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April 1982 Minister's Letter |
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Finances: The Lord's Blessing Dear Friends, Since we are to publish our first quarterly financial statement with this month’s letter, I think that it would be appropriate for me to remark on the material side of the ministry of Immanuel. In the first place, we all have cause to express much thanksgiving and deep gratitude to the Lord for His provision. Who would have thought that a church which presently has only 19 communing members (although we are to gain several more this month) would be able to sustain the budget we do? Just some simple arithmetic shows that our per capita giving is about $300.00 per month. I think that is wonderful, especially considering the fact that several of our members are non-income receiving family members. With respect to trends and goals, it will be observed that we are as yet relying upon our Presbytery and other outside support for roughly one third of our monthly budget. This is fine since we are still a mission church. But the encouraging thing to note, which does not really show up in these quarterly figures, is that we are month by month becoming less dependent upon gifts from outside sources. This has caused us over the last three months to fall short of our budget by about $100 per month, but we are making definite progress towards self-sufficiency. The newest addition to our budget is the building fund. You will see that we are now hardly in a position to begin putting in contracts for property. Yet, from this small beginning we trust that the Lord will eventually enable us to move out of our rented facilities in the YMCA—a move which many of us believe will do much to enhance Immanuel’s ministry. Of course, this is a long range concern, and we may yet find our patience being sorely tried here, but we have made a determined start. It has always encouraged me that we have had the will and the means to help support the work of Christ’s Church abroad. We have committed ourselves from the outset to giving 10% of our budget to various mission concerns. These include a local relief fund, support for two seminary students, and support for foreign mission works in several countries. Our ministry is simple by design, and, except for the matter of acquiring our own property, we do not expect ever drastically to increase our local budget. What this means is that as we grow we hope to be able to give a larger percentage of our budget to foreign missions. Now the basic question arises: What does this all mean? Are we simply frugal in our budget and generous in our giving? Do we just happen to be fortunate enough to pay our bills, run the ministry, and contribute abroad with an ever decreasing amount of outside support? Naturally, we know that there is a reason why we are where we are materially. That reason has to do not so much with our common desires and priorities, which just happen to coincide with an interest in our church. Our giving, which is as sacrificial as any in the largest and most prosperous of congregations, results from design rather than accident or mere club mentality. For example, we find this design in Exodus 25:1,2, where the Lord commands Moses to, “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise my contribution.” Two things in this commandment are vital for us to recognize. In the first place, the contribution is for the Lord. To be sure, Moses and Aaron and the various workers in the tabernacle would actually receive the contribution. But their calling, and the detailed directions which the Lord gives in the verses which follow for the prosecution of their calling, come directly from the Lord. These men and their labors would serve above all to ascribe glory to God. In the second place, we notice that the contribution for the Lord’s work would never be extorted from the people. Instead, contributions were to come from, “every man whose heart moves him.” Although we are commanded to give to the Lord’s work, the primary motive for giving is not one of duty, but of delight. Does not Paul underline this when he tells us that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7)? If we read on in Exodus 35 and 36 we discover the delightful and amazing results of this sort of giving. Moses was informed by the workers that, “The people are bringing much more than enough for the construction work which the Lord commanded us to perform.” (Ex. 36:5).
It will ever be so when the Lord stirs up the hearts of His people to
commit themselves sacrificially to His work.
This is the real reason why we have cause thankfully to rejoice. It is marvelous and we are deeply appreciative for the free
and sacrificial giving of our members. But
on the deepest level, this generosity is sustained because the living God is
active in our midst, prospering us in our ways, and moving our hearts to
contribute to His work. So let us
thankfully reflect on the fact that we have come thus far by His help, and may
we go on trusting and obeying Him from the heart, as He leads us onward in His
work. Gratefully yours, William Harrell |
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