You Were Born to Be Generous

by: Todd McMichen

You can’t stop generosity. It is natural, normal, and wired into the existence of every human being. So why are we so nervous about it at church? Give these thoughts some significant time to brew and see if they do not inspire, affirm, and empower a new direction.

1. God is a generous God. He is generous with everything from the act of creation to the sacrificial gift of His son. He is generous with His love, grace, life, time, heart, and heaven. The list could go on and on.

2. We are created in His image. This means that generosity is hard-wired into us. Not just limited generosity, but unlimited generosity that overflows. The kind that is unconditional. The kind that looks just like Jesus lived.

3. God made generosity fun. Just take an inventory of how it personally feels to be generous. Think of the personal gratitude and self-confidence that is gained when you go beyond yourself. Just remember the joy you felt the last time you watched someone open a gift you gave to them. How about the experience of freedom and release that comes when you are financially generous?

4. Problem: We are all fallen and struggle with the power of sin. It seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. It is trying to rob you right now of the blessings of God found in generosity.

5. Promise: We have the opportunity to be recreated in Christ’s image. This is the call of salvation and spiritual growth. Generosity is a discipleship issue, not a fund raising issue. The woes of your church budget could be a spending, vision, or discipleship issue and not a fund raising issue. It is a clarity calling that leaders need to see. The preferred life that every human being is chasing is found in the generous heart of God and His image being freed inside of us.

If we are born to be generous and your people are striving for a better life tomorrow, then how are you helping them connect the dots? Is your staff passionately generous? Are you living the generous life? You were born to be generous.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Todd McMichen

Todd McMichen

Todd serves at the Director of Generosity by LifeWay. His generosity roots arise from leading multiple capital campaigns for local churches that together raised over $35,000,000 for their visionary projects. Since 2000, Todd has been a well-established stewardship coach, generosity leader, author, and conference speaker.

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
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