were good. Finally, one little girl, about nine years old, said, “Well, when you give, you give to God.” That says it all.
That’s the kind of generosity and thankfulness we will celebrate with you beginning on Sept. 11.