Briarwood Presbyterian Church
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
worshipping.equipping.reaching.

funding world missions

by Dr. Frank M. Barker, Jr.

 

For 30 years now Briarwood has used the Faith Promise approach to support world missions. I heartily endorse this approach for the following reasons:

  1. Faith Promise giving is Biblical. Scripture teaches us to give "by sight," as stewards taking a portion of the Lord's resources given to us to manage and returning them to Him and His work. Scripture goes on to teach that we are not to stop there, but to trust God to supply more of his resources through us, resources that we cannot currently see. It seems to me that this is the thrust of II Cor. 9:7,8: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly....for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."
     
  2. Faith Promise giving helps people grow in faith. God want us to learn to exercise faith - to trust God to act powerfully through us. When the crowd needed feeding, Jesus said to Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" But he said it "to prove him for he himself knew what he would do" (John 6:5,6). Jesus was seeking to lead the disciples in realizing and appropriating the resource they had in Him to minister to a needy world. Faith Promise giving is an excellent way of introducing people to "walking by faith." Jesus said, "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" They said unto him, "Yea, Lord." Jesus replied, "According to your faith be it unto you." In the tract "Is Seeing Believing?", Keith Brown says, "from the experience of many individuals and churches, there are three general ways God uses to supply a faith promise."
  1. Unexpected Provision | From time to time God does provide for a faith promise in a miraculous, dramatic way.
       The IRS sends a refund to settle the estate of a father who died eleven years before.
       An overlooked pay raise is made retroactive, covering a faith promise made the month before.
  2. Reordering Our Priorities | By applying better principles of stewardship, managing what we already have, and adjusting our priorities to reflect our desire to see the world evangelized, we can generate money. This would include living more simply and so freeing money; evaluating your lifestyle to consider ways you can decrease your unnecessary personal expenses.
       A man determines he really doesn't need a new car this year and frees money he would have used for car payments.
       A teenager determines to purchase half as many CD's as he normally would, freeing up money.
  3. Generating Creative Income | Finding unique ways to raise money to give to Faith Promise.
       A housewife trusts God to bring in enough orders of a special French pastry she bakes.
       A family has a garage sale to eliminate unneeded items around the house, which generates extra money.
       A retired couple plants berries to grow and sell in order to have extra money to give.

If you have never made a Faith Promise, let me encourage you to do so this year. I would like to see every member of Briarwood make a Faith Promise of at least $50.00, $1.00 per week this coming year. It will change your life!