BEING A GENEROUS CHURCH

“And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity[b]— 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:44-47.

No group of people has more power to do good than the church of Jesus Christ. The members of the family of God have the blessing and responsibility to leverage their collective resources for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom. Since Christ is generous, the church should be generous.

Jesus is the church’s model for generosity. During His earthly ministry, Jesus was generous with His time, compassion, and power, and His death on the cross made it possible for people to receive the fullness of God’s love. Since Christ is generous to us, we are responsible as His church to be generous to others. When the church is generous, the community sees God’s love in action.

Acts 2:42-47 shows church members displaying the type of generosity designed to ensure no one would live in need. When Hurricane Michael hit in 2018, the church put their arms around the community. It was amazing to see a kingdom-minded spirit of generosity take the church. The church community showed the love of God in a real way.  There have been many other examples in the years that followed.

As the apostle Paul sat in a dark prison cell, he had the opportunity to contemplate all he had experienced as an ambassador and apostle for Jesus Christ. He wrote a letter to the church at Philippi. As the letter closed, Paul expressed his gratitude to the church for its generosity toward him. At repeated points in his ministry, the church had given financial support to the apostle. In Philippians 4, Paul expressed how the Philippians had blessed him with their generosity at a time when no other church supported him: “As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this”  (Philippians 4:15).

A generous church is a Christ-honoring church. Our goal is to always be known as a generous church, one that is the first to rise up when a need is present. Sometimes, the need impacts members of the body; sometimes, it centers on a missions project, and sometimes, it is concentrated in the community. We pray that God is glorified and that lives are powerfully impacted because of the generosity of Christ’s churches.

Our generosity as believers is much more than an annual fundraiser. It’s a lifestyle. We wouldn’t be His people, and He would not be our God if He had not asked us to give. He’s a giving God, and we’re generous people. By sharing our resources, we excel in another way to live like Jesus.

Discussion Questions:

1. Is God the source of generosity? Why or why not?
2. What are our presumptions and beliefs about generosity – generally and regarding specific types? If generosity is enticing or exciting, why aren’t we more generous?